Ice cube molds are inexpensive, costing only a dollar or two, and they can be utilized to produce various frozen goodies, ranging from chocolates to blended fruit snacks. There are several creative ways to use these kitchen items, so you won’t regret purchasing extra ice cube trays. Below are some ideas on how to utilize those frequently overlooked trays sitting in your freezer.
Herbal Ice Cubes
Freezing water with herbs added to it will produce visually pleasing ice cubes, but these ice cubes are not only decorative. They can also be useful when you want to chill your herb-infused beverages.
Instead of using regular ice for your summer ice tea, it’s cooler and more interesting to add some specialized herbal cubes. This will not only enhance the visual appeal, but also add a unique flavor to your drink through the use of frozen edible flowers.
Old Crayons
Have you ever considered repurposing used crayons? If you have children, it’s likely you’re aware of how effortless it is for them to damage a complete set of perfectly functional crayons by breaking them in two or wasting a substantial amount on nothing.
In case you have a broken set of crayons, there is a way to revive them. Melt the individual colors and pour them into the compartments of an ice cube tray. After a few hours of freezing, the colors will solidify and the crayons will be usable once more.
Freeze Eggs
Have you ever considered freezing eggs? You might be amazed by how beneficial it can be. If you don’t use the eggs before their expiration, they will spoil, and nobody wants to squander food in that manner.
If you feel that the eggs in your refrigerator are close to their expiration date, you may want to think about putting them in an ice cube tray. However, before doing so, remember to crack the eggs and either keep the yolks and whites separate or store them together.
Garbage Disposal Cleaning Tabs
It is crucial to keep your garbage disposal clean in order to avoid unpleasant odors within your home. Fortunately, you can utilize ice cube trays to create simple cleaning tabs that will allow you to easily maintain a fresh-smelling and odorless garbage disposal.
To create cleaning tabs that can be used whenever required, simply put a small amount of vinegar and a lemon wedge into each compartment of the ice cube tray. Allow the cubes to freeze, then transfer them to a Ziploc bag and keep them in the freezer until they are needed.
Bite-Sized Candy
The position of a party host may appear to be attractive, but it involves more effort than you might think. Organizing an event for a significant number of individuals, particularly in terms of food and refreshments, requires a lot of planning and preparation.
When preparing food for guests, opting for small-sized snacks is a great idea. By using only a few ingredients and an ice cube tray, you can effortlessly make bite-sized confectionery that suits any occasion.
Store Baby Food
Every parent should seriously consider the much healthier option of preparing homemade baby food, although it requires extra time each day to prepare the food, as the ingredients can last a long time in the refrigerator.
An option available to you is to prepare baby food beforehand and place it in your ice cube tray to freeze. After it has frozen, transfer the baby food cubes into a ziplock bag and keep them on hand to prepare for your baby’s mealtime.
Store Craft Items
Engaging in arts and crafts is undoubtedly among the most enjoyable pastimes. However, the challenge arises in securing all the craft materials, which can pose a real headache, particularly when dealing with minute items like pins and buttons.
Fortunately, you can neatly arrange your arts and crafts supplies in an ice cube tray, even grouping them by various categories, so you won’t have to sift through disorganized boxes of crafting materials anymore.
Ice Coffee Cubes
As someone who enjoys coffee greatly, you likely know the difficulty of adding ice to your coffee. Using typical ice cubes will inevitably dilute your coffee and there seems to be no alternative. Nonetheless, a remedy exists for this problem.
You just need frozen coffee cubes and fortunately, they are very simple to prepare. Make your coffee as usual and pour it into the ice tray. Freeze it and you will have ice cubes with a great coffee flavor, which you can add to your next drink.
Make Seed Bombs
Do you intend to sow a greater variety of brightly hued blooms in your garden? Be prepared before the arrival of spring to ensure you have a diverse assortment of flowers, creating a more delightful atmosphere.
Ice cube trays can be utilized to create seed bombs and get your garden ready for the beautiful spring season. Simply blend the components and fill the tray, allowing the bombs to freeze and be set for utilization.
Make a Paint Palette
Here is a rephrased version: Those who enjoy painting or whose children enjoy arts and crafts in their free time may find the following suggestion useful. Ice cube trays can be used to create custom paint palettes.
To put it in easy terms, fill the slots of an ice cube tray with paint and wait for it to freeze completely. The children can utilize it just like any other paint palette, however, you won’t have to pay extra to purchase more materials.
Make Sushi
If you are a fan of sushi, then you’ll definitely enjoy this new tip. Have you always wanted to prepare your own sushi rolls, but feel it is too challenging? No worries, with just an ice tray, you can now effortlessly make flawless sushi rolls in the comfort of your home.
