Rice isn’t just a great compliment to your lunch or dinner. It can be used in a variety of helpful ways around the home. In some cases, you can even use the rice for one task and then still cook it afterward! Take a look at some creative and perhaps surprising uses for plain old white or brown rice:

1. Clean Strangely-Shaped Bottles: if cleaning your vases or that weirdly-shaped water bottle always gives you grief, just reach for a handful of rice! Drop a couple of tablespoons of rice into the bottle, add in some warm water and let it soak for 10 minutes or so. The shake it like a Polaroid picture. Pour out the rice and water after thoroughly shaking and you’ll have a clean bottle or vase.
2. Rescue Wet Electronics: did you drop your phone in some water? All hope is not lost. You can try this simple trick to dry it out and revive it. Remove the battery immediately, then bury the phone in dry rice. Leave it there for a few days before you check to see if the magic worked.
3. Keep Your Salt Separated: stop your salt from clumping up in shakers by adding a few grains of rice to the salt.
4. Ripen Fruit Faster: need to ripen up some fruit quickly? Just store the fruit in a container of rice to help speed along the process. Be sure to check on the fruit twice a day to make sure it doesn’t get too ripe on you. And the best part is that you can still use the rice to cook with when the job is done.
5. Make a Heating Pad: if you’ve got sore muscles, you can make an easy heating pad by filling an old sock with some rice. Tie the end closed and heat it up in the microwave when you’d like to use it.

Find many more ideas over at care2’s 13 Surprising Uses for Rice.