Have you ever realized that your ice cube tray could be used for so many more things than just to freeze water to make ice cubes? There are endless ways you can use this ordinary, every day item. I mean water ice cubes are great and all, but it’s wonderful to use an item to it’s full potential, especially if it means that it’ll make your life easier in the long run. That’s just what some of these uses for your ice cube tray will do. They will create solutions to so lots of problems you encounter everyday while it’s cooking, drinking, or simply wanting a little treat. Check out these 8 awesome ways to use your ice cube tray.
1. Cookie Dough Ice Cubes
Ever have those moments when you’re sitting at home and all of the sudden you’re craving homemade cookies? That’s the worst craving to get because it’s not very quick or easy to mix up a batch of cookies. Well, for to help with this dilemma, next time you make a batch of cookies, double the recipe, then put the extra cookie dough in some ice cube trays and pop them in the freezer. That way, the next time you’re craving homemade cookies you can pop these out of the freezer and into the oven. Cook them like you regularly would, but for a minute or two longer. You can cook just one, or the entire ice cube tray of frozen cookie dough.
(If you’re interested in other great hacks for your home, garden, and cooking, head over to Good Housekeeping).
2. Milk Cubes For Coffee
Iced coffee is certainly delicious, but having ice cubes made out of water can easily water down your coffee and very quickly. In order to avoid this, pour some milk or creamer into the ice cube try and let it freeze. Next time you have your iced coffee, put these fancy ice cubes in your coffee and as they melt, it’ll flavor your coffee instead of water it down.
Source: paleoeatsandtreats.com
3. Mess Free Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Chocolate covered strawberries are certainly delicious, but they can be very messy and time consuming. To save time and clean up, pour the melted chocolate into your ice cube tray then place the strawberries into each of the squares on the tray. Let the chocolate harden, then pop them out like you would regular ice cubes. Now you can easily and quickly make this delicious treat!
(Head over to Paleo Eats & Treats for other tasty, but healthy treats and family friendly recipes).
Source: ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com
4. Frozen Yogurt For Smoothies
Smoothies can often times get watered down if you use regular ice cubes to help get a thicker, frozen consistency. If you don’t use ice cubes it can be hard to get your smoothies to this consistency. To help with this, place some yogurt in your ice cube trays and place them in the freezer. Since you’re going to be putting yogurt in your smoothie anyways, this is a great way to get a nice thick and cold consistency to your smoothie without watering it down.
(Check out I Should Be Mopping The Floor for other great recipe hacks, DIY projects, free printables, and more).
5. Frozen Citrus Juice
It can take a long time to squeeze the juice out of certain citrus fruits like limes or lemons to put in your drinks or in recipes. To cut out some of that prep time, squeeze a whole bunch of limes or lemons and put the juice in your ice cube trays to freeze. The next time you need some citrus juice for drinks or cooking you can easily pop these cubes in.
(If you’re interested in other great hacks for your home, garden, and cooking, head over to Good Housekeeping).
6. Left Over Wine Ice Cubes
Next time you have your friends over for a drink and end up with a little bit of wine left over, don’t let it go to waste. Pour it in your ice cube trays and let it freeze. You can use it later for cooking or for chilling your drinks like Sangria to keep it cold without watering it down.
(If you’re interested in other great ideas for wine, or if you want to visit a winery, check out Ponte Winery).
7. Frozen Herbs
Often times recipes call for a small amount of fresh herbs, but you can only buy a larger amount than you really need at the grocery store. Instead of letting the herbs go to waste or throwing them away, freeze them. You can pack each square on your ice cube tray with the herbs and olive oil. That way they’re ready to use when you need to cook with it.
8. Frozen Eggs
I don’t know about you, but sometimes my family and I don’t use up all of our eggs before their expiration date. Wasting food like this can be extremely frustrating. To avoid wasting your eggs like this, beat them together then pour them into your ice cube trays. Once they’re frozen you can easily throw them in for recipes. If you need to keep track of how many are in each tray only pour in one or two beaten eggs into each square. That way you know exactly how many eggs you’re putting into your recipe.