8 Surprising Survival Uses for Coffee Grounds
Grow Your Own Mushrooms
Good news! If you’ve got a plastic bucket** and some coffee grounds, you’ve got the materials necessary to grow your very own mushrooms!
Better yet, you can reuse these coffee grounds for YEARS before they lose their nutritious benefits. Check out the video below to learn more about this process!
** We’ve got TONS of survival uses for plastic buckets in our new survival article! Check it out here.
Fertilize Your Garden
Want your plants to grow up big, strong and healthy? Add coffee grounds to your existing compost pile. Then when it’s ready for fertilization, add the compost to your plants and water them. That nutrition-dense fertilizer will give your plants the boost they need to thrive!
Clean The Pots + Pans
Coffee grounds are naturally abrasive, and you can use this to your advantage when cleaning out your cookware. Not to mention, it works great on getting stubborn food off cast iron!
For normal cookware, add the coffee grounds and a little bit of water and scrub away.
Cast iron hates water unless you’re willing to dry it thoroughly over high heat. It also despises soap. Therefore an easy, quick solution is to pour plenty of grounds into the empty, dry cast iron and rub it all over using a paper towel.
The grounds will work to scrub off that hardened food, and you won’t have to go through the process of drying. Toss out the grounds and towel when it’s nice and clean.
Trap + Prevent Pests
Coffee grounds can be a beneficial and natural tool for either trapping or repelling household pests. For instance, roaches are attracted to coffee grounds, so putting a small mound near windows, wall/door cracks, etc can entice them – and allow you to trap them.
Meanwhile, pests like ants, slugs and snails tend to stay away from coffee grounds due to the caffeine. Sprinkle it around common household areas these pests like to enter through. You can also sprinkle the grounds into your garden to help keep these pests (and even cats!) away from your plants.
Take Your Meat To The Next Level
Good news! Coffee grounds can both be useful for tenderizing your meat, as well as making a marinade out of it. By simply mixing them with a liquid, this will add a nice, smokey flavor you’ll love.
Freshen The Air
Love the smell of coffee? Place the grounds on a cookie sheet to dry completely. Then place them inside the foot of a pair of pantyhose** and tie off the top. You’ve now got an effective and fantastic-smelling air freshener!
** Want more survival uses for pantyhose? Check them out in our survival article right here.
Prevent Injuries
Coffee grounds can be essential for preventing slips and falls in the winter. Simply lay these onto icy walkways to help give walkers traction. The grounds can even speed up the melting process!
Natural Exfoliant
Coffee grounds can be great for exfoliating dead skin on your face, hands and rest of your body. Combine it with coconut oil and rub it all over your skin, and then rinse. You’ll love the soft, smooth feel it brings!
Know of more survival uses for coffee grounds? Let us know in the comments!
