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10 Awesome Uses for Tin Foil
Tinfoil has many uses. While most people use it for cooking and storing leftovers, there are a number of other uses that make this household product worth adding to your emergency preparedness plans. Here are our top 10 favorite uses.
1. Sharpen Scissors
Yes, you read that right. To do it you will first need to smooth the foil out followed by fold the sheets into strips making several layers. Next grab your scissors and start cutting. Eight or nine passes of the foil sheet should do the trick!
2. Clean jewelry and silverware
Line a bowl with aluminum foil and fill it up with hot water. Next add 1 tablespoon of bleach-free powdered (not liquid) laundry detergent. Then simply place the jewelry or silverware in the solution for one minute. After the time has passed remove the items, rinse in water, and then lay out to air dry. The ion exchange chemical process cleans your items all by itself.
3. Keep birds away from your fruit trees
Similar to dangling a CD disk from a branch, you can dangle strips of tinfoil from the limbs with fishing line. The light reflections scare the birds so they will simply go somewhere else. My in-laws in Arizona have been using this technique to keep their orange trees bird-free for many years now.
4. Clean your grill
After the last burger has been pulled off the grill lay a flat sheet of tin foil over the grill. This will help redirect the heat passing through the grill back through it a second time. Leave the foil on the grill until the next use when you simply wad the foil into a ball and run it back and forth against the tough burnt on grease, like you would with a wire brush.
5. Lure a fish
I grew up fishing in a little pond near my home. We would take my Dad’s gear and catch bluegill. The only down side of the trips were when lures would get snagged and we had to cut the line.
After a little while we realized this particular fish wasn’t all that smart. We could simply throw in an empty silver or gold colored treble hook (unbaited) and they would still strike. We noticed over time that the brighter the reflection from the hook the more bluegills/crappie would come.
Using this concept you could take tin foil and attach small wads near a swivel then run a short leader with your hook or lure of choice. The extra reflection (at least with this species of fish) would bring even more attention to your offering.
6. Keep matches dry
Wrap your matches in aluminum foil. Stuff them in your pack and the next time you need a reliable way to light a fire, pull out the dry matches and get that fire going. No more worrying if the matches are wet from the thunderstorm that just passed.
7. Make a funnel
Need to route liquid into a certain spot such as adding oil to an engine block? Sure you can buy a plastic funnel for a couple bucks but you could also tear off 10 inches of foil and mold it into a funnel shape shape and use aluminum foil instead.
8. Make a frying pan
Don’t want to lug a heavy frying pan the next time you’re venturing into the great outdoors? Grab a branch that forks, tear off a sheet of ton foil a little wider than the width of the forking branches then wrap the ends around the two limbs to create a flat pan like surface in between the two branches. If the food items you are cooking are not too heavy you can hover the food above the fire, if it is too heavy arrange the burning wood to lay flatter then lower the “frying pan” onto the top logs.
9. Campfire cooking
Most people reading this have probably had the privilege of making a tin foil BBQ dinner. If not give this a try! Simply place chicken or ground beef in the shape of a patty in the middle of a sheet of tin foil. Next add carrots, onions, potatoes, other veggies, and season to taste. A helpful tip is to cut the veggies thin so all of the items are good to eat at the same time. Next fold the ends of the foil over the food, encompassing it entirely. Flip the silvery puck over and put another layer of tin foil folding it back over the other way. The multiple layers will make sure the food doesn’t burn. Cook time should be 20-30 minutes in the coals.
10. Build a seed incubator
Help jump start your gardening. Line a shoe box or other similar shaped box with foil (shiny side up) making sure the foil extends a couple inches past the top of the box. Next poke a couple drainage holes in the bottom of the foil. Next fill the box about half way with potting soil and plant your seeds. Place the box near a window that gets good amounts of sunlight. It works because the inside layer will redirect heat to the seeds while the foil layer extending past the top of the box will help redirect sunlight back into the box.
These are just a 10 uses for tin foil but we know there are hundreds more so we would love your help adding to this resource. Share with us your favorite applications below and you could win a $10 gift card if your comment is our favorite!
You forgot making foil hats.
Good article.
September 1st, 2012 at 3:27 pmWho woulda thunk? Those are some great ideas, thank you for your article!
September 2nd, 2012 at 5:29 pmI roll pieces long and thin (and solid) and then line them up side by side but with spacing between each, place a pan with freshly baked cookies or brownies or cake, etc. on top of the rolled foil, and I have an impromptu cooling rack.
September 2nd, 2012 at 5:33 pmDear Sir/Madam,
September 3rd, 2012 at 2:56 pmMy name is Bryan Foster (aka Zion Prepper). I’m the author of two books: The Prepper’s Handbook and The Christian Prepper’s Handbook.
I read your article on the 10 Awesome Uses For Tin Foil and really enjoyed it.
I would like your permission to use parts or perhaps the entire article, verbatim, in my third book.
My third book is on self-sufficiency and this article is a perfect match.
I appreciate your time.
Bryan
The use I most use, is getting a wad of tinfoil, get it wet, & rubbing it on a corroded car bumper, to get it shiny again.(chrome bumpers)
March 31st, 2013 at 9:25 amI used foil to melt paraffin in, then rolled match heads in the paraffin to make them waterproof. Paraffin can catch fire, so proceed with caution.
April 7th, 2013 at 7:42 pmThe hats…you forgot the hats. Now, what would all the “normal” people out there think if we(preppers) didn’t have our “tin foil” hats in place? LOL
April 8th, 2013 at 6:04 amwhat about wrapping your electronics in two layers of foil and putting in your Farraday cage.
