Our Permaculture Life: 10 Non-toxic and Economical Cleaning Tips in the Kitchen

10 Non-toxic and Economical Cleaning Tips in the Kitchen



I much prefer to use natural non-toxic cleaners at home, especially with young ones about. There's really no need to use the chemical cleaners when we have access to things like vinegar. Simple vinegar is such a useful and economical helper in the kitchen, as well as around the home. It replaces so many 'products'.

It's amazing really, vinegar was discovered by accident more than 10,000 years ago and today it is still used today in so many ways. Similar to how we use it today, the Ancient Sumerians are known to have used it as a condiment, a preservative, a medicine, and antibiotic and a detergent.

Here are just ten of the ways to use vinegar as an affordable and natural cleaner in the kitchen:

1. Clean the fridge
Wipe down the inside of the fridge using equal parts of water and vinegar.

2. Clean the oven
Wipe out the oven with a cleaning cloth dampened with white vinegar.

3. Brighten stainless steel

Remove spots and streaks on stainless steel kitchen equipment by rubbing with white vinegar.

4. Rinse hand-washed soapy dishes and glasses
To get rid of the soap residue and get squeaky clean dishes, add a splash of vinegar to the rinse water. It helps to prevent water spotting on glasses too.

6. Rinsing in the dishwasher
To get streak-free, sparkly dishes just add 3 tablespoons of vinegar to your dishwasher's rinse cycle.

7. Clean stained mugs
I like the inside of my cups to be nice and clean. To get rid of stubborn coffee and tea stains coffee, wipe them with a mix of salt and white vinegar.

8. Clean chopping boards
To clean chopping boards, cut grease, absorb odours and reduce bacteria, wipe them down with full strength vinegar

9. Clean work surfaces
To clean all kitchen work surfaces and reduce bacteria, wipe them with full strength vinegar.

10. Revive kitchen clothes
Freshen up kitchen sponges by soaking them overnight in a litre of water with 3 tablespoons of vinegar added to it.

Source: Vinegar 1001 Practical Uses by Margaret Briggs

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