New Uses for Aluminum Foil

By Real Simple
Updated November 20, 2013
Credit: Quentin Bacon
Tricks for making use of every shiny sheet.
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Aluminum Foil as Glassware Scrubber

Credit: Quentin Bacon

To get baked-on food off a glass pan or an oven rack, use dishwashing liquid and a ball of foil in place of a steel-wool soap pad, says Mary Findley, president of the cleaning-products developer Mary Moppins. It's one way to recycle those used but perfectly good pieces of foil you hate to throw out.

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Aluminum Foil as Party Garland

Credit: Erica McCartney; Styling: Linden Elstran

Twist foil into links to make a sparkly garland for an almost-instant party decoration (or a rainy-day distraction for the kids).

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Aluminum Foil as a Grilling Helper

Credit: Quentin Bacon

Really hot grill bars equal dramatic grill marks on your porterhouse. To concentrate the heat and keep it from escaping, lay a sheet of foil over the grill for 10 minutes. Peel the foil off just before cooking, scrunch it into a ball (it cools fast), and use it later to scrape any residue or ash from the bars.

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Aluminum Foil as Wrinkle Remover

Credit: Quentin Bacon

To get wrinkles out of silk, wool, and rayon clothes that can't take direct heat, place a piece of foil on your ironing board, then lay the garment flat over it. With the steam button down, pass the iron three to four inches over the fabric several times. Wet heat radiating from the foil helps smooth out wrinkles.

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Aluminum Foil as Fixture Protector

Credit: Quentin Bacon

Protect doorknobs and hardware in the kitchen and bathroom when you're painting by wrapping foil around them to catch dribbles. The foil molds to the shape of whatever it's covering and stays firmly in place until the job is complete.

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Aluminum Foil as an Antenna

Credit: Quentin Bacon

If your DVD player is stacked on top of the TV (or vice versa) and the picture is fuzzy, the two electromagnetic fields may be commingling, confusing the signals. (This usually happens with plastic casings; with metal it's less likely.) Slip a sheet of foil between the machines to separate the fields.

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Aluminum Foil as a Funnel

Credit: Aya Brackett

Fashion a funnel of foil to neatly transfer salad dressings or condiments from tacky plastic bottles to pretty carafes or back again. Place it in the bottle and pour away.

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Aluminum Foil as a Piecrust Protector

Credit: Quentin Bacon

To prevent a piecrust from burning while the filling cooks, make a foil collar to deflect heat. Take a piece of foil about 25 inches long, fold it into thirds lengthwise, and fasten the ends with a paper clip. Halfway into the baking, slip the collar over the crust (as shown). Leave it on until the pie is done.

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