5 Things You Can Do With Your Slow Cooker That Don't Involve Food

5 Things You Can Do With Your Slow Cooker That Don't Involve Food
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Credit: Cole Saladino/Supercompressor

You already have a deep appreciation for your slow cooker (usually called by the name of the most popular brand, the Crock-Pot) for the gloriously easy, set-it-and-forget-it meals it cooks up as if by magic while you're at the office or splayed out on the couch hungover watching House Hunters. But it turns out, everyone's favorite appliance is good for a lot more than just grub.

Check out these things you can do with a slow cooker that don't involve food.

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Credit: iStock/Geo-grafika

1. Get rid of bad odors around the house
If you've used a slow cooker before, you know how it overtakes your kitchen with that delicious home-cooked smell. But if pot roast isn't your ideal scent, try filling it with water and any combo of fruits or herbs, steeping on low for a little while, and then letting it work its magic in various rooms. If you'd rather just neutralize odor, mix baking soda with water, set to low with the lid off, and allow the warm baking soda to literally pull odors from the air. [Try it]

2. Make soap
Pull a Tyler Durden without losing your mind with this simple recipe that calls for a handful of easily found ingredients, an immersion blender, and about an hour of your time. [Try it]

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Credit: iStock/Toa55

3. Use it as a humidifier in the winter
If you're feeling congested in the dry winter months, fill your Crock-Pot with water and a little Vicks VapoRub, place it in your bedroom, and leave it on low with the lid off through the night. Just keep it far enough away from the bed so you won't be startled by third-degree burns when you get up to pee. [Try it]

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Credit: Pexels

4. Make your own candles
If you're not satisfied with Yankee Candle's nauseatingly extensive catalog, create your own custom scent instead. Fill mason jars with soy wax flakes and place them inside your Crock-Pot immersed in water, then add color and scent to each and allow them to blend as the whole batch warms. Add a wick as it's cooling down and you're all set. [Try it]

5. Strip paint
To remove caked-on paint from metal hinges, knobs, or plates without passing out from noxious fumes, simply soak them with a little bit of liquid soap on low. [Try it]

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