Here are 15 Ways To Use Ice Cube Trays that go above and beyond frozen water.
Hi Friends!
Just popping in with a little inspiration for you. If you follow my food prep series, you may have noticed that I often freeze yogurt with mix-ins to make one of my favorite snacks: froyo bites. The other week, I was making a batch and I started thinking about my ice cube trays and about other ways I could use them.
After a short brainstorming session, I came up with 15 ways to use ice cube trays, so I thought I’d share them with you guys!
- Coffee cubes – Freeze your leftover coffee and use in your iced coffees to keep them from getting watered-down, or add to smoothies for a caffeine boost!
- Smoothie cubes – Blend spinach or other greens with water until smooth. Freeze in trays and add to blender when making smoothies. You can also mash up ripe bananas and freeze into cubes for an easy smoothie addition.
- Yogurt bites – Add your favorite mix-ins to yogurt and freeze into cubes for a bite-sized snack. Find my favorite combo here: Frozen Yogurt Trail Mix Bars/Bites.
- Fruit cubes – Add fresh fruit and water to ice cube trays to add some color to your ice water.
- Pesto – Make a batch of pesto, spoon into trays and freeze. Store in the freezer and use in recipes when called for or to add some extra flavor to sauces, etc.
- Tomato paste – Recipes almost never call for the whole can of tomato paste. Freeze the extra in cubes to use in future recipes.
- Lemon/lime juice – Freeze the juice from fresh lemons and limes to add to blended frozen drinks or add to the pan when cooking dishes for some extra flavor!
- Cookie dough – Make a batch of cookie dough and freeze in cubes. When a cookie craving strikes, bake as many as you’d like.
- Baby food – Make your own baby food purees and stock the freezer with cubes. Simply defrost when needed.
- Chocolate cubes – Freeze melted chocolate in ice cube trays to make chocolate cubes. Add to regular milk or iced coffee for a little treat!
- Toddler meals – Place a variety of different bite-sized options in an ice cube tray for toddler meals or snacks and let them pick what they want to eat!
- Jewelry organizer – Store your earrings, rings and other jewelry in ice cube trays to avoid a messy jewelry drawer.
- Garbage disposal cleaner – Freeze vinegar and lemon pieces in ice cube trays. Every few weeks, toss a couple down the garbage disposal to freshen things up.
- Paint tray – Pour different paint colors into ice cube trays and let the kiddos go to town!
- Seedling Tray – Drill a drainage hole in the bottom of each cube, fill with dirt, and plant seeds for the garden so they can start growing indoors.
Obviously these aren’t the only ways to use ice cube trays. This list is just to get the wheels turning for you! Once you start thinking about it, I bet you’ll come up with even more fun ways to use them! I’ve also use them to make frozen treats for my dogs, freeze leftover wine for cooking, etc. The possibilities are endless! For the food-related ones, I’d recommend removing from the ice cube trays after they’re frozen and storing in a tupperware container or ziploc bag to avoid freezer burn.
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What’s your favorite way to use ice cube trays?
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This is brilliant.
Mind bloody blown.
Favourite way to use ice cube trays……to make ice? 😉
Wow! I would never have thought of half of these, tomato paste! I tried coffee cubes but I always just get in a big mess and last time spilt coffee all over our freezer. Now whenever I get anything out it has sticky coffee on it! Not ice cube trays, but I used my cupcake trays to organise all the bits and pieces when my girls came round to decorate gingerbread houses at Christmas!
ahh yes! muffin tins are great for this kinda stuff too!
So many fab ideas! Thanks for sharing – will definitely be using some of these tips!
I was told since I want to try and make my own baby food that ice cube trays are the BEST for making big batches of food – prep, freeze, then take out just what you need the morning before feeding the kiddos 🙂 Thanks for all these other ideas!
you’re welcome! enjoy!
Wait…there’s never “leftover” coffee!!! These are great ideas! With both my girls I used the trays to make their baby food. It was a great way to get them a serving of veggies…then I would just pop out a few cubes and warm them up!
so simple! love it
seriously genius! we don’t even use ice cube trays right now as breastmilk has taken over my freezer lol but once it comes to time to make baby food, i’ll definitely portion it in ice cube trays!
I like that cookie dough idea. I know you can buy the breakables in the grocery but it would be fabulous to make your own and freeze them.
yes! i feel like i need to do this more often than i do 🙂
(((TOSSES CUBE’FETTI!!)))
love these as this is something we do here all the time, too.
I use mine for baby food!! Love it!
love using mine for herbs too! works like a charm
Love it!! I use it for baby food, but I was thinking of freezing some of Ethan’s yogurt. Does yogurt defrost well, or do you enjoy it frozen?
i usually eat it frozen once it’s frozen…haven’t tried freezing and then thawing.
