6 Alternative Ways To Use Your Ice Cube Trays Around The House

We all know what ice cube trays are for, but they do a lot more than just freezing water. Here are six of our favorite things to do with them.

1. Make Coffee Ice Cubes

Summer’s the season for iced coffee and tea, but the worst part is for the drink to taste watered down. Not anymore! Just make coffee or tea ice cubes in advance to put into your drink. Genius! You can also try this iced mocha recipe by HonestlyYUM if you’re feeling so inclined. Mmm.

2. Make Wine Ice Cubes

We’ve talked about how to make wine slushies before, but wine ice cubes?

When you have a bottle of wine you can’t finish, just pour the wine into some ice cube trays instead, suggests Wine Club. The next day, move them into freezer bags and that is that. But then what?

You can do everything from chill wine with them another night (the same kind of wine, of course!) and cook with them to make a glass of sangria when you add some brandy, fruit, and Sprite, too, Wine Club states.

3. Make A Paint Palette

Ice cube trays make such great paint palettes, and you can put more paint in each cube than many official palettes!

4. Try Ice Painting

What’s ice painting? When you add drops of food coloring to water and freeze the tray of colored cubes. After 30 or so minutes, put craft sticks, like wooden ice cream spoons, into each cube. Freeze the cubes until solid, then hand them off to your kids (or yourself!) to “paint.” Fun for all!

5. Get More Organized

Need to organize some little things, like your earrings, office items (like paperclips), spare change, or items in your junk drawer? How about candy or daily pills? Hello, ice cube tray. It’ll keep all those loose items in check.

6. Use It For Gardening—As A Seed Starter

We talk about gardening here a lot—what you should plant, what you shouldn’t, and many other gardening angles, like which plants can help you sleep.

What about sprouting seeds? That, too, you can do with an ice cube tray. Clever, huh?

“I came across this idea one day when I wanted to buy seed starting trays with individual cells for multiple starts,” MrBrownThumb states on his blog. Instead of buying the seed starters to make I came up with the seed starter ice cube tray.

The idea is similar to starting seeds in cardboard egg cartons, but this seed starter can be reused and can last you for a couple of years.”

Overall, MrBrownThumb has an excellent blog on all things gardening, and even made a video on how to make an ice cube tray seed starter.