Double Duty for your Food Budget Part II

Double Duty for your Food Budget Part II looks at salt, baking soda and peanut butter.

Yes peanut butter – but we will get to that one in a bit.

Salt comes in many forms, table with or without iodine (best without), pickling, sea salt, kosher, rock salt and rub salt. Not all but most can be purchase in a grocery, rock salt may not be considered a food in some areas.

So now that we’ve gotten your taste buds a watering with the kinds of salt, how about we make you money scream with joy?  Salt is an all around cleaner, name a room in your house and you can use it there. Let us get started but as with any advice, Caution – always test the mixtures on a small area to ensure safe usage. (If you see TEXT in RED read it twice and it may save your life, or at least your kitchen, clothing, otherthings.  If it is in GREEN it a recycling or money saving tip)

So back to the uses of salt, where do you find it most often? In the Kitchen, so we will start there.  Some of the advice below use a mix of other ingredients and may overlap.

1. Mix a of vinegar and a bit of salt and you have a great scrub to remove stains on copper. Salt removes build up and the vinegar removes the tarnish, oxidization on the copper.  But do not soak copper in vinegar and salt for a prolonged time, ie more than an hour and you could be seeing damage to the copper.
2. Baking Soda and Salt paste will cleans baking dishes – enamel, ceramic and glass,  coffee stains from cups or counter tops and be a great soap scum remover.
3. To remove bitterness and stains from coffee pots, use four tablespoons of salt to a pot of water.
4. Dissolve 1 teaspoon salt in 1 cup white vinegar. the add enough flour to make a paste. Use the paste as you would any commercial cleaner. Rinse clean and buff to a shine with a soft cloth. Works great on brass.
5. Clogged drain?  Try pouring 1/2 Cup of salt down the drain and 1 Cup of baking soda.  Let this mixture sit in the drain for several hours, overnight is best, before flushing the drain with 2 cups of boiling water. (DO NOT USE THIS METHOD AFTER ANY COMMERCIAL DRAIN OPENER HAS BEEN USED  OR IS STILL PRESENT IN THE STANDING WATER.)
6. Pour salt to smother grease fires. (I’ve done this, up went my bacon. Really should not try to cook with Gordon Ramsey’s “F” – word show. I get too distracted.)
7. Egg dishes right after breakfast for an easy clean up, you know the one I left cooking too long (AGAIN).

Baking Soda! YES the fridge freshener. DO NOT WASTE those fridge and freezer boxes of baking soda they can be recycled for use in most any of the applications below.

1. Need to clean up a greasy grimmy area? How about 1/4 Cup baking soda, 1/2 Cup vinegar and 1 Gallon of Hot Water. Scrub area, rinse and let dry.  Also helps deodorize.
2. White appliances not looking the best? Mix a quarter cup of baking soda with a few cups of warm water and wash down the outside of white appliances. Allow it to stand for 15 minutes before rinsing clean and it will help remove yellowing of the appliances and restore the whiteness. (That is why soooo many toothpaste contain baking soda. Also my dental hygienist  suggested using a small amount daily to whiten teeth without all the chemicals.)
3. Use baking soda to remove stains in non-stick frying pans, by boiling the pan in a solution of 4 tablespoons baking soda and 1/2 cups of water. Rinse thoroughly.
4. The holidays are here, roasting of the bird has started. But boy is clean up a pain. Try cleaning any roasting pan by sprinkle the surface well with baking soda. Combine 1 cup of hot water and 1/3 cup of vinegar, poured onto the baking soda. The fizzing action will remove the roasted food particles.
5. The debate of Dishwashers – do they save money or not? Around here, we don’t seem to have time to keep up with all the dished, at least during the school year. So my father-in-law install a new set of cabinets and a dishwasher for us. (THANKS)  After a month or so of use I noticed some grimy build up what did I do?
   I poured 1 cup of Baking Soda into the dishwasher and ran it through the rinse cycle. It helps get rid of some of the grime that collects on the inside of the machine, as well as freshen the smell of the dishwasher. (Vinegar make a good rinse agent, when used like JET DRY (r) stuff, but it is cheaper.)

Now down to peanut butter… okay not a lot of uses but here are a few and most you will have heard about and may have used.

Becky comes screaming MOM or DAD – Jenny just put gum in my hair, on my dress, on the carpet, etc.
Great you think…  Never fear Peanut Butter is here!
Peanut butter, warm vinegar, toothbrush (sterilize and recycle your old one), ice cube and Dawn dishwashing liquid or other grease stain remover.

1. CLOTHING – CARPET – FABRICUse the ICE CUBE to harden the gum… or put in freeze overnight and be ready to do this when you take it out!  With the gum hardened remove as much as you can by hand.  Wet the area down with warm vinegar (CAUTION – Test fabric in hidden spot for possible reactions) and scrub with the tooth brush.Some of the gum will not come off – we know that.  But that is where the peanut butter is used. Gently rub a small about of peanut butter on the remaining gum use the toothbrush to rub it in good and then gently use a spatula or butter knife to scrape it off or out.  Then wash as normal, but DO NOT DRY (drying sets stains), if there is a grease stain use de-greasing agent to remove the grease stain.
2. Becky’s hair… and her pride won’t be damaged.  No need to cut the gum out and start a new hair style trend.Try the ICE CUBE FIRST – it will help, place the cubes in a plastic bag, hold around hair if possible or on hair if not, wait for it to harden and then break the gum apart.Peanut Butter to the rescue – in a Jiffy… sorry could not resist.

   Massage the peanut butter in to the hair where the gum is, as the gum starts to loosen from the hair, gently begin to pull the gum from the hair and the hair from the gum.  If need be, ICE CUBE and repeat… Wash hair with your regular shampoo and the nightmare is over for Becky, but Jenny should be on the lookout.

That is it for now!

The AmishPhonebook Guy!

Jeffrey