dollykat ([info]dollykat) wrote in [info]bentolunch,
2008-02-02 11:02:00
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  • Location: work
  • Mood: calm

Stain removal

I know I haven't posted my bento pics in a while, but I have been bentoing, and unfortunately, one of my problems lately had been staining in my favorite bento boxes!
I found a solution to getting rid of many troublesome stains like marinara sauce, etc, and I thought I would pass it on. I found it in the Old Farmer's Almanac and it works.

 Last week's marinara sauce won't leave your plastic container . . .
Rub the container with a damp cloth dipped in baking soda. Or fill the stained container with water, drop in one or two foaming denture cleaning tablets, wait 20 minutes, and rinse. 

I was shy about buying denture tablets at my age, lol.....but it was worth it. Now my favorite bento boxes are presentable again.

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  • 18 comments

[info]kajicarter

February 2 2008, 17:09:55 UTC 4 years ago

Thank you! Tomato sauces are a *pain*!

[info]oneautumnday

February 2 2008, 17:10:53 UTC 4 years ago

Thanks for the advice, I often had some spaghetti stains in my favorite bright yellow box. As far as prevention, what I do when I make spaghetti sauce from scratch (as we do in my family) is rinse all tupperware containers with COLD water first, not hot. This lessens the stain a little in both the porous plastic container AND your sink (especially if it's white, as mine is). So if you have access to a sink at school or work, then rinse your tomato sauce out IMMEDIATELY with COLD water.

[info]oneautumnday

February 2 2008, 17:11:56 UTC 4 years ago

Wow, that was unclear. I rinse all containers in which I have been storing sauce for any period of time with cold water first when washing them. So order of operations:

1. eat sauce
2. rinse container with cold water
3. wash as normal

[info]dollykat

February 2 2008, 17:51:11 UTC 4 years ago

Thank you! I didn't think about cold water being a help like that! I usually thought HOT water was better but now that I think about it, I can see how that could actually help it set worse!

[info]oneautumnday

February 2 2008, 19:01:44 UTC 4 years ago

And now we have a perfect 1-2 plan of attack on tomato stains!!

Anonymous

February 2 2008, 17:32:26 UTC 4 years ago

good tip

thanks for the tip. those denture tablets are also fantastic for cleaning out vases that have all that hard to remove gunky stuff on the bottom.

[info]dollykat

February 2 2008, 17:51:59 UTC 4 years ago

Re: good tip

Omy! I hadn't thought about using those tablets to clean vases! My mom has some lovely vases she struggles to clean. I gotta tell her! THANX!

[info]xstarnostarsx

February 2 2008, 18:43:33 UTC 4 years ago

Sweet! Thanks for the info :D

[info]ss_biggie

February 2 2008, 19:02:16 UTC 4 years ago

Wow, I'll add this tip to my post on caring for your bento gear: http://lunchinabox.net/2008/01/22/bento-gear-care-and-maintenance/

There's also putting your box out in direct sunlight, which breaks down the natural red pigments, and using Cascade's Plastic Booster in washing (either dishwasher or hand washing).

[info]dollykat

February 2 2008, 20:10:33 UTC 4 years ago

Woo! I am honored a tip I found would be on your blog- I always check your site for bento how to's!!
I didn't know about putting the box in sunlight tip! I gotta remember that one!

[info]catgirlpink

February 2 2008, 21:17:16 UTC 4 years ago

Do you have anything about lemon juice?

Last week I found that my pink silicone heart mini-baking-cup had developed a stain line from sitting with Thai sweet red chili sauce from packing till getting home after work to wash it. Oops, guess using that as a sauce cup was a bad idea. So, I set it in a small container of lemon juice over night, and the stain line was gone by the time I checked it at the end of the next day.

[info]dollykat

February 2 2008, 21:23:20 UTC 4 years ago

Ooh. That's a good one too!

[info]catgirlpink

February 2 2008, 21:27:30 UTC 4 years ago

Oops, I see there is lemon juice mentioned on that page. Although for stains it says "hot water mixed with a little lemon juice". I wonder if I over-did it with the soaking of straight lemon juice [cold from the fridge].. But it seemed to work. >^_^< .

[info]ss_biggie

February 2 2008, 21:35:40 UTC 4 years ago

Oh good, you saw the thing about lemon juice. As long as it doesn't harm your container, then no overkill, right? ;-)

[info]krystale

February 2 2008, 23:40:14 UTC 4 years ago

Soaking in pure lemon juice will eventually break down your stuff. For stain removal straight vinegar or lemon juice is good, but for regular cleaning or sainitization it should be diluted. Even diluting it half way won't really cut it's strength. You can dilute it FAR more and it'll still work great on many things.

[info]names0fthedead

February 2 2008, 19:56:48 UTC 4 years ago

I'll file this away for future use. Thanks for the tip :)

[info]wandererumi

February 2 2008, 22:12:17 UTC 4 years ago

hmm i didn't know that sauces could stain bento. my bento is dark red so i guess i can't see it?

[info]trekkiegrrrl

February 3 2008, 09:47:11 UTC 4 years ago

GREAT tips in this thread! Thanks! I've added it to the Memories here :o)

Denture tabs? Who would've thunk? :o)
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