Use for old grounds?

Question

I'm aware that coffee grounds can be great for composting, but living in a large city makes that more difficult than I'd prefer.

With every cup of coffee comes a bunch of soggy grounds that I normally throw away shortly after. Are there any constructive uses for spent grounds, be it culinary, cleaning, or scent related?

Answer 1

They are very good as de-odourizers, we use them in the kitchen and sometimes in a small perforated plastic container in the footwell of the backseats in our car.

The fragrant smell lasts a long time also surprisingly.

Also it seems to be useful in fridges too.

That link lists the following:

1. Deodourize fridge
2. As a scouring agent
3. A cheap varnisher
4. Dye for paper
5. Promoting Hydrangea health
6. Ash absorber
7. Exfoliant
8. Cockroach trap
9. Fortifying plants
10. Compost

So the above is quite a good list of uses that could be applicable for your situation

I just found 34 uses here too, I have to say though that using ground coffee as a method for salting a path didn't work for me.

Additonal uses:

11. slug killer
12. mushroom grower
13. carrot and radish feed
14. worm attractor
15. cat deterrant (this didn't work for me)
16. play doh dirt
17. make a pin cushion
18. garbage disposal cleaner
19. drain cleaner
20. add weathering to wood
21. meat tenderizer
22. make energy bites
23. egg dyeing
24. coffee candle
25. make fossils
26. treasure stones
27. paint
28. flea bath
29. remove build up from hair
30. eye bag remover
31. deodorizing salt
32. salt scrub
33. face mask
34. path/road ice melter

Answer 2

Roaches love coffee. For someone living in a city a roach trap seems like a good solution (but I wouldn't recommend it from personal experience). I wouldn't use coffee grounds as fertilizer in house plants either for the same reason (see below).

I live in NYC and roaches are a problem. The last thing you want is for roaches to tell their friends in neighboring apartments that YOUR apartment is a good place to find yummy things. You may be killing them but you'll be attracting them faster than you can kill them.

It didn't work for me. It may, however, be an excellent solution in a single family detached house in which one brought roaches in with the groceries. In that scenario you have a given amount of roaches and when they're gone - the problem is gone.

Answer 3

This may sound a bit insane, but I've known ladies who will take the old grounds and, with the help of plastic wrap, apply them to cellulite trouble areas. It's only a temporary fix, but if it's something that bothers you, it's good for at least a night out.