I have a thing for lemons.
It’s pretty rare that I don’t have a couple lurking in the fridge. Lately, I’ve been finding more and more ways to fuel my addiction. Lemons are not only packed with antioxidants and rich in vitamin C, but they are detoxifying for the body and are said to contain cancer fighting compounds. You can read much more about them (along with limes) over at World’s Healthiest Foods.
Today, our mission is to compile the world’s biggest list of the many ways to use lemons. Or at least a long one! I started us off at the bottom of this post, but it’s up to you to add to it if you’d like.
But first, I’m sharing with you one of my all-time favourite ways to use lemons with a couple ingredients you probably have lurking in your pantry. I’ve been making variations of this hand scrub for a couple years now and it never lets me down!
My hands (and elbows, feet, knees, etc) can get very dry and this scrub exfoliates and seals in moisture like nothing I have used. I like to keep a jar in the fridge and whip it out a few times a week to give my hands a good scrub. It also makes an amazing facial scrub and body scrub too!
You can make a basic scrub using just a few ingredients. I personally like using:
- 1 part oil
- 2 parts sugar
- lemon juice + zest
Glowing Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub
Adapted from my previous scrub.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup olive oil (or oil of choice)
- 2/3 cup sugar (see tip)
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 1.5 tbsp)
- pinch of two of lemon zest
1. In a jar or small container, stir together the oil, sugar, lemon juice, and zest. Store in the fridge with a lid for maximum freshness. Feel free to use this scrub on your hands, feet, elbows, knees, face, and total body whenever it needs a burst of moisture and shiny glow.
Tips:
The finer the sugar you use, the less rough your scrub will be. I like using a fine white sugar if I’m using it on my face and hands since those parts tend to have thinner, more delicate skin. If I’m making a body scrub, I like using a coarser sugar like brown or turbinado or even coarse sea salt.
If using this on your face, be sure to use a cleanser afterwards to remove the oil.
You have to try this.
Rub it all over your hands and give yourself a good massage!
My hands aren’t normally very soft, but this scrub makes them feel like a baby’s bottom! Or maybe even softer…
I used it yesterday morning and I can still feel the difference on my hands this morning. Truly amazing.
Looking for others fun uses for lemons? Check out this list I compiled below. Special thanks to Green Living Tips and Eco Knowledge for some of the tips.
Other ways to use lemons:
1) Homemade detox drink. Juice a lemon and mix it with water. Drink it on an empty stomach as soon as you wake up. It will aid in digestion and give you a great start to your day. Just be sure to drink it with a straw as the acidic nature of citrus can wear the enamel of the teeth.
2) Clean silver, chrome, and tarnished brass.
3) Clean your microwave: Juice 1 lemon and add to a bowl of water. Place in the microwave and heat for about 5 minutes on high. The steam will help soften any gunk on your microwave so you can easily wipe it down afterward.
4) Freshen your garbage disposal. Instead of throwing out your lemon scraps, toss them into your garbage disposal to freshen it up and deodorize.
5) Make potpourri.
6) Scrub your kitchen. Mix lemon juice and salt together for an all-natural kitchen scrub.
7) Deodorize your humidifier. Add some lemon juice to your humidifier water to deodorize.
8.) Prevent spoilage. Add some fresh lemon juice on an avocado or fruit salad to prevent browning.
9) Homemade fruit and veggie wash. Mix 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp vinegar, and 1 cup water together to make a natural fruit and veggie cleaner.
10) Chop, chop. Use lemons to clean your chopping boards.
11) Baking and cooking. The obvious one here, but lemon is a fun ingredient in many recipes. One of my favs are these Tropical Lemon Cranberry Chia Bars! I also have 53 recipes that contain lemons!
What are your favourite ways to use lemons? Do you ever make any homemade scrubs or other beauty products?
making a paste with baking soda to rub on yellowed nails helps lighten it up a notch, i start first by soaking in lemon juice and then scrubbing!