Perhaps you never considered this fact, but the design of the individual slots in an ice cube tray is ideal for shaping small portions of sushi. It’s as simple as filling the slots with your desired ingredients and forming a perfectly proportioned roll for a tasty snack.
Peanut Butter Cubes
It is hard to find someone who doesn’t enjoy peanut butter. Creating small cubes of peanut butter is one of the simplest homemade snacks you can make, and you only need an ice cube tray.
Get the tray and apply some cooking spray on the slots. Place chocolate and peanut butter in the slots and allow it to freeze. You will end up with a tasty dessert that rivals cake shop standards!
Make Dishwasher Detergent Tablets
Although dishwashers can alleviate a significant amount of household work and reduce the list of chores, their ongoing use can become quite costly. The costs associated with purchasing dishwasher tablets may accumulate, particularly if they are not purchased in bulk.
By making dishwasher tabs in an ice tray using a reliable recipe and a silicone ice tray, you can save money effortlessly. Simply freeze the tabs until needed, and you won’t need to purchase them in the future.
Storing Buttermilk
Buttermilk is categorized as a fragile ingredient that has a short shelf life. If you happen to have a considerable amount of remaining buttermilk, it would be unfortunate to discard it. That is why freezing it is an excellent solution.
Storing buttermilk in the form of ice cubes would make it easier for you to use it as and when required. The frozen cubes have a longer shelf life in the freezer, so there’s no need to be concerned about it spoiling.
Chocolate Ice Cubes
Who can resist the temptation of chocolate? Chocolate lovers will surely find chocolate ice cubes as the perfect snack that will satisfy their sweet cravings. Moreover, chocolate cubes have versatile uses beyond being a snack.
An example of enhancing the flavor of cold sweet drinks without watering them down is by adding frozen cubes of chocolate. This would create a richer taste for the beverage and make all chocolate enthusiasts happy with this enjoyable addition.
Frozen Chicken Stock
If you’ve recently prepared a batch of chicken stock, there’s a possibility that you may have remaining portions. Rather than allowing them to spoil needlessly, it’s smarter to put them in an ice tray to preserve them in the freezer, allowing you to make the most of any excess.
To create a convenient stock supply, freeze any remaining stock in an ice tray. You can store the frozen cubes in the tray or transfer them to a ziplock bag for quick access. This ensures that you always have stock on hand when you need it.
Frozen Cookie Dough
Have you ever felt the urge to have homemade cookies, but didn’t have the energy to make the dough from scratch? Well, one solution could be to prepare the dough in advance, so that whenever you feel like having freshly baked cookies, you can easily make them.
Simply make the dough in your usual way, then divide it evenly among the compartments of the ice cube tray. Allow the mixture to freeze completely in the freezer before transferring the cubes to freezer bags for storage.
Frozen Fruit Salad
If you love snacks with a fruity taste, you’ll definitely enjoy this one! When you have a longing for something delectable and rejuvenating, fruit salads are among the most delightful treats you can think of.
It can be disappointing that certain fruits are not consistently in season. Nevertheless, there’s no need to wait for their respective seasons to relish a delectable fruit salad. One solution is to create your preferred fruit salad and freeze it in ice cube trays, enabling you to always have a refreshing fruity snack at your convenience.
Chocolate Sticks
Are you familiar with a tasty treat called hot chocolate on a stick? It’s a beloved Christmas snack that’s often utilized as a decorative element for holiday-themed presents and meals. By using ice cube trays, it’s possible for you to create your own delightful chocolate sticks, and here are the instructions.
Prepare the hot chocolate according to your preference and then pour it into the ice cube trays. To each cube, insert a marshmallow and a stick prior to freezing it. Once frozen, wrap the decorated Christmas sticks with ribbons and transparent paper.
Mini Popsicles
Popsicles are a great snack for kids and even adults who like sweet and refreshing treats. If you’re running out of snack ideas, you can get creative with homemade popsicles and surprise your family members with a delicious snack.
All you need are some basic ingredients and an ice cube tray. Cut up slices of fruits and place them into the tray slots. Add any juice of your choice and freeze the whole thing up. Make sure to add sticks before letting the popsicles freeze all the way.
Make Rice Krispy Treats
Rice krispies are another popular mini treat for children and grown-ups. Most importantly, these bite-sized snacks are very easy to make. Follow any rice krispies recipe that you like and use an ice cube tray to freeze the snacks in the right shape.
It will only take a few hours for the rice krispy treats to freeze completely, which makes this a great choice for last minute preparation of candy and snacks for parties and events. Decorate your krispies with sprinkles before they freeze to make sure the decoration sticks to the mixture.
Gummy Worms
Regardless of whether you have kids or not, making your own homemade snacks is always a fun activity to engage in. Those who have children will find this little trick helpful when coming up with new snack ideas.
