Another Glamorous Tale from a Scrub Woman
We all have our issues. Yes…you do. Admit it. Well….mine is a mildew issue. The slightest whiff and I want to gag. So….I am a VERY wasteful sponge user. Well….I am a recovering wasteful sponge user. I switched to Caldrea sponges which are 100% natural and biodegradable. So at least my pile in the landfill will actually breakdown without contaminating its heap. (Actually…I am starting a worm bin…to be described later in the week…that may just eat the little sponges!) Plastic savings? Huge. First…the packaging. Because these are dried to playing card depth, ten fit into the same size plastic package that one of the ol’ Scotch-brites would fit into. Then, of course, the sponge itself is made from plants verses the chemical concoction conventional sponges are made.
The one drawback to my feeble steps towards a green sponge recovery? The scrubber side. Now…I didn’t realize how much I relied on the scrubber until I burned a few eggs on my precious stainless steal. Would this high pressure situation drive me back to my unholy sponge? Maybe…if it weren’t for the pure genius of a commenter on another blog…who at this point I can’t remember…nor can I remember the blog…so if it was you feel free to claim your brainchild. [Thanks to Green Bean I now know that Chile is the amazing smarty. No surprise.] This amazing smarty mentioned using the plastic netting used on produce for a pot scrubber. Hmmmmmm. Could something so simple work? So practical and so free? I rolled up my avocado bag and went to town. (For those of you currently judging me for having avocado netting in the first place…take it up with Trader Joe’s who currently are the only ones I can find who even carry organic avocados.) I won’t leave you in suspense any longer. It worked like a dream. Not a flake of egg remained and not even a tiny scratch to my pans. After gazing lovingly at my new found friend, I gently unrolled it’s little green body and gave it a good rinse….placed it over a bottle and it dried completely. No mildew. Not a whiff. I now have a special little jar, okay an old couscous tuppy, on the shelf to hold my avocado netting….I mean my dream scrubbies.
Now I must go rethink my life that I am so thrilled about scrubbing a pot.
It was Chile at Chile Chews who suggested the mesh bag. I haven’t tried it yet but thank God you have. I too have the pop up cellulose sponges (got mine at TJs) and I invested in a loofa to use for the scrubbing. It sucked and, stinky and icky, found a new home in the trash last week. I had debated what to do, having forgotted about the mesh bags. Now I’ll get mine out. Thanks!
Yup! I’ve been doing this for months having gotten the idea first from Chile. It works great!
Or….use butter or oil and keep the egg moving while it’s cooking and you won’t have to spend any time cleaning the pot at all. But that’s just a hubby who spent 10 years washing dishes manually speaking….
So this weekend, my husband bought oranges in a plastic netting bag. Naturally he got yelled at
So I tried to make lemonade from the lemon (cut the bag into scrubbers), and he did not believe me! I had to demonstrate its power before he begrudgingly agreed. Funny many of us (including me) have been brain washed to believe that only store-bought tools, preferably with nice package and step by step instruction, work effectively.
Thank goodness I came up with this idea way back when I actually bought produce in those bags. I haven’t had the opportunity to “replace” my scrubby in a long time because I rarely shop in a grocery store anymore!
And yet another idea to help me get rid of the ICK factor in my kitchen. Although, I am not sure if I would have had the willpower and sheer strength to keep the netting and reuse it. My ICK-Radar would have forced me to throw it out. Sigh…