TweetCleaning the kitchen using natural cleaning products may feel a bit like walking a tightrope. On the one hand, as you are preparing food, it is extremely important that surfaces, etc. are kept scrupulously clean. On the other hand, you want to minimize the amount of toxins you use – after all, you don’t want to eat toxins, after all.
Actually, it’s not that hard. Many of the products you use in your cooking already are also good at keeping things clean and killing germs. And you don’t need to worry about toxins, as you are going to eat the “cleaners” anyway – well, the majority of them. The only one you won’t eat is good old soap.
* Spills, etc. on the top of the oven clean up very easily if you get onto them as soon as possible. A fresh spill will wipe away with no need for anything fancier than a dishcloth. The longer you leave a spill or stain, the harder it will be to get off, as it becomes baked on. Of course, use common sense. If a saucepan boils over onto a hot stove, don’t go poking around with a cotton cloth unless you want to start a fire and/or get burned. Wait until the oven is cool enough to touch and use a bit of water on the cloth.
* Keep a little dish of baking soda in the refrigerator to absorb smells. Replace fortnightly with fresh baking soda (hint: use the old baking soda to clean the refrigerator instead of just throwing it away).
* Boiling water is the easiest and most effective way to sterilize anything that needs it, such as items that have been used for cutting raw meat (especially chopping or cutting boards) and baby bottles. Baby bottles should be boiled for 10 minutes to make sure of all germs, but just pouring the boiling water over a chopping board or knife will be enough. Some doctors recommend that if a stomach bug is going around the family, pouring boiling water over the cutlery and leaving it to soak for a few minutes before doing the dishes is a good way to stop the bug spreading.
* Baking soda mixed with water cuts through grease just as efficiently as any commercial chemical cleaner. In fact, some commercial cleaning products proudly state that they contain “added baking soda”. Save pennies and reduce the amount of toxins by just using the baking soda. Baking soda is suitable for most surfaces. It will even clean the inside of the oven.
* If your microwave oven smells a bit stale, put a small bowl of water with half a lemon or a splash of vinegar (or a bowl of straight vinegar) inside it and microwave it on high for a few minutes until it boils. This will banish the smell of last night’s curry and will make burnt-on ick easier to get off.
* Baking soda and water left to sit inside teacups and teapots gets rid of those ugly brown tea and coffee stains. Add a bit of vinegar for extra oomph to get rid of really tough stains.
Alternatively, buy coloured mugs and cups in dark colours that don’t show the stains. After all, the stain won’t hurt you, and you could save yourself a bit of time. Black chinaware looks particularly stunning.
* Save crushed eggshells to clean out those awkward glass decanters. Mix with warm water and a bit of baking soda and swirl around and around. Leave overnight, swirl again then tip the eggshells out (hint: pour them over the garden rather than down the sink – they keep slugs and snails at bay). Rinse out any residue by swirling vinegar in the decanter.
* Water is the universal solvent. Instead of scrubbing endlessly at stuck-on residues of mashed potato, porridge or white sauce, fill the saucepan with water and leave it to soak overnight. Most of the old gunk will have almost floated off the bottom and sides of the pan.
* Strong-smelling herbs stored in dry goods helps to repel silverfish and ants, etc. Bayleaves are best, as some of the smell will enter the products in question, and a bit of bay flavour won’t hurt your rice, flour or beans, whereas lavender or peppermint may be a bit of an odd flavour in, say, a stew… unless you want to experiment.
TweetNow that spring has almost sprung, to quote the famous old bit of doggerel that is rapidly turning into a cliché, it’s time to start thinking about eating outdoors in the warmer weather. And the really big question is: did you clean your barbecue before you put it away for the winter? Oh dear. You’re going to have to clean it now, aren’t you?
Ideally, you should clean off any residues left from cooking after each barbecue session, in much the same way as you would clean a saucepan or grill tray after cooking in it. This is fairly easy to do – a quick wipe with a paper towel or two (or a nice reusable cloth) and maybe some dishwashing detergent (of the sort for washing by hand) some warm water and a dishbrush. Do this once the barbecue has cooled down or you run the risk of burning yourself and/or melting the plastic bristles of the brush. Believe me, burnt-on melted plastic is a pain to remove.