Use an ice cube tray to make gummy worm cubes for your kids and let them enjoy this sweet refreshment. Fill up the cubes with juice and let the gummy worms dangle out of each slot. Once frozen, the gummy worm snacks will be ready to serve.
Store Pesto
Are you a fan of the good old traditional Pesto sauce? Pesto mixed with pasta makes for some of the most delicious Italian dishes you can think of. What’s even better is when you make your own, homemade Pesto.
If you are one of those people who make their own Pesto sauce, you probably know how much of the sauce is left unused after your cooking session. Well, you can save the leftover Pesto by freezing it in your ice cube tray!
Store Tomato Sauce
Tomato sauce is another ingredient that you can easily preserve by storing it in the freezer. All you have to do is fill up an ice tray with the leftover sauce and let it sit in the freezer overnight until it is firm enough to be stored in ziploc bags.
Keep in mind that you can store all sorts of different sauces using your ice cube tray. It doesn’t have to specifically be Pesto or Tomato sauce. However, these sauces will remain as delicious as they were the first time, as long as you freeze them right away.
Make Candy Bars
Making your own candy bars might sound like too much work, especially if you’re not experienced in this category in the kitchen. However, an ice cube tray can help you prepare delicious candy bars without needing much knowledge and expertise.
All you have to do is choose the candy bar recipe you like, prepare the mixture, and pour it into the tray. For extra sweetness, add a layer of chocolate on top of the tray to tie it all together. Once frozen, take your chocolate candy bars out of the tray and they’ll be ready to serve!
Cheesecakes
Out of all the tips and tricks that include making things with ice cube trays, food hacks are definitely our favorite. Those who love cheesecake will find these bite-sized versions absolutely irresistible.
All you have to do is put the cheesecake mixture in the tray and let it freeze for a couple of hours. You will get a delicious and very refreshing snack, perfect for serving when people come over.
Make Jelly Shots
Jelly shots are the ultimate snack/refreshment for parties and gatherings. With that in mind, you might find yourself in a situation where you need to prepare jelly shots for your upcoming event. Worry not, we’ve got you!
Making jelly shots is definitely not rocket science. Simply prepare the jelly mix, pour it into an ice cube tray, and add anything else you want inside the shots (perhaps a raspberry or a sliced strawberry).
Seed Starter
Here’s another way you can use an ice cube tray that is not related to food or kitchen kittens. If you love plants, this tip will be perfect for you. You can use an ice cube tray as your homemade seed starter.
However, make sure to drill little holes at the bottom of the tray so the water can be drained from the dirt after you water the plants. Make sure each ice cube tray slot has enough holes poked at the bottom to allow the water to seep through.
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Who doesn’t like chocolate covered strawberries? This is one of the most popular combinations of fruit and chocolate, as well as the most popular homemade snack you will ever find. With that in mind, you’ve probably tried making chocolate covered strawberries at least once.
You might have noticed that it is difficult to get the chocolate to stick to each side of the strawberry equally. Well, if you pour the chocolate into an ice cube tray and stick the strawberry inside, you will get the perfect chocolate to fruit ratio.
Frozen Herbs
While you can store your herbs in a ziploc bag in the fridge, they won’t be fresh for very long. Freezing them would allow the herbs to preserve the freshness and the delicious flavor over longer periods of time.
The best way to freeze herbs is to mix them up with some olive oil and pour it all into ice cube trays. This will give you little cubes of herbs with oil that will be ready to use whenever you feel like preparing a delicious meal again.
Christmas Ice Cubes
With the holidays just around the corner, you can already start coming up with decoration ideas and festive details. One of those details could be the Christmas ice cubes, which you can easily make with any regular ice cube tray.
Simply add decorative ingredients such as herbs and fruits and pour some water over them. Let the whole mixture freeze and you will have some of the prettiest ice cubes your guests will see this holiday season.
Sugar Scrub Cubes
Healthy sugar scrubs can make your skin look better and feel much softer. Unfortunately, the scrubs you find in stores are filled with chemicals and all sorts of ingredients that are harmful to your skin.
To avoid using harmful substances, consider making your own sugar scrub cubes. Just prepare the mixture and put it in an ice cube tray until it freezes. You will get a nice and healthy scrub made of all natural ingredients.
Iced Tea Cubes
There’s nothing worse than iced tea getting warm! In fact, the only thing that could be worse than a warm cup of iced tea is a cup of watered down iced tea. The truth is, if you want to freshen up your drink, it is bound to get watered down as the ice melts.
However, if you think smart from the start, you can make your own iced tea cubes so when you need an ice cube for the tea, you will have one that will enrich the flavor of the drink instead of watering it down.
