Aluminum foil is one of those kitchen materials virtually everyone has on hand.

Here are 14 ways you can use it beyond what you use it for as you are cooking or baking!

Keep Pests Away. If you have a garden, hang strips of foil around it to deter birds and small animals. The shiny surfaces and metallic sounds will make them wary and keep some of them from eating your plants.

Keep Birds Away. In the same way, foil can be used to keep birds away from fruit trees. Just use some fishing line to hang strips from the branches. The light reflecting off the surfaces will scare birds away.

Protect Trees. During the winter, bugs and rodents often munch on tree bark. To protect your trees, wrap a couple layers of foil around the trunk. This can make a significant difference. Remove the foil in the spring.

Cook Some Food. Another method is to wrap thinly sliced meat, veggies, and some spices in several sheets of foil and place it on some hot coals. After a little while you’ll have a nice, hot meal.

Clean Your Grill. After using your grill, completely cover the grate with heavy-duty foil. The heat will be unable to escape, and it will work like a self-cleaning oven. Then ball up the foil and scrub the grate with it.

Clean Up Ashes. Place two layers of heavy-duty foil on the bottom of your grill or fireplace before you start a fire. Once you’re done with it and the ashes have cooled off, simply wrap them in the foil and throw them away.

Catch Drippings. Place foil along the bottom of your oven before baking something. It will catch anything that boils over and spills, keeping your oven clean. Remove the foil each time.

Remove Rust. Crumpled some aluminum foil into a ball and use it to scrub rust off of metal. It works even better if you dip it in Coca-Cola first.

Protect Soap. Put a layer of foil beneath a bar of soap to keep the bottom from turning into mush. If you do this, your soap will last a long longer.

Protect Electronics. It is possible to make a Faraday cage using aluminum foil. A Faraday cage can protect your electronics from an EMP (electromagnetic pulse).

Enhance Antennas. If you have an old radio or TV with a traditional antenna, you can wrap a ball of foil around the ends to improve the reception. It will only help a little, but it might be enough.

Signal for Help. If you’re stranded in the middle of nowhere, you could use the reflective surface to signal a plane or vehicle in the distance for help.

Reflect Heat. In the summer you can put foil on windows to reflect heat from the sun. In the winter you can put foil on the wall behind the radiator to reflect heat back into the room.

Find Your Way At Night. Hang foil from trees at eye level along a trail that you plan on following at night. The foil will reflect light from your flashlight and make it easier to stay on the path.

While aluminum foil is not necessarily the most versatile survival material, it is very close; its applications are literally limited to your imagination.

So the next time you look in that kitchen drawer and see that roll of aluminum foil, do not think of it just as a way to wrap a sandwich or line a baking pan!

To learn other uses for aluminum foil, please visit the Urban Survival Site.