Great ideas! I will be freezing pesto and tomato sauce for sure!
Cute! I’ve been freezing almond milk to toss into smoothies instead of ice cubes — adds to the creaminess without diluting the flavour 😀
perfect! Great idea!
Oh, I LOVE that idea! I need to freeze some almond milk soon!
I made homemade vegetable and beef stock and freeze it in ice cube trays. I also use them for many of what you have suggested above and measured a standard ice cube tray. 2 cubes = 1/4 cup, 4 cubes = 1/2 cup, 6 cubes = 3/4 cup, and 8 cubes = 1 cup. I have those measurements as a pinnable graphic here: http://wp.me/p46jfk-PG
such a great tip!! thanks for sharing!
I never think to use ice cube trays for anything other than water. Actually don’t even have trays any longer. But a friend of mine uses them to freeze almond milk for smoothies and I keep thinking I need to give that a shot. Thanks for this list!
that’s a great idea!
You are a kitchen tip genius — love this
Definitely some great ideas! I’ll remember the one about tomato paste, for sure…I always end up throwing away half-empty cans of the stuff.
i’ve definitely done my fair share of that!
Great ideas! I’ve been wanting to do some of those frozen fruit cubes!
they make water so much more fun!
Great list, Lindsay! I just started freezing coffee cubes recently and it has been awesome for iced coffee! A friend of mine freezes her fresh herbs towards the end of the season, too.
ahh yes…i’ve done that too. great idea!
Those are some mighty good tips!
I use a lot of these ideas! My favorite is not wasting tomato paste anymore!
definitely one of the best. i’ve thrown so much away!
lots of great ideas! I freeze raspberries sometimes and add them to seltzer
These are such great ideas!! Sharing! Thanks girly!
Such awesome ideas!
Amazing! Tomorrow is the 31st and I AM SO EXCITED!!!
Awesome post! Definitely will pin this one for later. I need to buy some ice cube trays!
yes! good thing they’re super cheap 🙂
Such a great post, smart ideas girlie!
Pesto and baby food! I have heard about the coffee one but I don’t drink much iced coffee so I typically forget about it. Great post idea Linds!
Yahaaay!
I’ve been wanting to use out trays for reals! Thanks for the inpsiration, next week should be fuhun!
Oh my goodness I’ve never thought of #4, #15, #13…and great reminder of all the rest – especially pesto, as basil is coming out my ears!
Perfect time to stock the freezer 🙂
So I don’t own any ice cube trays, but I have been meaning to get some! I love the tomato paste and fruit cubes idea!
This is awesome! I totally can’t wait to try the tomato paste version! I NEVER use a whole can of it at one time.
so annoying right? this is the perfect solution!
LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If there is any left over coffee & that is a big IF, ice cubes for future coffee! 🙂
These are all FABULOUS ideas! I have used some before. I def need to get some more trays and have a freezing session! Never thought about freezing tomato paste before.
I have also made little smoothie pops for the kids I babysit. Stick a Popsicle stick in each tray cube and freeze! Perfect for little ones who can’t eat big Popsicles with out them melting all over! 🙂
Thanks for posting these!
oh love that idea! so fun!
This is great! Awesome post and awesome ideas. Can’t wait to try the pesto!!
yep! summer is the best time to stockpile that!
I’ve been doing coffee cubes for YEARS! And I would do tomato paste cubes… BUT…. When one of those cans open, I ALWAYS FINISH IT OFF WITH A SPOON 😉
haha that’s awesome!
What great ideas! I do coffee fairly regularly, but like the idea of the mix ins for smoothies too!
yes! so convenient!
I cannot believe this never occurred to me before. This is a goldmine of a find!!! I must now rush out and buy out as many ice cube trays as I can find, I’m on a serious mission. There’s SO much potential in this! Great things come in small packages after all!
Love! Just pinned and shared on FB!
thanks so much Kelly!
UM girl, you are brilliant. Seriously… cookie dough? That is genius! I love all these ideas, now I actually need to get my butt in gear AND TRY SOME!
right?! i’m planning to stock up on cookie dough this weekend!
Left over coffee? What’s that? hehe… Love your ideas.. pinning!
🙂 thanks for pinning!
Chopped up Parsley and chopped up Cilantro. So handy in to use in meals.
I use ice cube trays when I make homemade hot dog chili. I spoon it in ice cube trays and each cube is perfect for 1 hot dog. So, now there is no more waste. If I know we will be eating 4 hot dogs, I heat up 4 cubes.
My mom used to make us kids Kool-Aid and she would pour it in ice cube trays then put plastic over the trays and insert a toothpick into the middle of each one. When They were froze she would remove the plastic and we had a perfect cool treat on a hot summer day.