If you’re like most people, you probably thought the only usefulness of baking soda was for baking and absorbing odors. It turns out baking soda is good for many other things! Here are five surprising ways to use baking soda.

1. Drain

It’s a fact of life that drains get clogged, but you don’t have to rely on chemicals when a combination of baking soda and vinegar can fix the problem. Just pour 1 cup of baking soda down the drain and flush a liter of boiling water a few minutes later. Chase that with a cup of vinegar and let the mixture work overnight.

2. Oven

Baking soda dissolves stain the same way it does grime, and it’s great for making your oven sparkle. If you’ve got a lot of gunk onto the walls of your microwave, a paste made from baking soda and water will remove the stains without leaving a nasty smell behind like other combinations.

3. Refrigerator

Want to get rid of the fridge smells? Baking soda is a powerful deodorizer that can absorb different kinds of bad smells. Just place an open box of this ingredient on your refrigerator shelf to get rid of the odor. Also, you can use it to clean the interior of your fridge by combining it with water.

4. Beans

You might not automatically think of using baking soda when cooking dried beans, but it offers a number of benefits. For instance, it can make your beans cook faster as well as help make you less gassy. And if you want to improve the texture of your beans, just soak it overnight in a mixture of baking soap and water.

5. Tomatoes

If you’re wondering about how to tone down acidity in tomato sauce, baking soda can help. A quarter teaspoon of baking soda will help you achieve the right flavor by balancing acidity and sweetness.

Wrap-up

You don’t have to limit your relationship with baking soda as you can now use it when cooking or as a multipurpose cleaner.