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Fresh coffee made in the morning is one of life's simple pleasures, but it does leave another food waste headache - what to do with those used coffee grounds?
The good news is that coffee grounds were destined for more than just your morning brew. In fact, they can be used around the home and garden in a number of useful ways, from nourishing plants to tenderising meat and helping scrub pots clean.
When you can do so much with used coffee grounds, why waste? Try some of these tips and tricks for putting leftover coffee grounds to good use.
26 Things You Didn't Know about Coffee
What to do with Used Coffee Grounds
1. Give Your Grounds Back to the Ground
Composting coffee grounds helps to add nitrogen to your compost pile, or it can simply be scattered straight onto the soil as a fertiliser.
Worms love coffee grounds too, so try using coffee grounds as worm food if you do vermicomposting with a worm bin.
2. Grow Mushrooms
If you love coffee and mushrooms, try growing mushrooms out of your used coffee. It's both easy and fairly inexpensive to get started.
Here's a step-by-step guide to growing mushrooms in coffee at home.
3. Grow Veg
Mix dried coffee grounds with carrot and radish seeds before you plant them to increase your yield.
4. Tenderise tough meat
Tougher cuts of meat can benefit from a few hours tenderising in a coffee rub, which will also impart a richer flavour.
5. Scrub Stubborn Pans
Coffee grounds offer extra abrasion when it comes to scrubbing stubborn pots and pans, just get scrubbing with coffee grounds alongside soap and hot water.
6. Neutralise Unwanted Odours
Put some dried used grounds in a shallow uncovered jar and place it at the back of your fridge to neutralise any nasty food odours.
Rub your hands with a spoonful of grounds after chopping garlic or onions to eliminate those unwanted lingering odours.
7. Unblock Drains
Toss a couple of tablespoons of grounds down the drain, followed by two drops of soap and boiling water. This will break down the grease, clean the pipe, and reduce drain odours.
Outside the home coffee grounds are also being used in big and original ways. Find out more.