However, there are some things that you can do to help clean the barbecue while it’s still hot. Turn the flame up to high and this will burn off a lot of the gunk. It will pong horribly and emit black smoke, but don’t panic. After you have turned the flame off and the hot plate is still a hot plate, sprinkle salt all over it. Then, once the machine has cooled down, brush the salt off. It will have absorbed a lot of the liquid fats, etc., and it will also help to scour the metal.
Once you have done either of these post-cleaning methods, you should dry your machine and coat it lightly with a little vegetable oil to “season” the metal (the same as people used to do with cast-iron skillets and stop them from rusting).
Too late now. You’re confronted with rancid fat, mysterious burnt on bits, mould and rust. What are you going to do now?
First of all, switch the barbecue on. While it’s heating up, find a wire brush and spray dispenser. Fill the spray dispenser with water. Spray the water over the hot plate and get busy with the wire brush. This will be like steam cleaning for your barbecue and remove a lot of the rust as well And it kills the mould.
If you don’t want to do this – or if you still haven’t got a new gas cylinder for the barbecue yet – then you can clean the top off with a mixture of baking soda and water, plus a good dollop of elbow grease. Enjo cloths also do a great job at cleaning barbecues, especially the special green ones designed for fats and grease. A paste of salt and vinegar will help remove the rust – you may need to leave the paste on for about ten minutes and you will need to scrub it off fairly hard. Try not to use one of those commercial cleaners and rust removers but stick to the home-made natural rust removal methods: you are going to eat off that barbecue.
I’m not going to pretend that cleaning off a barbecue that has been left neglected is a picnic – I’ve done it myself – but the experience should be enough to teach you to clean, dry and season the barbecue machine properly before you put it away next time. It’ll mean one less spring cleaning job next year.
TweetI recently was invited to one of those sales parties. Originally, I was only planning to go along just to socialise with the girls and was feeling a bit sceptical about this cleaning product that was being sold at the party. However, by the end of the evening, I was impressed and actually ordered something.
The products in question were from a line of microfibre cloth products manufactured in Austria Because of the special design of the fabric used for these cleaning cloths, they do not need to use any special cleaning products (apart from a marble powder for extremely filthy jobs). The rationale for this is as follows: most surfaces, even though they look smooth are actually microscopically pitted. These tiny holes are just the right size for bacteria to lodge in. Normal cloths just wipe over the top these and leave the bacteria behind, so to get the surface germ-free, you need to pour on the chemicals – and face all the risks associated with chemical fumes, not to mention the damage they do to your skin and when they go into the wastewater system. What’s more, the house cleaning products you use (even benign ones like baking soda or plain soap) leave a residue behind, making a surface look dull after a few years. Microfibres, on the other hand, get right down into the pitted surfaces and trap the bacteria and grime within the minute hairs. The microfibre cloths can even clean off the old cleaning product residue, making some surfaces look as shiny as new.
Microfibre cleaning products only require water to get a surface perfectly clean, and cold water at that. Water is a perfect solvent as it is – all the commercial cleaning products do is add bits of this and that to enhance the wetting power of water, plus other bits and pieces to hide the smell of the first batch of this and that. With microfibres, the combination of a little water plus the friction and (possibly) static of the individual hairs, there is no need to add chemicals – the water gets into minute places and is all that’s needed. And the microfibre cloth only needs to be damp to work – a factor that has made this type of cleaning product popular in drought-prone areas such as Australia where water usage needs to be kept to a minimum.
Bacteria need moisture to grow in, so it is important to dry off the surface afterwards. This particular line of microfibre products did stock a microfibre towel that was super-absorbent to go along with the cleaning cloths. However, our hostess informed us that standard towels and facecloths do the job well, as well as using a blade on glass surfaces.
