We always used to talk about food in terms of “edibility”. Indeed the question arises “what else could be done with food, if you’re not gonna eat it?”.
And that’s the point! Because actually you can do a lot of things with foods we normally have in our kitchen, and they could also be used for not quite “edible” uses but they can be very useful for other things at home. For example, how many of you uses wine vinegar to clean stains from glasses or to remove odors from a refrigerator?
Or what about the use of baking soda, that instead of being used to prepare cakes or sweets is also used for cleaning and disinfecting fruit and vegetables, diluted in water?
There are really thousands of alternative uses that you can find for some foods you have around you. Below, my favorites.
Yogurt
Yogurt cakes, yogurt parfaits…Yogurt is used now to make sweet dishes as well as making savory dishes. But who would ever think that yogurt can also be a useful remedy against sunburn? Smeared on the skin can give immediate relief from burning and helps it to get rid of the annoying bubbles on the surface. Used on face skin, can also help clean the impurities.
Mayonnaise
Very good to eat with fries or maybe into a nice hot dog, with mixed mustard? (yeah…it’s my favourite combination, forget about it…)
Perhaps you may already know that mayonnaise can also be a very good egg substitute to make cookies or cakes …. or even a good hair mask. What??? Yes, a good hair mask!Add a few drops of olive oil and one egg yolk in a cup of mayo and stir. Put this weird combination on your hair and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and you will feel your hair much healthier and shiny, once you dried them.
Lemon
Used in cocktails, sweets, salads, ice creams. I think this is really the most used food in the world. But even lemon, like other ingredients mentioned above, has countless uses, not only among pots and stoves. In fact it can be used to disinfect the kitchen’s cutting boards. Once finish to use it, rub a half lemon on the surface to sanitize it and remove any annoying smell of anything “strong” you cutted, especially fish.
Sugar
I said above that maybe lemon was the most widely used ingredient in the world. I was wrong. It’s sugar the most widely used ingredient around the world. You obviously don’t need to know where and for what uses sugar is used in our kitchens but…Did you know that, for example, that when you eat something particularly spicy, you can put a small quantity of sugar on your tongue and then press it firmly over the palate so you can relieve your burning sensation?
Also, do you know that you can use sugar to making excellent body scrub as a gift for some of your girlfriends at Christmas?
Olive oil
Ok. Do you remember when I mentioned above that lemon and sugar are the most used foods in the world? I was wrong…again! It’s olive oil the most used food (hopefully I’m right this time…) in the world! What dish did not has itself even a few drops of this delicious condiment born centuries ago?
Perhaps a few of you have thought of the multiple uses that can be done about this “liquid gold” that have nothing to do with the kitchen. For example, olive oil is a hands’ cuticles excellent emollient, used in small dose with a rag or piece of paper can facilitate cleaning of measuring spoons used with honey or syrups in general (even caramel!).
A teaspoon of olive oil mixed with your dog’s food every day, will help him to maintain a shiny coat and to ensure that you don’t lose big amount of coat all around your house.
