Genius Cooking Spray Hacks You’ll Wish You’d Known Sooner

If you're only using cooking spray to prevent your baked goods from sticking to the pan, you're tapping just a fraction of its potential. Here's how to put this pantry staple to work all around the house.

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Use cooking spray when making pasta
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Use Cooking Spray to Prevent Sticky Rice and Pasta

Most cooks know that a little cooking oil in the boiling water will keep rice or pasta from sticking together when you drain it. If you run out of cooking oil, however, a spritz of cooking oil spray will do the job just as well.

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Use cooking spray to prevent sauce stains
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Prevent Sauce Stains

Sick of those hard-to-clean tomato sauce stains in your plastic containers? Apply a light coating of non-stick cooking spray on the inside of a container before you pour in a tomato-based sauce.

Find out the secret to making store-bought pasta sauce taste homemade.

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Use cooking spray on car wheels
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Keep Car Wheels Clean

You know that fine black stuff that collects on the wheels of your car and is so hard to clean off? That’s brake dust—it’s ­produced every time you apply your brakes and the pads wear against the brake discs or cylinders. The next time you invest the elbow grease to get your wheels shiny, give them a light coating of cooking spray. The brake dust will wipe right off.

Check out 13 car cleaning tricks pro detailers don’t want you to know.

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Use cooking spray on hinges
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Cure Door Squeak

Heard that door squeak just one time too many? Hit the hinge with some non-stick cooking spray. It’s the next best thing to a shot of WD-40. (Just make sure that you have paper towels handy to wipe up the drips.)

Here are 50 more things to repurpose all around the house.

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Use cooking spray on a snow shovel
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Use Cooking Spray When Shoveling Snow

Shoveling snow is hard enough, but it can be more aggravating when the snow sticks to the shovel. Spray the shovel with non-stock cooking spray before shoveling—the snow glides right off! If you use a snow thrower, spray the discharge chute to prevent it from clogging.

Here are seven snow removal mistakes everyone makes.

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Man washing hands at sink
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Remove Paint and Grease

Forget smelly ­solvents to remove paint and grease from your hands. Instead, use cooking spray to do the job. Work it in well and rinse. Wash again with soap and water.

Don’t miss this roundup of brilliant baking soda uses.

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Cooking spray on lawn mower blades
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Prevent Grass from Sticking

Mowing the lawn should be easy, but cleaning stuck grass from the mower is tedious. Prevent grass from sticking on mower blades and the underside of the housing by spraying them with cooking oil before you begin mowing.

Psst—this is the most efficient way to mow a lawn.

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Use cooking spray on a cheese grater
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Make Grating Cheese a Breeze

Put less elbow grease into grating cheese by using a non-stock cooking spray on your cheese grater for smoother grating. The spray also makes for easier and faster clean up.

Here are 40 of our all-time favourite kitchen hacks.

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Use cooking spray on your car grille
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De-Bug Your Car

When those bugs smash into your car at 80 kilometres an hour, they really stick. Give your grille a spritz of non-stick cooking spray so you can just wipe away the insect debris.

To really protect that finish, you’ll want to check out the best rust proofing options on the market.

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Use cooking spray on your bike chain
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Lubricate Your Bicycle Chain

Is your bike chain a bit creaky? Give it a shot of non-stick cooking spray. Don’t use too much—the chain shouldn’t look wet. Wipe off the excess with a clean rag.

Now you’re ready to tackle the best bike trails across Canada.

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Cooking spray dries nails faster
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Dry Your Nail Polish

Need your nail polish to dry in a hurry? Spray it with a coat of non-stick cooking spray and let dry.

Don’t miss these nifty nail polish hacks while you’re at it.

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Use cooking spray when fishing
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Use Cooking Spray When Fishing

Pack a can of cooking spray when you go fishing. Spray it on your fishing line and the line will cast easier—and farther!

Next, discover 45 aluminum foil hacks that’ll save you time, money and effort.

Originally Published in Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things

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