Make Refreshing Syrup
Syrup ice cubes can also be a great addition to your iced tea or similar sugary beverages. Instead of watering down your drink, these ice cubes will add extra flavor and make all your party guests wonder what the secret ingredient is.
All you have to do is make some refreshing syrup and pour it into the ice cube trays to let it freeze. Once frozen, put the cubes into your beverage and enjoy refreshing drinks with an extra touch of sugary or fruity flavor.
Make Lemon Cubes
Do you have some leftover lemons lying around the kitchen? We all know that lemons can’t last very long once they’ve been cut up, since they tend to get dry very easily. However, there is a way you can still make use of them.
Squeeze the lemon juice before it dries out and store it into ice cube trays. That way, you will have fresh lemon juice ready whenever you feel like making a lemonade, you just won’t have to squeeze the lemons all over again.
Make Herbal Garlic Butter
Garlic butter is one of the best additions to any fried meal since it adds a very unique and creamy aroma. The best way to give your home cooked meal that extra twist is to make your own herbal garlic butter.
To do so, simply mix garlic with regular butter and pour the mixture into the ice cube trays. Let it freeze and you will have fresh butter with a unique flavor ready to spice up your meals in no time!
Store Jewelry
Who says an ice cube tray has to be used for food only? Well, you can actually use this convenient product for a lot of other purposes. For example, it serves as a great jewelry organizer.
If you have a lot of rings sitting around an old box, it is probably difficult to go through them and find the ones you need to complete your outfit. Well, if you put all your rings into ice cube tray slots, you won’t have trouble finding them ever again.
Frozen Fruit Cubes
One of the best refreshing snacks during hot summer days are these frozen fruit cubes. However, it doesn’t have to be summer for you to enjoy this delicious fruity snack. Who are we to judge!
As long as you prepare your fruit cubes in time, they will be fresh and ready for you to consume them whenever you want to! Simply put sliced up fruit into an ice cube tray and cover it all up with water until it freezes into perfectly shaped fruit cubes.
Make Frozen Yogurt
If you’ve never thought of making frozen yogurt ice cubes, this idea will definitely change your life! Why add plain old ice cubes into your smoothie and water down the consistency when you can make frozen yogurt cubes instead?
Get some Greek yogurt and freeze it into ice cubes. Feel free to add sliced up bananas if you want an extra punch to your smoothies. The next time you make a smoothie, use these ice cubes for extra flavor and an even creamier texture.
Make Slushies
Slushies are a mixture between a cold beverage and crushed ice. No matter how you would categorize this treat, there is no doubt that it serves as great refreshment during hot summer days.
The only problem is that crushing regular ice won’t give you a full flavor, no matter how much syrup you pour over it. Instead, freeze cubes of any juice of your choice and once you crush it, you will get perfect slushies every time.
Frozen Fruit Juice
Frozen fruit juice ice cubes can be used in a lot of ways. You can use them to make slushies, ice your juice beverage, or even add some extra flavor to your carbonated drinks. Either way, it’s good to have some frozen fruit juice lying around.
Most importantly, it will take you less than three minutes to prepare everything you need to freeze up some frozen fruit juice cubes. Simply pour the juice into the ice cube tray and let it do its magic in the freezer.
Ice Cream Cubes
Ever thought of adding ice cream floats to your cold drink? If you want to try something different and ditch the plain old ice cubes, try making ice cream cubes and adding it to your iced drinks for extra flavor and texture.
To do so, let the ice cream melt just enough so you can pour it into the ice cube tray. Then let the whole thing freeze and you’ll be good to go! Make sure to prepare several trays in advance so you can enjoy delicious drinks all the time.
Freeze Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a very healthy oil alternative that can take your cooking skills to the next level. You can also add a dash of coconut oil to your morning coffee to switch up the flavor and add extra nutrients.
Whatever you’re planning to use the coconut oil for, it’s always good to have some ready whenever you need it. Freeze some coconut oil in your ice cube tray so you can use it the next time you prepare a healthy dish.
Wine Ice Cubes
One thing that’s worse than watering down your coffee is watering down your wine. No one likes watered down beverages and that’s a fact. Luckily, you can put a stop to this by making your own wine cubes.
Simply pour wine or any other alcoholic beverage into the tray and let the ice cubes form. That way, you won’t be watering anything down and you can even add some extra flavor to your drinks.
Make Tater Tots
There’s nothing better than good, homemade grated potatoes turned into delicious tater tots. However, did you know that you can make your own tater tots using just an ice cube tray? As long as you have a silicone tray, you will be good to go.
Silicone ice cube trays are not only cut out for the freezer. In fact, you can also put them in the oven and bake goodies safely. In this case, put the tater tots ingredients into the tray and pop it in the oven until it cooks!