That hand scrub sounds like an absolute treat! Nice list of lemon uses too!
love this post! I’ve been meaning to try the water with lemon mix in the mornings but never knew why it’s “good”…now I know!
love love love the smell of lemon hand stuff. makes me think of lemon meringue pie. mmmm…
speaking of, can you make key lime pie vegan???? **dont know how i related lemon meringue and key lime..
I love drinking a hot cup of lemon “tea” in the morning. I boil some water and squeeze in a hearty squeeze of lemon juice, drop in a slice of lemon and sip it as I get ready for work. It wakes me up and warms me up!
Lemon is also a natural disinfectant!
I use to drink lemon in my water all the time! Thanks for the reminder. Also I’ve been having a smelly garbage disposal problem and lemons are the perfect solution. Thanks for the excellent tips!
I love making homemade scrubs. Brown Sugar scrub is my fav! I used to have my own business making all natural lotions, soaps, scrubs, lip balm and more. It was so fun!!
Hello Angela,
thank you for your encouragement and suggestions when I asked you about tofu last week. I bought some natural firm tofu and made something very similar to this recipe:
http://weekofmenus.blogspot.it/2012/02/honey-soy-tofu-stir-fry-when-your.html
except that I didn’t have scallions, and made my sauce just mixing soy sauce and honey and ginger. I also added some nuts and green beans…
and it was DELICIOUS! I was amazed. So I’m gonna try again, maybe your recipe next time.
Thank you again,
have a lovely week
Valeria
Yay! Glad to hear that :)
Thanks for posting this! I too, LOVE love lemons. I like to clean my tub and shower with baking soda and lemon juice. I halve lemons, squeeze the juice, and then use them for scrubbing the baking soda. Works like a charm. I can’t wait to try this scrub. I could have used this in the winter! My hands are always so dry. I love the idea of using lemon rinds as a non toxic air freshener! That’s great!
Love it! I always buy and use lemons for multiple things, but sometimes I have ones that go bad in my fridge. No more! Thanks for all the brilliant tips and that delicious looking recipe!
Angela,
We husband loves lemon and using it in everything including soup!
I make scrubs, but this lemon one is by far the easiest.. can’t wait to try it. I just pinned it!
I LOVE this! Quick questions: do you leave this on for a few minutes and then rinse it off? Do you wipe it off with a damp cloth? What type of cleanser do you recommend?
I love homemade beauty scrubs with brown sugar and honey, with olive oil and essential oils.
I just made lemon bars the other day – definitely one of the best ways to use them, in my opinion ;). This was my first time as a vegan making lemon bars (before I was – I used to have a recipe that involved eggs), and they are a hit!! There’s only a few left, so I better hide them from the husband!! :D
Love this! I often add lemons to the garbage disposal and to mop water. Love the way lemons freshen up a space!
I was just thinking that I should do a lemon sugar scrub (on my body) this morning while showering. Quite the coincidence that you posted about it!
I’m not sure if anyone has said this or not yet, but some people use lemon scrubs on their face if they have freckles and want to lighten them. Every few months I’ll add lemon juice to my face scrub since it does feel great, but otherwise… I want to keep my freckles! :)
Well dang, who knew you could do so many things with lemons! Lol, I will have to try that sugar scrub, nothing beats the lingering scent of fresh lemons.
How long should you keep the scrub mixture in your body though? I tried the detox morning routine once, but I think I might have done it wrong since it didn’t made a difference on that week.
My homemade scrub has oats, honey and olive oil. I should add some lemon but I think honey and oats both have something special that is good for your skin, I can’t remember why but I read about it in a magazine. I love this post by the way.
BEST SCRUB. Wow! just went out and bought a lemon for this, absolutely amazing! My boyfriend complains my feet are ‘rough’ (I run a lot), this smoothed them out completely! (and my hands in the process!)
Thanks so much OSG,
now-baby-soft-hands.
So glad you like it as much as I do Amy!