15 Surprising Uses for Eggshells

The next time you make breakfast or bake a cake, I’d encourage you to hold onto your eggshells instead of throwing them out. As it turns out, an eggshell has many other amazing uses besides the container for an egg yolk. These are 15 surprising uses for eggshells for your home and garden. 

In case you missed this post, How to Freeze Eggs: Everything You Need to Know

1. Eat Your Eggshells 

If you’re anything like me, then you probably don’t enjoy it that much when you crunch down on a small unexpected eggshell while you’re eating a hearty breakfast. Yuck! But as it turns out, eating the entire egg does have several health benefits that you may want to know about. Besides providing you with more than enough calcium for the day, eggshells also improve bone density and also help to remineralize your teeth. 

It’s even speculated that they can be taken by people who often suffer from inflammation and joint pain. The best way to eat your eggshells is by crunching them up into a fine powder and adding it to smoothies, juices, soups, or stews. Just remember to wash them first.  

2. Create an Eggshell Facemask 

It may surprise you, but you most-certainly can nourish your facial skin by using an eggshell. You will need to crush the shell into a fine powder. Next, take an egg white and whisk it for a while and then add it to the eggshell. Spread the mixture over your face and wait for it to dry. Once it does, wash it off with cool water and experience younger looking skin.     

3. Eggshell Powdered Toothpaste 

There are hundreds of different ingredients that you can use to make your own natural toothpaste, but eggshells will also do the trick to keep your teeth looking good. This homemade powdered toothpaste will save you money too.  

4. Whiten Your Laundry

For those of you who want to try something other than bleach to whiten your clothing, check this one out. By adding egg shells and a few lemon slices into an old sock that’s then tied at the end, you’ll have a cheap and effective (and natural) way to keep your socks and undies white.    

5. Combine with Apple Cider Vinegar 

The next time you’re having to deal with acid reflux or a minor skin irritation, give this next one a try for quick relief. Simply add a few dried egg shells in with some apple cider vinegar (with the mother). It can be taken orally, or applied directly to the irritated skin.   

6. Add Eggshells to Your Bone Broth or Stock Pot 

Wanting to make dinner even more healthy for your family? By throwing several eggshells into your pot of bone broth or stockpot, you’ll be adding several different minerals to your meal besides calcium, including traces of zinc, iron, magnesium, fluoride, phosphorus, and selenium.  Unless you added them as a powder, but sure to screen them out before serving. You can make an eggshell powder using a Magic Bullet or by placing the shells in a bag and using a rolling pin to make them even smaller.

7. Gets Rid of Bitter Tasting Coffee 

For all my coffee-drinking readers out there, pay close attention. Instead of having to throw out that disgustingly bitter pot of coffee that sat far too long on the burner, try adding eggshells to lessen the acidity. One single eggshell that’s ground up into a fine powder is enough to handle 4 cups of bitter coffee.  

8. Scrub Your Stubbornly-dirty Pots and Pans 

Eggshells happen to be a great abrasive to help you get all the gunk and stickiness out of your dishes when you’re cleaning them by hand. Just break an eggshell into smaller pieces and add them to your soap and hot water. 

9. Feed Your Chickens 

If you want to continue to enjoy eating healthier eggs from your chickens, don’t feel uncomfortable about throwing their eggs right back at them alongside their feed. When hens are busy laying eggs, that’s when they need extra calcium in their diet, which eggshells certainly have. 

Go ahead and crush the dried-out shells and place them scattered out on a baking sheet. Have your oven set to 275 and bake them for roughly 10 minutes. Then, continue to crush once more and then feed it to your hens in small amounts.   

10. Sprinkle in With Your Bird Feed 

The wild birds in your backyard can also benefit from eggshells, especially during the spring when they’re laying eggs. Follow the steps that are mentioned above and then add it to their usual bird feed.  

11. Start Seedlings Indoors 

You can start your seedlings a few weeks earlier by planting them in eggshell pots. Fill about half of each eggshell with dirt, plant your seeds, and then place them back in the original egg carton. Once they are ready to be transplanted, place the plant along with the egg into the ground. The eggshell will eventually break, providing calcium and other nutrients for your new plants.     

12. Fertilize Your Garden 

It may come as a surprise, but your garden could also benefit from what you had for breakfast this morning. Go ahead and save your eggshells and allow them to dry out in a sealed container over a period of time. Mash them into tiny pieces, and then once springtime rolls around, sprinkle them into your garden’s soil. They’ll provide your garden with a couple of benefits, including less soil acidity, while adding more calcium carbonate.   

13. Deter Pests in Your Garden

Not only are broken-up eggshells a great fertilizer and mulch for your garden plants, they can also work as a pest repellant too. All you need to do is break your eggshells up into tiny pieces and scatter them all around your plants. This brilliant tactic will keep snails, slugs, and even deer from munching on what you’ve worked so hard to grow. Here are other natural ways that you can deter pests in your garden.  

14. Nourish Tomato Plants 

You can place eggshells beneath your tomato plants to provide them with an extra calcium boost. Nourish other vegetable plants in your garden this way, including peppers, squash, broccoli, and cabbage. Now, this is one of the most surprising uses for eggshells.

15. Add to Your Compost Pile 

A compost pile thrives when a host of different biodegradable matter is added to it, eggshells included. With an extra boost of calcium, you can add it to your garden instead of tossing them out.  

Other Posts on Eggs

• How Fresh Eggs are Different From Store Bought Ones
• What You Need to Know About Farm Fresh Eggs

Final Word

These are 15 surprising uses for eggshells that could benefit you around your home and garden. So the next time that you make eggs for breakfast, make it a habit to hold on to the eggshells instead of throwing them out with the trash. Which of these surprising uses for eggshells did you find most surprising and useful? May God Bless this world, Linda

Copyright Images: Eggshells AdobeStock_318344917 by chamillew