Clean Broken Glass Quickly With This Unexpected Kitchen Staple

While a dustpan and brush are great for sweeping up larger shards of glass that have shattered on your kitchen tiles, they aren't the best at collecting every single dust-like fragment. Often, small particles of glass can gather at the base of kitchen kickboards, get stuck in corners, or become trapped in areas of tiling where the grout is wearing away. As these shards are so small, it can be tricky to spot them and sweep them up neatly. Bulky vacuum cleaners can also fail to get into tight corners and suck up microscopic splinters of glass. Believe it or not, pressing a slice of store-bought bread into those unusually-shaped nooks and crannies works like a charm! Thanks to the bread's soft, porous texture, even the smallest pieces of glass can stick to it easily, leaving your floor spotless and safe.

Although whipping up an entire loaf with nothing but a cup of flour, a sprinkle of yeast, and a dash of water can feel nothing short of a magic trick, homemade sweet and savory bread recipes don't contain the same preservatives found in commercial loaves, so they can stale quickly. Many consumers prefer store-bought loaves of bread because they stay fresh all week and are ideal for making the softest sandwiches. The tender texture of a commercially-produced loaf also makes it an incredible (and unexpected!) tool for cleaning broken glass quickly.

You can use any soft roll or slice of bread to lift shattered glass off the floor, but the heel of the loaf (often unwanted and left at the bottom of the bag) is perfect for the job. This is because you can press the cut side down firmly, while the crust side protects your hands. Meanwhile, a genius bread clip cleaning hack that will leave your kitchen sparkling is to employ it as a mini scraper. Use the hard plastic edge to dislodge greasy grime from tiny crevices running along the back of your stovetop or around drawer pulls. Save your bread bag to collect food scraps for composting, and you'll make full use of your entire loaf and its packaging!

You might be surprised to learn that there are plenty of other ways to clean with food, too. For example, you can polish furniture with flat beer, polish copper pans with ketchup, and remove stubborn bits of food from cast iron skillets with kosher salt. There are plenty of products designed for cleaning kitchens, but they often contain perfumes and chemicals. Using food, especially items that would otherwise be discarded, provides a natural and sustainable way to keep your home looking neat.