Think the grocery store is just a place to find food for dinner? Think again! The very ingredients that you may be putting into your shopping cart for a recipe, may also have an alternate purpose!
Corn oil
Aside from making a great cooking oil for baking, deep frying and roasting, corn oil is also useful as an additive to many different products.
Soap
Corn oil is sometimes added to homemade soap mixtures to increase the level of moisture in the end result
Salve
Corn oil can be added to different wax types to make a salve. Usually, the wax is beeswax or soy wax.
Paint
Scratching your head on this one? I know I was! Turns out, corn oil can be added to oil-based paints to help thin them out for the beginning layers on the canvas. The more layers of paint used, the less oil should be added.
And more!
Other additional uses for corn oil include but are not limited to; rustproofing metal, an additive to insecticides, and even an ingredient in erasers.
Citrus fruits (lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits)
Many of the alternative uses for citrus fruits can be used by anyone of the different fruits. However, if you’re at a loss, always choose lemons.
Polish
Citrus fruits can be used to naturally polish copper, brass, and even aluminum. It is also added to furniture polish for its fresh scent as well as it’s polishing properties!
Clean
Citrus fruits are widely used in all-purpose cleaners such as counter sprays. It can also be used to remove limescale, soap residue, and hard water stains in the kitchen and bathroom! Citrus fruits are so powerful that their juice can be rubbed onto previously white tennis shoes to whiten them back up!
Freshen and more!
In addition to the many uses listed above, citrus fruits are used to freshen the scent of a home, stain remover for underarm stains, delicates and ink spots. You can also add ½ of a lemon to your dishwasher to help clean and freshen it from the inside!
Rice
Rice is a wonderful side dish to fish, chicken, or anything really! It can be flavored with herbs, garlic, onions, butter, and cheese. It can be mixed with vegetables, or made with a Spanish or Asian flare! Rice is super versatile and useful!
Celebrating the newly married couple
It has long been a tradition for attendants to a wedding to gather outside after the wedding ceremony and throw a hand full of white rice at the newlyweds. This tradition is beginning to faze out as the rice is harmful to birds that may consume them.
Drying out your cell phone
So, this is often how it happens. Your heading to the restroom with your cell phone in your pocket. You forget it’s there and *plop* it falls into the toilet. Disaster? Maybe not! Fill a Ziploc bag or a deep bowl with rice. Bury your phone into it until completely covered by the rice. Let sit for 24 hours before trying to turn the phone back on. If it still doesn’t work, place the phone back into the rice for additional time.
Baking soda
Baking soda is an added ingredient in a wide range of recipes. It is also often found in toothpaste. However, baking soda is beneficial in other ways including a skin exfoliant, odor remover, and a pesticide remover for produce!
So, before you spend a bunch of money on cleaning products, new phones, and laundry stain removers, maybe give one of these alternative ingredients a try! They may not only do the job but they may just do it better!
