Friday, February 12, 2021

Not just for coffee

Coffee filters, even the large ones, cost almost nothing for a thousand of them at dollar stores.  Here are two dozen ways you could use them, aside from filtering coffee:
  1. Coffee filters make excellent covers for bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave.
  2. Coffee filters are lint-free, so clean windows, mirrors, and chrome with them.  They'll leave windows sparkling.
  3. Protect your good china by putting a coffee filter between each dish.
  4. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter out the broken cork by pouring the wine through a coffee filter.
  5. Protect your cast-iron skillet by placing a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
  6. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter to apply shoe polish.
  7. Recycle frying oil by straining the oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
  8. Weigh chopped foods by placing the chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
  9. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods, like tacos.
  10. Stop soil from leaking out through the drainage holes by lining the pot with a coffee filter.
  11. Prevent a popsicle from dripping by poking a hole in a coffee filter.
  12. Put a few coffee filters on a plate when you fry bacon, French fries, or chicken fingers to soak up all the grease.
  13. Keep in the bathroom for razor nick fixers.
  14. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear-off backing when you are embroidering or appliquéing soft fabrics.
  15. Put baking soda into a coffee filter which you can insert into shoes (or just put in your closet) to absorb or prevent odors.
  16. Use filters to strain soup stock — and to tie fresh herbs in — to put in soups and stews.
  17. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.
  18. Use a coffee filter as a spoon rest while cooking and also to clean up small counter spills.
  19. Using a filter to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting fruits or veggies will save having extra bowls to wash.
  20. Use the filters to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.
  21. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.
  22. Use them to sprout seeds by dampening a coffee filter, placing seeds inside, folding it, and putting it in a plastic baggie until they sprout.
  23. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers by placing flowers between two coffee filters and putting the filters in a thick book (like a phone book).
  24. Use the filters as disposable "snack bowls" for popcorn, chips, and other snacks.
I found these suggestions and the photo on Facebook (and edited for clarity), and then I discovered a lot of people online have suggested uses.  Two lists that I found are 37 Brilliant Uses for Coffee Filters and 18 Surprising Ways to Use Coffee Filters.  Several also suggested using the filters for children's projects.

2 comments:

Jinjer-The Intrepid Angeleno said...

OH. My. GAWSH!!!! I have a package of them sitting in my cabinet because I bought a permanent filter for my Mr. Coffee so I don't need them for coffee anymore.

Now I can stop buying paperplates just to use as covers in the microwave! Genius!

Thank you!

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I'm glad it was helpful to you, Jinjer.