Foods You Can Clean With!


Need to clean your house? Don't want to use store products? Try these neat little tricks that turn common food items into amazing cleaners! I can't wait to try these out! If you have used any of these or have any other ideas please leave a comment!

Banana Peel: The next time you make banana bread or eat a yummy banana don't throw the peel away. You can use it to polish your silverware. Just blend the banana peel with a little water to make a polishing paste! Your silverware will look brand new!

Cucumber: This is one of the most versatile foods! It is great cooked in a variety of ways, you can use it to treat yourself to a spa day, and you can use it clean with. Use cucumber slices to polish stainless steel pots, pans, your faucet and sink! You can also remove marks from walls, think of it as a natural eraser!

Onions: Do you have remnants of last night's barbecue stuck on the grill? No problem, just get your grill really hot and use half an onion to scrub the grates clean. Be sure to stick the onion onto the prongs of a long-handled fork so you don't burn yourself!

Tea: Cooled tea bags can be used to clean wood surfaces like floors and cabinets; the tea itself acts as a polish! This is something I'm definitely going to try!

Walnuts: After using the tea bags to clean your wood surfaces, you can remove any scratches using half of a walnut. The natural oils help lift the scratches. Plus if you get hungry while cleaning you just snack on the walnuts.

Rice: Use a small amount of rice to clean out your coffee grinder.

Ketchup: You aren't misreading this, it says ketchup. You can use ketchup to polish all kinds of copper items: pots, pans, bowls, etc. The acidity in the tomatoes helps make the copper shine.

Stale Bread: Don't want to use rice to clean out your coffee grinder? Try stale bread, it'll remove any leftover residue and smell. You can use stale bread to also clean out spice grinders!

Coffee Grinds: You can use coffee grinds as a cleaning scrub for greasy surfaces and as a hand scrub. The grinds also deodorize your fridge.

Club Soda: Club soda helps remove stains from fabrics and carpet. You can also clean your cast-iron skillet with it. All you need to do is pour some into a hot skillet after cooking, and it'll take care of the rest.

Olive oil: Great for hair and great to buff stainless steel pots and pans. You can also make a paste using olive oil and coarse salt to clean your cast-iron skillet.

Salt: Salt, especially coarse salt is a wonderful scouring agent! You can use it to scrub wood cutting boards, use a lemon half with it. IF you pour some table salt onto an oven spill it makes it easier to clean up. If you spill some wine, salt helps to lift a fresh wine stain be sure to wash soon after though.

Lemon: You can use some salt and a lemon half to clean wooden cutting boards. If you use lemon with some baking soda you can polish copper. It also works to remove lime scale from your faucet. Need to deodorize your garbage disposal? Put half a lemon down it and there you go lemony fresh!

Vinegar: White vinegar can be used as an all-purpose surface cleaner. If you have a really tough mess to clean use it straight, but if your just doing some general cleaning dilute it by using a half water and half vinegar mix. You can also use vinegar to remove water stains from glasses.

Vodka: Vodka is another great all-purpose cleaner! It is great for shining things up like chrome, glass, and porcelain fixtures. It also gets rid of mold on caulking! All you need to do is fill a spray bottle with vodka, spray on the mold and let it sit for 15 minutes, then scrub. Vodka also dries odorless so it's great for sprucing up musty-smelling upholstery and clothes spray lightly and open the windows to allow ventilation. It can also be used as a replacement for Windex, and it has an added benefit of repelling insects; mix with water and put in a spray bottle.

Corn Starch: Are your windows really dirty? For a great, streak-free clean, mix 1/4 cup corn starch with 1 quart warm water and wash. You can also use corn starch on wet carpet stains and mildewed book pages. Sprinkle on the pages, let it sit for a few hours and then wipe the book and shake it clean. Good as new!

Baking Soda: Baking soda combats stains and odors of many kinds. It can be used as a scour that doesn't scratch, and it can lift stains! My family places an opened box in the refrigerator to capture any gross smells. Be sure to replace every month or so.

Sources:
  •   https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/foods-as-cleaning-products_n_1522600.html
  •   https://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/clean-your-home-with-food-and-spirits-that-you-already-have-on-hand.aspx#axzz2wQyuFZ7k
  •   https://themindtohomestead.com/5-foods-you-can-use-to-clean-your-house/
  •   https://simplywellfed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013-04-30-12-57-35-e1367345146168.jpg

    Whitney Saupan
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2013
    Email the author! whitney@dvo.com


blog comments powered by Disqus