Club Benefits
I regularly use aluminum foil when I’m cooking, baking and need to store food. It’s a common household staple that has excellent heat resistance and insulating properties, and it’s much more versatile in the kitchen than plastic wrap.
However, its versatility goes far beyond lining a roasting pan or covering food to keep it moist while cooking — and it can be used in a surprising number of ways elsewhere in your home. From deterring burglars (yes, really) to keeping your paint pots clean, here are 11 alternative ways to use aluminum foil. Before long, you’ll have a roll of aluminum foil in every room in your home.
1. Clean your faucets
If you like to keep your chrome faucets shiny and free of watermarks a crumpled ball of aluminum foil can come to the rescue. My colleague Cynthia Lawrence tried the aluminum foil cleaning hack on her own faucets with little certainty that it would work and was concerned that the foil would scratch and damage the chrome.
Article continues belowHowever, after spending about 20 seconds scrubbing her kitchen faucet in a circular motion, she noticed the watermarks beginning to disappear. It took six minutes to clean the faucet entirely, and then she finished by giving it a polish with a microfiber cloth.
2. Use it in your air fryer
Although it's not safe to use aluminum foil in a microwave, you can use it in an air fryer. As Jenny Catton, an air fryer expert and founder of The Air Fryer Kitchen, previously told Tom’s Guide, it can help keep your appliance cleaner for longer and is safe to use as long as it doesn’t block airflow or touch the heating element. However, we would recommend checking your appliance manual to see whether the manufacturer advises against it.
The biggest benefit of using aluminum foil in your air fryer is that it can reduce the cleanup. If placed under the food, it catches crumbs and oil, leaving you less mess. But you do have to be careful when using aluminum foil in an air fryer to ensure it doesn’t catch alight.
3. Revive your flatware
Very similar to cleaning your faucets, aluminum foil can also help bring the sparkle back to your flatware. But you will need to team the foil up with baking soda for this cleaning hack to work. Stains on your flatware are caused by metal reacting with substances in food and drinks, but the combination of aluminum foil and baking soda can reverse the chemical process.
What do you need to do? Simply, line a heat-safe dish with aluminum foil, placing the shiny surface upwards. Add 2-3 tablespoons of baking soda per gallon of water (the water needs to be hot, but not boiling). Place your flatware on the foil and leave to soak for between 15 and 30 minutes, depending on the level of tarnish. Once complete, rinse your flatware and dry it with a soft cloth.
4. Use it in your dishwasher
Aluminum foil, when added to a dishwasher cycle, can boost cleaning performance, and, just like it can help revive your flatware above, it can also give your silverware and glassware an added gleam.
This cleaning hack is super simple to achieve. Shape a piece of foil into a ball and place it in the flatware basket or within the bottom rack of your dishwasher, ensuring it doesn’t obstruct the spray arms. You can then load your dishwasher and start a hot cycle, which will help to activate the reaction between the foil and tarnish.
However, because of the chemical reaction that occurs, it’s best not to use it in a dishwasher when cleaning aluminum items, as it could damage the product.
5. Reduce bathroom humidity
I always have a problem with condensation forming on my bathroom mirror when I’ve taken a shower. It’s a common problem that occurs when warm interior air meets a colder surface, causing the air to cool and release excess moisture as water droplets.
Placing aluminum foil on the back of a mirror can break this cycle by reflecting and evenly distributing heat across the back, reducing the likelihood of droplets forming. However, you’ll only be able to follow this hack on a wall-mounted or extendable mirror. Place spacers behind your mirrors, ½ inch away from the wall, then place a sheet of foil with the dull side facing outwards behind the mirror. It creates a small air gap and a reflective backing withouts hindering the appearance of your mirror.
6. Beat the heat
Aluminum foil can keep your home cool when the heat is rising outside. Simply taping sheets to your windows, can stop the sunlight from passing through and heating up your home. However, for this hack to work, you need to place the foil on the outside of your windows to reflect the heat. If placed inside, the heat will accumulate between the foil and your window panes instead, still heating your home. It's not the prettiest, but it works.
7. Clean up on painting
Aluminum foil can be used in several ways when you're painting. Apart from lining a paint tray to avoid a messy cleanup, it can also cover your brush and keep the paint from drying out when you take a break. What's more, if you’re forever struggling to get the lid back on your paint can when you’ve finished, placing some aluminum foil along the rim will stop the problem of paint gathering around the rim when you scrape excess paint off the brush.
8. Keep intruders out
It won't quite act in the same way as a burglar alarm, but aluminum foil can be used as a deterrent to keep opportune burglars out. If wrapped around a door handle it can it acts as a psychological deterrent to encourage burglars to turn back. The reflective nature of the foil is thought to put intruders on alert to other security measures that might be in place, warning them not to go any further.
9. Stop bugs indoors
Pests won’t instantly scamper away when they spot a piece of shiny aluminum foil in your home, but it can be used as a vessel to hold a combination of spicy scents that will have them backtracking. Fold a piece of aluminum foil into a pouch, add a bay leaf, 8 cloves, a teaspoon of red pepper and half a teaspoon of turmeric, and then prick one side of the pouch with small holes. The combination of herbs and spices will slowly release a scent that acts as a protective barrier, keeping pests out.
10. Protect your yard from pests
Aluminum foil is a cost-effective hack for scaring away pigeons and other pests, such as rats. Pigeons are particularly sensitive to the glint when sunlight shines on the foil, and they are fooled into thinking a predator lurks. All you need to do is hang scrunched-up balls of aluminum foil around your yard, or close to precious plants.
11. Keep hummingbird nectar cool
It might seem bizarre, but you can also use aluminum foil on hummingbird feeders when the temperature starts to soar. Wrapping the nectar reserves on your feeders in foil keeps the precious food source cooler, preventing it from fermenting and becoming a breeding ground for mold and bacteria.
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