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Alternate Uses for Kitchen Tools

You may have wondered how to use a melon baller or how to use a cocktail shaker, there are some good youtube videos for that – but what if you seldom shake cocktails and still want to use a cocktail shaker? Do you have some old cooks tools sitting in your kitchen drawers that you maybe use once a year? If you’ve got a “use it or lose it” mentality then the cooks tool may not be worth the space it takes in your kitchen. But if you like to make use of what you buy (our same philosophy as with food) then read on to possibly discover some new uses for various items already in your kitchen.

For instance, did you know that an egg slicer can slice much more than just eggs? Don’t let an items name fool you! Even items that you are about to trash like an empty ketchup bottle can be cleaned out and turned into a handy new cooks tool. You may want to bring some of these cooks tools and other household items out of hiding more often and resurrect their useful life.

New Uses For Kitchen Tools

Check out all the alternate uses possible for some old cooks tools.


Original Tool	Alternate Use
Egg Slicer	Slice Strawberries
	OR Slice Mushrooms
	OR Slice Fresh Mozzarella
Melon Baller	Jar Scoop – use to retrieve small items like olives or maraschino cherries from narrow jars
	OR Scoop seeds from fruits like tomatoes or guava
Pizza Cutter	Make chopped salad – place your lettuce on a cutting board or in a bowl (safe for cutting) and run the pizza cutter
Bundt Pan	Place the bundt pan on a shallow baking pan and then place a seasoned chicken cavity over the hole, you can add potatoes and/or veggies in the bottom of the bundt pan to be flavored by the juices while the chicken cooks.
Chop Sticks	Level Flour – keep one in your flour bag/canister to use to level off the top when measuring a cup of flour
Cocktail Shaker	Make Scrambled Eggs – add eggs & milk, close lid – shake & pour
Garlic Press	Crush Seeds
Turkey Baster	Shape Pancakes – Fill the baster with batter and then draw an outline in your hot pan so it can start browning before you fill in your design with more batter
Salad Spinner	Toss or Dress your Salad for uniform distribution
	OR Wash your small items (little plastic items like corn cob holders, lids and cake decorating tips – things that otherwise slip into the garbage disposal) by adding a little dish soap and spinning them clean
Corn on the Cob Prongs	Grips for Cheese – place in a hunk of cheese to make a handle to use while slicing
Glass Marbles	Empty Pan Notifiers – place in the bottom of the pan with water when you are using a double boiler or steaming vegetables – they will make a loud rattle to alert you that all the water has evaporated before you burn your pan
Ketchup Bottle	Fill a clean bottle with chocolate, caramel or raspberry sauce to professionally decorate your desserts
Candle	Burn a candle while chopping onions – the flame burns off some of the fumes and carries the rest away from your eyes
Mini Cooler	Keep a Casserole (or any food) warm if it’s ready before the rest of the meal – but be careful to protect plastic lined coolers like the one shown with a towel so that the hot casserole dish does not melt the plastic lining
Mouse Pad	Trivet – Use a Non-Plastic mouse pad as a trivet to protect your table
Ice Cube Trays	Place a few sprigs of clean fresh mint in each cube and then fill with water to later add a little pick up to your water or iced tea
Cupcake Pan	Cooling Rack – Turn a cupcake pan upside down and it can be used as a cooling rack for a tray of cookies or cake
Straws	Use them to lengthen flower stems that are either damaged or too short to sit properly in your flower vase.

Additional Information

For more ideas of other uses for other kitchen items, see our kitchen hack ideas.

If you’re cleaning and trying to decide which tools are essential to a kitchen then check our kitchen drawer essentials page.

If, on the other hand, you love to have a tool for everything then check this pineapple corer:

To find out how long other foods are good for, please visit the Dairy, Drinks, Fruits, Grains, Proteins, Vegetables and Other sections of Eat By Date or use the search function below.