Plastic food containers are boon and bane both rolled into one. They are convenient because one can easily pack fresh food and leftovers in them both for carrying packed lunches or dinner and/or freezing them for later use. However, cleaning plastic food containers can be a hassle, especially if the food that they were carrying is greasy or has a strong aroma. You might have often noticed that your plastic food boxes often smell of the last dish that they were carrying, even after being cleaned with soap and water. They often also retain some stains, especially in case of plastic containers used to store curries or any other Indian dish which most often contains a lot of oil or grease. Oh and not to forget those pesky turmeric stains that are left behind on the plastic food containers, even after they have been washed twice or thrice with dish soap.
All in all, cleaning plastic containers can be a difficult task, but there are some basic kitchen products that can be used to clean your plastic containers and make them shine like they were brand new. If you were looking for that perfect clean-up for your well-worn for use plastic containers, then you have come to the right place. Here are some ways of brightening up your plastic containers and making them look brand new.
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How To Remove Smell From Plastic Food Containers
The smell of old food in plastic containers often makes them unusable. But before you throw that old plastic food box out, try removing the smell using this method:
1. Dissolve four teaspoons of baking soda in about 900 ml of water.
2. Dip your smell plastic container in this water. Alternatively, in case the container is too big to be immersed, pour the solution into your container and let it soak for about 30 minutes or until the smell disappears.
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3. Rinse the container thoroughly using clean tap water and smell it to see if the odour remains.
4. If the odour still remains then stuff your container with crumpled newspaper and shut the lid tightly. Let the container sit for a few days, allowing the paper to absorb the rest of the smell.
5. Open the container and then wash it again with dish soap and water.
How To Remove Stains From Plastic Food Containers
Open your food container and ensure there are no wet or dried food crumbs or remnants left in there. Scrape them off and them out first using a spoon or a fork. Then rinse the container thoroughly with warm water and drain the water out, then follow these steps to remove stains from plastic food containers:
1. Fill your container up with pure distilled white vinegar and fill it up to the level of the stains in your food box. You can use hand sanitiser or rubbing alcohol in place of the vinegar as well.
2. Let the vinegar sit in the box for about half an hour to an hour, depending on the food residue sitting in your container. Vinegar is a disinfectant and can kill microbes that breed on old food, producing food odour.
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3. At the end of the half an hour or hour, lift the lid and pour the vinegar out and pour generous dish washing liquid in it.
4. Scrub the container vigorously with a sponge or a slightly abrasive cleaning brush, to scrub out the last food remnants. Avoid using rubbing the container too hard as that might end up scratching the plastic.
5. Rinse the container and see it shine like you've never seen it before.
Avoid shutting your damp plastic food containers with air tight lids. Allow the container to dry out completely by putting it upside down or putting it out in the Sun for a few minutes. So now you know! So get your cleaning gloves on and get working on those stacked up boxes of plastic food containers lying unused in a corner of your kitchen.