This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
I love finding ways to use household items in new ways and I love organizing. Today I am sharing 15 ways to use an ice cube tray (beyond making ice cubes!). The best part? Ice cream trays are so cheap, so you can pick up a few and start using them today!
15 Ice Cube Tray Hacks You’re Going To Wish You Had Known Years Ago!
1- COOKIE DOUGH
Make your chocolate cookies to be just the right size! You can either take the store-bought dough, or you can make your own healthier chocolate chip cookie dough and put it into the ice cube tray like shown on Good Housekeeping.
Free them this way, then pop the frozen dough bites into freezer bags, and then when you need a treat, you just grab as many cookies as you want and bake them!
2- SMOOTHIES
Make a large smoothie (when the fruit is on sale) and fill ice cube trays with the smoothie mixture. Freeze it and then pop out a few to stick in a blender with milk or juice for a quick snack.
3- JUICE
Freeze juice from fresh lemons or oranges, freeze it in your ice cube tray, and then add it to water for a little kick.
4- VEGETABLES
Freeze pureed vegetables and add them to your pasta sauce for some hidden nutrition!
5- CHOCOLATE COVERED BERRIES
Another great tip is to fill each spot with 2/3 cup melted chocolate, then place in a washed strawberry and freeze it. Presto! Chocolate covered strawberries! Thanks to Delish for this one!
6- ORGANIZE JEWELRY
Use an ice cube tray to organize your jewelry. Keep earrings together by putting each pair in one spot. Great idea from RealSimple.
7- FREE WINE FOR RECIPES
Freeze wine in an ice cube tray to add to recipes that call for just a splash of wine.
8- DIY LAUNDRY OR DISH DETERGENT TABS
I love this idea that we found on Pinterest! Make your own detergent. Transfer the mixture into two ice cube trays and press it into the tray until it is hard-packed. Pop one each with each cycle.
9- LEFTOVER COFFEE FOR ICED COFFEE
Whenever you have coffee left over in the pot, just add to the ice cube trays and freeze. It will keep your iced coffee cold, without watering it down.
10- MILK OR CREAM
Freeze buttermilk or Half & Half in the cubes, if it is about to expire and you still have some left. Freeze and save for recipes. Each cube is 2 tablespoons.
11- SUGAR SCRUB
Make a DIY Sugar Scrub using ingredients that you probably have at home (brown sugar, coconut oil, soap), and press them into cubes. When they are ready, you just pop one out, take it into the shower, and scrub away!
12- CRAYONS
Take old, broken crayons and remove the paper. Put them into oven-safe silicone ice cube trays and bake until melted (just a few minutes). Remove from the oven and let them cool. You now have fun crayons that are perfect for little hands! We do this every Valentine’s Day for our kid’s classmates! Find a great tutorial on my friend Sharla’s website here.
13- YOGURT
Buy the big container of yogurt and freeze it in cubes. Use it the next time that you want to make a smoothie or blend it to make frozen yogurt!
14- PAINT PALETTE
Fill each spot with a little paint and let your kids become the artist that you always knew they could be! This is a great way to keep colors separate and a little LESS messy (if that is at all possible!).
Another tip: Only fill every other ‘cube’ with color, so they can use the in-between cube to mix colors & make a whole new color!
15- DESK ORGANIZATION
Use an ice cube tray for desk organization, as Bob Villa suggests. It’s a great way to keep those little things from getting stuffed back in the corners of your drawer, only to be forgotten in a few days.
Did you find any Ice Cube Tray Hacks that you think you’ll try? Do you have any other suggestions?
