15 Awesome Uses for Aluminum Foil

by Anna Sattler on Sep 11th 2007 11:00AM
(Taken from DIY network. For original article, click here.)

When I was growing up, my parents reused and recycled almost everything. All items were used until they were falling apart. My dad would wrap his sandwiches in wax paper until the paper was in tatters before he would use another piece. Plastic wasn't used much either in the house. Since we had every size Mason and Ball jar ever made for canning purposes and making jelly and jam, they were great for storing leftover food. If anything got stored on a plate, then aluminum foil was used to cover the plate. Nothing ever went to waste in our dirt poor household. The motto passed down to my 7 siblings and I was "waste not, want not!!"

I still use aluminum foil for almost everything. It is strong, durable, and efficient. It comes in all kinds of sizes now, not like when I was a kid and you had to tear off a tiny piece for a tiny item. Best of all, when it wears out, I just throw it in the recycling bin with the aluminum cans. I like it so much that I thought I would compile a list and share with you all the things to do with this handy item besides keeping food warm, so please join me after the break.

1. When my scissors get dull, I layer about 7 pieces of foil and cut through them, and the scissors are sharp once again.
2. I often forget to take my gold wedding ring and my silver cross ring off my fingers when I am doing dishes or grubbing around the house, so I put them in aluminum foil and put in some salt solution and leave it overnight. The next morning they look like new.
3. Sometimes I go on a baking streak, and I find my brown sugar has gotten hard. To soften the sugar, I wrap it in foil and bake it in a 300 degree oven for 5 minutes. To keep it soft, I leave it wrapped in the foil and enclose in a labeled ziploc bag.
4. Ball up some foil and use it to clean the gunk off your grill. It cleans just as well as a wire scrub brush.
5. Makes great gift wrapping paper in a pinch and can be decorated as you wish.
6. I use foil to clean the baked on gunk off my pots and pans. It works just as well as a steel wool scrub pad.
7. Wrap your hardware and doorknobs in foil so that they don't get dripped on when you are painting.
8. Half way through the baking process, take a length of foil and wrap around the edge of your pie, securing with a metal paper clip. This will prevent your crust from browning too much.
9. Roll a double thickness of heavy duty foil into a cone shape, snip off the end, and use as a pouring funnel.
10. Use it as a temporary piping bag or pastry bag by rolling it into a double thickness and leaving just a tiny hole at the pointed end. Fold down the top of the cone so nothing oozes out or twist the top closed.
11. Put a length of foil on your oven rack to catch spills. Many pizzas have instructions that tell you to bake the pizza on the rack, but what a mess that can make. Putting the pizza on cooking sprayed foil will save a big mess.
12. Since I love grilled vegetables, especially mushrooms, I top them with some butter and whatever herb or spice I am in the mood for, wrap them in a foil packet and give them to my husband to put on the grill with the steaks.
13. To prevent stuck on food in my baking pans and cookie sheets, I will line them with foil. It cuts down on cleaning time and leaves my pans looking just as good as they did when they went into the oven. Rinse off the sheets if they are not to disastrous and save them for another baking session, or rinse them off and put them in your recycling bin.
14. To prevent static electricity in your clothing, throw a small crumpled up ball of foil into your dryer.
15. For clothing items that can't take direct heat, such as rayon, silk, and wool, you can get the wrinkles out by placing a piece of foil on your ironing board. Put the garment over the foil, and pass 3 inches above the garment several times with the iron, holding down the steam button the entire time. The wet heat from the foil with rid the garment of wrinkles.

These ideas are some of my favorites, and ones that were used in my childhood home as well as in my home now. I think that as long as they make aluminum foil, I will use it. Foil will be a staple in my household forever I think!! After all, it is recyclable too and is easily kept out of the landfills. What do you use aluminum foil for?