One researcher at an Australian university has tested this particular microfibre product intensively and found that it removed 90+% of the bacteria on all surfaces, including the toilet.
We got to see the microfibre products at work at this sales party. Hosting one of these parties must be easy – you’re specifically told not to clean the kitchen for several weeks beforehand so the demonstrator can do her (usually her, but I dare say that male demonstrators can be found somewhere). The demonstrator smeared lipstick all over a mirror, then cleaned it off with only a little water, and then proceeded to clean the basin and taps with the same cloth with no rinsing in between. We all expected to see the lipstick go everywhere else and to find a bit of greasy residue on the mirror. We didn’t, and we all started going “Oooh! Amazing!” like actors in a bad TV commercial. The process was repeated in the kitchen with butter on the stainless steel bench, then on the glass range hood which hadn’t been cleaned for three weeks. All the grease came off quickly and easily with no chemicals or greasy residue.
The best moment at this particular sales party happened shortly after the hostess had been demonstrating the window cleaner on a French window. One of the guests nearly walked through it, as it was perfectly clean with no streaking.
The products can simply be washed in the washing machine on a regular cycle on warm, but really, really greasy rags (e.g. after cleaning up a barbecue spitroast) may need soaking in warm soapy water. They should not be washed along with fluffy things and ideally should be washed in a laundry bag, although this is not totally essential.
The maker of the products in question was Enjo (pronounced en-yo). This company opened its UK office in 2004. The products are sold on the party plan basis only, so if you are interested but don’t know if there’s an Enjo consultant in your area, then contact www.enjo.co.uk to find out more.
Enjo is not endorsed by or associated in any way with Anyclean. This article is the personal experience and opinion of the writer and may or may not reflect the opinion of Anyclean.co.uk.
TweetWhen it comes to which common commercial cleaning product produces the most household toxins (and the nastiest), it’s hard to work out whether the prize (or anti-prize) goes to the artificial musks and other scented stuff used in air fresheners or whether it should go to dry cleaning fluid. And when you think that soft toys and the like are held close to children’s faces overnight (not to mention all those other fabric worn or kept near the face), this is positively scary. What is that horrible chemical compound (perchloroethylene, also known as perc) doing to you?
Some British dry cleaning providers have cottoned onto this and are starting to offer “greener” alternatives for cleaning laundry. This method uses a silicone based product that is gentler on the environment and on you, although it’s not 100% ideal.
So what do you do with those delicates to clean them without ruining them? How do you clean soft toys?
The short answer is: handwashing. Let’s face it: people have worn and washed silk for centuries before some scientist came up with perc in the laboratory. And if the stuff disintegrated at the first touch of water, we wouldn’t have worn it, any more than we wear fabric made from spider’s webs (however, given that spider webs are tougher than high-tensile steel weight for weight, maybe some enterprising scientist ought to find some way to them into a natural alternative to Kevlar).
It gets even better with woollen garments. These can be washed in warm or cool water in a machine on the delicate cycle (slow spin, short wash) and dried flat by the sun and air rather than in a dryer.
But handwashing is by far the best method. And for cleaning soft toys, the method is so easy on skin and easy full stop that small children can do it.
How do you set about cleaning clothes by handwashing? Simple. First, take a bowl or bucket of warm water – it should be the temperature of a comfortable bath. However, if anything you are washing has bloodstains or other stains from protein (egg, semen, etc), then wash the item in cold water. Next, get a bar of soap. Any ordinary soap that you use for washing hands will do. Swirl the soap around in the water until the water goes slightly cloudy. Alternatively, make some soap gel and put about a cup full into the water.
Now you can put the items to be washed in. If any of the items is not colourfast – jewel coloured sari fabrics often are not – then wash these separately. In the case of sari fabrics with bands of contrasting colour, you may need to spread out the garment flat and spot treat it so the different coloured dyes don’t bleed into each other much. Or else just spot-clean the fabric. But colourfast things can all go into the bucket together. Swirl the items around a few times, and dunk them up and down. Don’t be too vigorous – treat the delicates with care.
