You probably don’t have the patience to clean soiled aluminum foil, but clean (slightly crumpled…even better) foil can have multiple lives. It’s great as a pan lining for oven-fried potatoes—the crinkled parts provide air space for extra crispness. It’s also good for cleaning grill grates (especially handy when your grill scraper is dirtier than your grill). Other uses include removing stuck-on food from pots, pans and oven racks. To sharpen scissors, cut through folded layers of clean foil a few times. To reduce static cling, put a loosely crumpled piece in the clothes dryer. To keep birds and deer out of your garden, hang strips of foil on strings where the critters go the most.
What else to do with used foil: Wrap leftovers in used foil (genius!), but if the foil has come in contact with raw meat, do not reuse it for other food purposes.
More creative ways to reuse what you have…
