If you haven’t cleared out the junk in your pantry yet, now’s the perfect time! To help you switch up the way you use those non-food items, I’ve put together a list of practical household hacks.
Like most people, I hate wasting things, but I had to accept that my body isn’t a trash can. I realized I shouldn’t just consume things to use them up. When we switched to a real food diet, I donated all the unopened non-perishables. But then I wondered what to do with the opened packages of flour, sugar, oatmeal, and similar items.
I recalled some natural beauty recipes and fun, kid-friendly activities I’d read about before. The kids loved them, and I got a bit of pampering while we used up the leftovers of our “junk food.”
Here are some of my solutions:
You can spend quality time with your kids while teaching them flour is better used in crafts than in their bellies. (Even if you don’t have kids, these activities can be fun for adults too — consider it stress relief.)
Basic Play Dough with Extra Flour:
Use up your flour, vegetable oil, table salt, and Kool-Aid to make play dough.
Paper Mache Paste:
Mix equal parts flour and water to create a glue-like paste. Let the kids use their hands and newspaper to craft something. Once dry, it feels like sculpture material. We used to put this over balloons, let them dry, then popped the balloons to make mask bases.
Exfoliating Sugar Scrub:
While sugar isn’t great to eat, it makes a fantastic skin scrub. Mix a 1/2 cup of sugar with enough olive oil to moisten it, add essential oils like lavender or orange if you like, and you’ve got a spa-quality facial scrub. Apply with wet hands to exfoliate.
Ant Poison:
If sugar on your face doesn’t appeal, try mixing 2 parts sugar with 1 part borax (great for cleaning). Put it in a container where ants can reach it, but ensure kids can’t. Borax is toxic to ants, but they love sugar. They’ll carry it back to the nest, wiping them out over time.
Floor Cleaner:
You can use that vegetable oil as a hardwood floor cleaner instead of consuming it. Mix a cup of vinegar with a tablespoon of vegetable oil or lemon juice for an effective cleaner.
Rescuing Wet Electronics with Rice:
If a phone or similar device gets wet, place it in a jar of rice, seal it, and let it absorb the moisture. It might take a few days, but it usually works unless there’s structural damage.
Oatmeal Skin Treatments:
Instead of eating oatmeal, use it on your skin. Blend it into a fine powder, mix with warm milk for a facial paste, apply, then wash off once dry. It works well for sunburns or itchy skin too.
Toilet Cleaner Using Coke:
Pour a can of Coke into your toilet, let it sit for an hour, then scrub with a brush before flushing. It’s surprisingly effective, even in old or neglected toilets.
Stainless Steel Cleaner with Flour:
After regular cleaning, rub flour on stainless steel surfaces to make them shine and remove fingerprints. Just keep it out of your mouth!
Hopefully, these ideas inspire you to find new uses for any leftover junk food in your pantry. If you haven’t already, consider getting rid of or finding creative uses for wheat and gluten-containing flours, unhealthy fats, and sugary foods. Have any other ideas? I’d love to hear them!
