Salt can do so much more than just add flavor to your favorite dishes. Today I thought I’d share 9 of the best practical uses for salt both in the kitchen and well beyond it. I think you’ll be as impressed as I was!
9 Practical Household Uses for Salt
1. Clean Cast Iron Pans
Well-seasoned cast iron pans can usually be wiped clean with ease, but on those occasions when you need a little more scrubbing power, grab some coarse salt. Pour a handful of it into the pan while it’s still warm, add enough vegetable oil to the salt to form a gritty paste, then use a clean, dry dish rag to scrub the salt and oil paste around the inside of the pan.
The salt will provide the extra scouring power you need to remove those stuck-on food bits, while the oil soaks up the grime and helps to build up the seasoning on your pan. When you’re done scrubbing, dump the salt mixture out and wipe up any residual salt and oil with a paper towel or another clean rag.
Read More: How to Clean Cast Iron Cookware the Right Way
2. Restore Crispness to Veggies
When crisp veggies like cucumbers, radishes, celery, or carrots turn soft while in your fridge, you can use a bit of salt to crisp them up again. Slice the veggies and place them in a colander along with a dozen or so ice cubes and a pinch of salt.
Use your hands to toss the veggies, salt, and ice together and set the colander inside a bowl. Place the bowl in your fridge for an hour or so, then pat your newly crisp veggies dry and use them up as soon as you can.
3. Clean Up Spilled Egg
Dropped a raw egg on the kitchen floor? Sprinkle salt over the top of the mess and leave it there for about 20 minutes. Then you’ll be able to wipe it right up.
4. Put out a Grease Fire
Pour salt on top of a grease fire to smother it and put it out. (And remember, never pour water on a grease fire!)
5. Clean Artificial Flowers
Put dusty artificial flowers in a bag of salt and shake the bag. Take a look at the color of the salt afterward—yuck!
6. Erase Stains from Mugs
You can use salt to help you scrub out coffee and tea stains from mugs. Rub them with salt to remove the staining before washing them thoroughly with soap and water.
7. Absorb Food Stains
If you spill some of your food or drink on the table cloth or your shirt, rub some salt onto the area to help draw out the stain, then put the item in the wash. (This is especially helpful when you’re eating out or at home, because there’s usually salt close by.)
8. Deter Ants
Forget the harsh chemical pesticides; to keep ants at bay, one of the safest home remedies is to create a line of salt where you’ve spotted ants moving around. Salt dehydrates and kills most insects so they’ll do whatever they can to avoid it.
9. Make Eggs Easier to Peel
Did you know that eggs boiled in lightly salted water will peel more easily? Add a big pinch of salt to your water and cook the eggs as usual.
Do you have know of any other tips or tricks that use salt?
More Ideas You'll Love
Salt is great for deterring slugs and snails in the garden.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Why would you do that. Slugs and snails are your plants best friends!!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Slugs eat your plant’s leaves! Why would I want them in my garden?
Sorry, but I have not seen either if them to benefit my garden in any way. In fact, slugs COMPLETELY destroyed my herbs this summer :(
I would be careful about using the salt in the garden. Yes it will deter slugs but the salt also is a great weed killer so as it gets rained on it will go into the soil. Even if this does get too close to the plants it is wicked to the beneficial insects, worms etc in the soil.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.A small saucer in your garden with beer will draw all your slugs. Yes beer.
I mix 1 cup of salt with 2 litres of BROWN Vinegar to use for weedkiller. It works quicker than the commercial products.
Make a saline solution to clear an infants (or even your own) plugged up nose. 1/4 tsp salt mixed into 1/2 c warm water.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.do NOT use tap water for nasal irrigation.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When I bought sarongs in the Caribbean, the women told me to dip them in the ocean and let them dry before using- it set the colors.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.to prevent the lipsticks marks on the glass to start with, if you wet the edge of the glass before taking a drink the lipstick won’t transfer.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You’re from Utah (me too) so MAYBE you have tried this-I used to take new summer sandals and new hiking boots down to the Great Salt Lake and wade in the water while wearing my shoes, for about half an hour. If the boots were too tight they softened up and stretched to fit my foot perfectly, and my sandal leather never got thin and loose from wear.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Additionally, because the “sand” on land was tremendously salty, I would dig a deep pit, built a small fire, put rocks and lake soaked weeds/grasses on top, put a layer of husked corn over that, more damp weeds and let the corn ‘bake’ for a few hours.
I would NOT do that now…probably the lake is not as clean as it used to be.
I embroidered a towel when I was a child and the metal embroidery hoop left rust marks on the fabric.
