Dear Black Bag Confidential Reader,
Pop quiz: What is the difference between the shiny side of aluminum foil and the dull side?
Did you answer that foil can keep heat out when wrapped with the shiny finish facing outward and keep heat in with the shiny finish facing inward? Sorry, no prize for you. Both sides function identically.
Aluminum foil has a shiny side and a matte side due to how it is rolled during production and packaging. It is difficult to produce rollers with a gap fine enough to cope with the small gauge of foil.
So for the final production pass, two sheets are rolled at the same time, doubling the thickness of the gauge at entry to the rollers. When the sheets are later separated, the inside surface is dull and the outside surface is shiny.
Essentially, the only difference between the two sides is in light reflection. The reflectivity of bright aluminum foil is 88% versus 80% for the dull side.
But the stuff is 100% useful. First, let’s cover some alternative uses for aluminum foil around the kitchen and campfire:
- Double-wrap meat, vegetables and seasonings in a foil pouch and cook on the grill for 20–30 minutes for a simple and delicious BBQ dinner. Or place directly on campfire coals
- After grilling, use a ball of foil to scrub the burnt food bits off the grill
- Fold strips of foil over the crust to keep piecrusts from burning. To reheat pizza, cover the crust and bake until the cheese is melted and warm. The crust won’t burn and there’s no sogginess from the microwave
- Shape a sheet of foil into a cone, tape it securely together and use as a makeshift funnel. It is especially good for transferring oil into smaller bottles, and there is no cleanup afterward
- A sheet of foil lining the bottom can keep baking tins looking new and, in a pinch, substitute for a cookie sheet
- Create a custom-shaped cake pan (cartoon character, name, heart, etc.) by reshaping the inside of a regular cake pan with foil
- Clean silverware in a shallow pan lined with foil. Add two or three tablespoons of baking soda and boiling water and then drop in tarnished silverware.
Here are some ways you can use aluminum foil around the rest of the house:
- Fold foil into quarters and then cut with scissors to sharpen the scissor blades
- Wrap a piece of plywood in foil. Place it behind your radiator to reflect heat into the middle of the room
- Crumple foil into a ball to rub rust spots off surfaces such as shower curtain rods and car bumpers
- Wrap the heating element of an oven or toaster oven to protect it during a thorough cleaning
- Cut ironing time in half by placing a sheet of foil under the ironing board cover. The reflected heat from the foil lets you iron both sides of a garment at once
- Secure a loose peel-and-stick vinyl tile with a sheet of foil and a clothes iron. Cover the tile with foil to protect the finish and then iron it to soften and reactivate the adhesive
- Wrap doorknobs in foil to catch splatters when painting.
Last, but perhaps most importantly, here are a few survival uses of aluminum foil:
- Heat cotton swatches within a foil envelope to create a char cloth. Foil is a great work surface for starting a fire with petroleum jelly and cotton
- Keep matches and tinder dry by wrapping them tightly in foil.
- Don’t have a pot to boil water? Line a hole in the ground with foil and fill with water. Use tongs to pull rocks from a campfire and transfer them into the water. The water will soon boil
- A layer of foil beneath a sleeping bag prevents moisture from seeping in while you are sleeping
- In the woods, strips of foil hung at eye level make great trail markers, especially at night, when they catch flashlight beams
- Find a forked branch and stretch foil across it to make a makeshift pan to hold over a fire
- Fold a small piece of foil several times into a small square and insert it into the space between a battery and the loose spring to hold the battery in place and complete the circuit
- Strips of foil hung from string to twist and flash in the wind and sun can scare off birds and protect garden crops.
Well, all this talk about aluminum foil makes me want to go buy more of it. See ya later!
[Editor’s note: Omar Hamada here. If you want more survival solutions from our friends over at 4Patriots, check out this video from Danielle on how you can claim a free 72-hour survival food kit for a limited time.]