Give each item a bit of separate attention. Lift each one up, check it for any visible dirt and work it up to a good lather in your hands. Scrunch the foamy item around a few times in your hands – don’t wring or rub it too much.
Now comes the rinsing. Tip the soapy water out, then gently squeeze each item to get the worst of the water out. Refill the bowl or bucket with fresh water – either cool or warm. Swirl everything around and watch the water go cloudy with soap. Then repeat this process for a second rinse.
Those wanting to live more sustainably will do to bear in mind that the soapy water from the washing stage of the cycle can be thrown over the roses to deter aphids. The water from the rinsing can be used to water the garden.
Lastly, squeeze each item out and put them to dry. In the case of underwear, they can hang on the line. Woollens should be dried flat. And soft toys, as they take ages to dry, can be put through the spin cycle of the machine without any harm to get the worst of the water out.
TweetHouse cleaning products are expensive. I can go into a supermarket and spend a hundred pounds on cleaning products alone. Now modern research tells us that many of the products we use and spend so much money for carry toxins. They are also telling us that these cleaning products can be hazardous to our health in the long run.
Therefore, I decided to do my own research and I came up with many ways to clean your home inexpensively. The mixtures I came up with are cleaning recipes to create natural cleaning products that you can easily make using the products you already have in your home. These cleaning mixtures are safe and not hazardous to your health and in the long-run will save you lots of money.
Now with the holidays coming up I am sure you need to save every possible penny. So, let us begin. Below is a list of cleaning recipes for all areas in your home.
Glass:
- To wash your windows use 2 to 3 tablespoons of vinegar to three liters of warm water. Dry with rutted newspaper for sparkling results.
- Do you have dirty vases in your home? Put in 1 tablespoon of vinegar and fill with warm water. Leave it to soak for 10 minutes. Rub the vases with a soft cloth then rinse.
Wood Floors:
- Mix one part olive oil with one part lemon juice. Rub on furniture or apply with a spray bottle, then polish the wood with a dry cloth. Use this mix to make wood floors gleam.
Vinyl, Laminate or Ceramic Floors:
- Mop vinyl, laminate or ceramic tiled floors with 8 tablespoons of vinegar watered down in 3 liters of hot water.
- For pet odors and stains in carpets, mix equal parts of vinegar and water. Apply to affected areas. Use the mixture with kitchen paper towels, until moisture is absorbed. You may need to repeat the process one or two times.
Stainless Steel:
- Clean and shine any stainless steel surface with a paste of soda and water. Apply freely with a damp cloth. Leave for about 5 minutes, then wipe.
Microwaves and Ovens:
- Clean with a cloth dampened in equal parts of vinegar and water.
- To remove microwave odors, place some lemon slices in a bowl of water. Then put on high for a few minutes.
Baths, shower doors, tiles and grout:
- To get rid of body oils and soap scum use two parts soda to one part vinegar or lemon juice. This will create a thick paste. Use the thick paste with a damp cloth. Leave for 10 minutes then rub with a brush or sponge. As you rinse it off, drains will be kept fresh too. Use this mix on shower doors, sinks, tiles and grout. If cleaning grout, rub with a toothbrush.
Mildew and mold:
- To get rid of black spots use one part vinegar or lemon juice to one part baking powder. Apply and leave for one or two hours. Rinse off. It may need to be reapplied or left longer, depending on how severe your mold or mildew is.
Air Freshener:
- Baking soda eliminates odors. Mix 8 tablespoons with three drops of your favorite essential oil. Place in a decorative bowl or vase.
- Soda in the bottom of ashtrays absorbs smoke smells. It is also like sand for stubbing out cigarettes.
- Put some essential oil on a light bulb. When on, the heat will diffuse the fragrance.
Toilet:
- Keep the toilet clean and fresh – put eight tablespoons of soda in the bowl. Leave overnight.
- Sprinkle soda onto a damp cloth to clean toilet seat and tank, then wipe with a wet cloth.
Drain cleaner:
- Use one part soda, with four parts hot vinegar. Leave overnight if possible.
