Don't Toss Your Coffee Grounds, Use Them To Clean Your Dirtiest Pans

If you're someone who can't go a day without a cup of coffee or three, chances are you accumulate a decent amount of coffee grounds throughout the week. Since you can't reuse old coffee grounds to make a second cup of joe, the used up beans often end up in the trash, which is one of the worst places they can be. They are better off in the compost or in the garden, or saved for one of the many ways to reuse leftover coffee grounds. They can even be helpful in the kitchen, where they are the perfect solution to dirty pots and pans.

Coffee grounds have a rough, abrasive texture that makes them well-suited to scouring stubborn gunk off of your cookware. Although they are only mildly abrasive, meaning you can use them with non-stick or even cast iron cookware, it's best to be careful when scrubbing surfaces that are easier to scratch, like glass or ceramic. Coffee grounds are good at getting rid of burnt or stuck-on chunks of food and removing greasy film from cookware, too. Along with their cleaning properties, coffee grounds have the benefit of being natural and not costing you anything extra. So, if you're trying to use fewer chemicals in your kitchen, are watching your spending, or are trying to be more ecological, start collecting your leftover coffee grounds in a small container until it's time to start scrubbing.

To clean a metal pot or pan with coffee grounds, first add hot water to the offending dish, along with a few drops of dish soap and a spoonful of the grounds. After waiting a couple of moments to allow the hot water to loosen any debris, scrub everything down with a scouring pad (a soft one, not steel wool or anything super abrasive). Once you've scoured the gunk off of every surface, rinse the pot or pan with more warm water, then give it a quick wash with soap so it doesn't smell like coffee. Be careful while you do this, though, as coffee grounds should not be washed down the drain in the process. It's okay if a small amount makes its way into your plumbing, but try to make sure there is some sort of filter over your sink drain so nothing gets through, and toss the excess grounds away.

If you find yourself with more grounds left over after cleaning the pots and pans, you can use them to scrub down other metal surfaces, like silverware, grills, and even your sink. Anytime a spot of food is too tough to clean with elbow grease alone, coffee grounds are an effective and economical way to get the job done.