April 8th, 2013 at 6:08 amTHERE WAS A MOVIE MADE ABOUT ALIENS, STARRING MEL GIBSON, WHERE THE FAMILY WORE TIN FOIL HATS, TO SCARE OF THE ALIENS.
April 8th, 2013 at 6:26 amEver walked into your bathroom and wondered if that fly or spider… has just left your toothbrush, searching out water or that sweet scent of toothpaste? I use foil to fashion a cap to place over the bristles of my toothbrush. Sometimes those “brown spots” flies leave behind may be hard to discern on a little toothbrush bristle.I leave a narrow space below the foil cap to allow air circulation, to allow bristles to dry, but not enough for insects to access. The foil cap is formed and stiff enough to be used for a week or two at a time.
April 8th, 2013 at 6:36 amMy mom saw something on Pinterest about loosely wadding foil and putting it into the dryer instead of a dryer sheet. She said it works great. I haven’t tried it, but as soon as my dryer bar says replace I will.
April 8th, 2013 at 7:20 amI use it to cover the edge of my pies so they don’t get too dark on baking.
April 8th, 2013 at 8:45 amThe movie was Signs and two kids wore them so the aliens could not read their thoughts.. They had read it in a book
April 8th, 2013 at 9:35 amI have used tin foil to hold lint from the drier to help start camp fires. Take a double layer or triple layer of foil and place lint from the drier on the middle fold it to protect it from water and getting wet. I put mine in a sealed baggy to help. When you need it open the sides of the foil to create a wind break, use your flint and steel to light the lint lay it down and have your other kindling ready as the lint goes fast. I keep several on my 72 Hour kit.
April 8th, 2013 at 9:58 amWe love a warm cobbler whipped up in the dutch oven over a campfire… Who wouldn’t?! But if your temp gets a little too hot, the crust of crud that results may force you to have to strip the oven down and reseason it (sadly, I speak from experience). I’ll never make cobbler again without lining my dutch oven with foil first… lol. Also, I made a funnel of foil this weekend to get rice into 2L bottles for long-term storage this weekend.
April 8th, 2013 at 3:46 pmSo many uses! Put it in the attic between your rafters, to reflect heat, and over the windows to shade out the sun. Make a solar oven! Crunch it up and clean the grill.
April 8th, 2013 at 4:50 pm“Prepper” Friends:
I sit here in my charming tin foil hat–with less than good news. A caution about ‘tin’ foil. First, it isn’t. It is aluminum foil nowadays. Aluminum has great qualities and –is NOT good for human consumption. If it is going to be exposed to your food and high heat, it will ‘atomize’ into your food. My Doctors have reported this to me, and I’ve seen it in forward thinking literature. So I no longer use it for baking or cooking. In fact, I took it out of the bottom of my oven (was GREAT for catching drips of grease & sugar which make such a mess and smoke) because it becomes unstable and airborne in that heat. I don’t even wrap my electric stoves ‘splash bowls’ under the element with it anymore. Notice how fragile & ashy it gets in that application? It is becoming unstable and floating into the kitchen air & your cooking food,too. It has been implicated in Alzheimer’s and many other serious ailments. Do your own research.
If you can find STEEL foil, that is terrific. But it is very expensive and rare.
Sending this with respect, Mary Frances
April 8th, 2013 at 5:59 pmFoil works great to teach your pets not to climb on your new sofa or enter certain areas of your home. Place sheets of foil on your furniture or into the doorway where you don’t want your pet to go. Cats and dogs or other pets that have pads under their feet do not like contact with foil. After a couple of weeks your pet will avoid the area automatically. I have tried this and it works very well. It’s just like housebreaking your puppy, works on older animals as well.
April 8th, 2013 at 9:19 pmIt is also really good to keep fire kindling dry for emergency fire starts. I take lint from the dryer and wrap it in two layers of foil. Lint is a really good way to start fires if the chips are down. Simply wrap some lint in two layers of foil. If you need it you open use the foil to create a small windbreak. Using flint and steel light the lint and lay the foil and lint on the ground. Add other kindling and then bigger wood and stay warm.
April 9th, 2013 at 1:17 amRoad trip cooking. Wrap the food you wish to cook in double layers of foil. Place the bundle on a secure location on top of your engine or manifold. Drive to your destination. Unwrap your dinner and enjoy. Cooking/driving time will vary depending on what it is that you are cooking. There are various books available on this topic and they include recipes as well as required cooking times
April 9th, 2013 at 11:46 amUse foil to make homemade kindling for starting a fire. Take precut foil sheets and cut into 9 pieces. Then lightly coat cotton balls with petroleum jelly (don’t put it on heavy) – you want the cotton loose enough so it starts pulling apart in your fingers. Place it on your small piece of foil, fold over gently and crimp the edges over so you still have a round ball. Put the kindling in a baggie and when you need to use it cut an X over the round ball and peel back the edges. Use a fire starter, flint, matches etc. to light it. Add some twigs or leaves slowly and then your wood. We’ve had cotton balls burn for over 15 minutes this way.
April 9th, 2013 at 7:47 pmMaybe these foil fumes and chemical breakdown are behind the increase in autism. Should pregnant woman avoid using foil?
April 10th, 2013 at 8:58 pmWhen I got my first parrot, I spent two separate nights in the vet ER, because, as I figured out, each time we cooked in the oven, the drip sheet I had purchased from a catalogue was releasing fumes in the air. $800 later, we solved that mystery and saves his life.