Survival food staple: 12 household and medicinal uses for the onion

01/24/2018 / By Jhoanna Robinson

Onions are naturally tasty — add them to any dish, and they would surely make an already scrumptious meal even more flavorful. What’s better is, not only are items of joy to the palate, onions are also blessings to the body due to their many nutritional and medicinal benefits. What are those? Read this article and find out. (h/t to Survivopedia.com)

They soothe bug bites. Onions are good insect repellants. Just rubbing a slice of onion onto a specific body part can ensure that insects would stay away from that particular area. It is also useful for alleviating the pain that one gets from insect bites, especially bee stings.
Onions get rid of dizziness and vertigo. Much more efficient than smelling salts, onions are an excellent natural therapeutic medicine for dizziness and headaches. The smell of a cut clove of onion is sure to minimize the reeling feeling in your head.
Onions can revive burned rice. If you toss an onion right on top of burnt rice inside a rice cooker, your rice has a chance of surviving. The onion on top of the rice will absorb its burnt taste, making it seem as if you had splendidly-cooked rice.
Onions can extend the shelf-life of avocados. To keep your avocados from rotting within a short period, place a cut red onion inside a container, and then fill that container with avocados. The onion will make it so that the avocados don’t change their color to brown, thus slowing the degeneration process. This also works for guacamole.
Onions are useful for making your pets avoid a certain area of the house. Cats and dogs are averse to the smell of onions. If you don’t want them near a specific area of the house — either because you don’t want to keep them pooping there or you don’t want them to continue gnawing at the tires of your truck — you can place a certain amount of onion on a plate or a towel and leave it there. If your shoes are the ones that you don’t want your pets to be nearby, brush an onion against your shoes just so that they retain a tiny amount of onion smell. Your cat or dog would not go dare to go near your shoes after this.
Onions are a good ingredient for making an organic, chemical-free pesticide. Insects are not a fan of onions, it is known. Therefore, onions can be a good ingredient in making an environmentally-friendly pesticide. Simply mix four onions, two cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of cayenne pepper, a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, two tablespoons of soap flakes, and a quart of water in a blender, and then get ready for mosquito-free nights for you and bug-free days for your plants.
Onions can get rid of sweat stains or burn marks from clothes and fabrics. Onions have the same function as peroxide – this means that onions can remove the stain on your clothes and fabrics.
Onions can make it easy to take out splinters from your body. Splinters usually happen when you step on a nail or a sharp piece of lumber, and you’re barefoot. This is the last thing that you need, especially since wounds of this type are the ones that are most likely to give you an infection. If you can’t get the splinter out using your finger, tape a piece of onion onto the affected area and leave it there for an hour or two. The onion can help draw out the splinter.
Onions can be used to polish metal. Want to make your silver necklace shine? Just crush the juice out of an onion, add a small amount of water to the residue, and then rub it on the silver for that perfect shine. (Related: How to Make An Onion Juice To Get Its Great Benefits)
Onions can be used to make dye. Place red or yellow onion skins inside a pantyhose and then tie the open end shut. Boil it for 30 minutes in hot water. This is how you get instant coloring for your clothes or your paintings.
Onions can get rid of rust from kitchen knives. A rusty knife can get its cure by being rubbed through an onion for a few times.
Onions are good for the skin. Onions are rich in quercetin, which is good for doing away with skin blemishes such as acne and pimples. Wash your face with a water-and-onion mixture and leave this mixture on your face for 15 minutes or so at night for best results.