Sparkle Icon

Sparkle & Smile

Blog for Cleaner and Healthier Homes

Green Cleaning Tips and Tricks

Cleaning Your Pots With Natural Ingredients

Not too long ago, I visited my sister’s house.  Normally, everything is in almost compulsive order.  On this day, however, a 5 quart stainless steel pot sat out of place near the kitchen sink.  A quick peek revealed the scorch marks left after a mishap with her home made oatmeal.  She tried for 3 days to scrub the pot clean and was ready to get rid of it completely.
Before discarding these items, consider the stain and the pot.  For this burned on mess of milk and carbohydrates, pour in enough lemon juice to cover the bottom of the pot.  Sprinkle a light coating of salt and let sit overnight.  In the morning, take a damp sponge or cloth and scrub lemon/salt mixture around stain.  It should lift almost instantly.
For greasy stains and messes, try scrubbing with salt alone.  For tougher stains, pour about 1 cup of vinegar into the pot.  Fill the rest with water (for big pots, add another half to full cup of vinegar) and boil for 5 minutes.  Then scrub with sponge and salt.
In place of a scrubber sponge, you can use a bit of crumbled aluminum foil.  If you have old panty hose to recycle, you can cut them and tie around a regular sponge or cloth and use as a scrubber.
Pots that have reached their limits as cookware can easily be recycled.  They make excellent planters, especially for seed starting.  They can even be painted, etched with sand, or dented to add character to a patio garden.  Pot tops can be used as bird feeders or baths.

Additional Articles You might Like

View More
Cleaning Tips Healthy Body Healthy Home Healthy Soul

How Long Is Allergy Season, Really? Climate Shifts Are Prolonging the Pollen Problem — If you’ve been sneezing long after the spring blossoms faded, you’re not imagining things. Allergy season used to have a[…]

blog recent img 1
link post
Healthy Body Healthy Home Healthy Soul

Homework on the Screen, Germs on the Couch: What School Devices Really Bring Home — Imagine your kids at the end of another busy school day: backpacks dropped at the door, snack wrappers scattered around,[…]

blog recent img 2
link post
About Us Cleaning Tips

After the Storm: Why a Professional Clean Matters for Your Health — Consider the calm after the storm: clearing skies, gentle breezes, and, unfortunately, the realization that the wind and rain left[…]

blog recent img 3
link post

Subscribe for
the latest tips, tricks and green tech news.