My mother had me drench the rusted spots in lemon juice and then put a liberal amount of salt on the rust stains. Left it outside in the sun and kept the salt wet with additional lemon juice as required until the rust was lifted out of the fabric.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You mentioned the greasy pan idea, but salt is also the best way to clean cast iron that has food bits stubbornly burned on. Generously sprinkle with salt and scrub with a plastic “scrubby” and it will clean right up without losing the pan’s seasoning.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You can also soak white lingerie to keep them white. I learned this from a lady that sold lingerie. I use salt and vinegar on all of my new clothes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Rub your hands with salt after cutting an onion. It gets rid of the smell of the onion.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.rubbing hands on stainless steel will do the same thing, it helps with some other smells on the hands too
Please log in or create a free account to comment.AWESOME ideas! I knew many of these, and learned a few things. Thanks for all your hard work!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I learned the setting colors trick from using the boxed die on the laundry row. According to it you just add 1 cup salt to the water. It works great. My daughter’s favorite zebra beach towel would come out of the wash just fine, but when she wrapped up in it at the pool & it held water for a while the black kept bleeding onto the white. Since I knew the black would come off the white by running through the wash I washed it to get it out, then ran it through another time with salt in the water. No more color bleeding. Since then I like to wash new colors in salt water to set the colors, especially if they are a dark color with white stripes.
This post gives me a lot more great ideas for using salt around the house! =)
As I was mixing up some sugar scrub yesterday an idea came to mind. My favorite bridal shower gift to give a new couple that still live with their parents up until they move in together after the wedding is a laundry basket that I pack full of all the little things a new couple needs to start off a new home – foil & plastic wrap, cleaning supplies for dishes, laundry & home, some basic staples (flour, sugar, salt, etc) & some basic paper goods. It always seems to be well received, since the ones that don’t live on their own before marriage have to start a house from scratch.
I’ve learned through making my own cleaning supplies that you really only need a few ingredients to clean a whole house & all of it’s laundry. A neat variation on the basket idea would be to include some of the homemade cleaners in nice containers along with the supplies need to make them & the formulas. I’m already making copies of my favorite formulas so I don’t have to boot up the computer every time I need to make a batch. It goes on a card in my recipe box & I’m also going to make extra sets so that I can fix my kids one of those laundry baskets when they set up their first homes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Landon, I have done this, too. The only difference was that I used a laundry hamper. I added some hand made items, too. (This was for the shower.) I put in a handmade handkerchief that could be sewn into a baby’s cap. Lots of odds and ends of items. At the moment, I can’t think of what all was in it, but it was heavy and full! =) I have done the laundry baskets full of thing for our children for Christmas gifts. My mother started doing this for us almost as soon as we married.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Love it Landon!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What a wonderful idea! All the weddings I know in the next year have all been on their own for awhile though. A spin on this would be a graduation present for a kid going off to college. Not all the cleaning recipes but the detergent and laundry basket would be two good ones.
On the post with the $30 of laundry soap for a year, one of the commentors had a great idea, she took the soap and put it in a folded coffee filter, sewing the opening shut, instant little soap packets like the pods that are available now, great for students going to the laundry room. I had the idea of spraying the filters with vinegar or fabric softener and letting them dry first, as an all in one detergent and softener.
Also some type of lavender spray or lavender infuse baking soda to sprinkle on the college mattress (lavender repels bed bugs)
I make the coffee filter pods– soaking in vinegar first might not be the best idea– I read that vinegar reduces the effectiveness of the soap. That is why vinegar should be added to the rinse cycle. Anything to that Jillee?
My ex-MIL did essentially the same thing except that she took a kitchen garbage can & tied to a string many of the small kitchen utensils that I would need. It was fun pulling on the ribbon to find a new utensil about 10 inches down at a time.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Wow! Lots of these tips my parents did but I never knew the “WHY” they did it. Thank you so much! I learned a lot!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Working in he food industry years ago, I learned a neat trick. To clean coffee stains out of the glass coffee pots, pour in a generous amount if salt (1/3 of a cup?) and add 1/4 of a pot of CRUSHED ice. NOTE: only do this when the pot is cooled off. Do NOT put ice in a hot pot, it will shatter!!!! Swirl it around vigorously for a few minutes until the glass is clear again. The ice and salt scrub away all the stains and burned coffee that accumulates over time. They look brand new! We even used it to save pots that were “ruined” by being left on the warmer too long.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Good one Charli! thanks for sharing!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I akso learned that trick but with the addition of a few squeezed lemon wedges in the ice works great on the stubborn stains,
Please log in or create a free account to comment.thanks so much for this list! there are several great ideas i’m writing down to try! i keep a parmesean cheese container filled with a mixture of half salt/half baking soda by my kitchen sink, i use this along with a little dish soap to scrub my sinks & pans…works like a charm
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use salt to clean my bathrooms. I keep an old coffee creamer container full of kosher salt (and a couple drops of essential oils), sprinkle into the toilet/sink/tub as needed. It’s been great, especially for when my kids manage to get toothpaste everywhere.
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