How to Wash Garden Produce

(This is NOT produce from my garden, I got this image when I googled, "Garden Produce.) 

Our garden, amazingly, is flourishing. I assure you, I have nothing to do with it.


Therefore, we had a million hearts of romaine that needed harvesting. I went out a couple of evenings ago, and starting plucking them up.

Well.

My attempts at "organic" gardening mostly mean that I don't put any kind of pesticide on the veggies, but I also don't do anything ELSE to keep bugs away. So the bugs were having a field day. I got most of them off, but still. I had  A LOT of lettuce and couldn't be sure we were in the clear. And really, if there is anything worse than eating pesticide-ridden lettuce, it's lettuce with a bug in it.

Rather than be discouraged, I took to ending the lives of those unwise insects that continued to cling to my lettuce. (It was mostly ear wigs,  not worms or anything. I have my limits...)

So, now, the HOW-TO in all this organic goodness:

You will need:
H2O
White vinegar (are you surprised?)
A deep pot or large bowl. (You could use your kitchen sink if you trust it to be clean enough.)
Someplace to put the veggies (Like another bowl or cutting board or SOMETHING)

Submerge veggies in water with about 1 cup of vinegar (You know I didn't actually MEASURE the vinegar!)

Leave for about 10-15 minutes.

Carefully rinse off the produce, a little at a time, piece by piece, to ensure all things "outdoors" are gone as well as all traces of vinegar.

Lay out in the other bowl to dry.

If your produce was like mine, the first bowl will have some drowned bugs in it.

*shudder*

Then, before you use the produce, just for peace of mind, give it an additional rinse if you're paranoid.

And then you have fresh, un-bugged produce.
 * * *
Now, why vinegar?

Well, I didn't want to BLEACH my veggies. I just didn't trust that good ole water was going to get all the bug poop off. Vinegar, as we know, is helpful in disinfecting things. The submersion of water drowns anything alive.

Best of both worlds. A good clean water rinse after removes any vinegar and your garden produce is ready for a salad.

Ahhhh Summer.

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How To-- Vinegar and Laundry

If you've been reading The Diet Coke Diet for any length of time, really, you know that Erin and I are FANS of vinegar. It's cheap, accessible, safe (compared to a caustic chemical cleaner) and incredibly versatile. What other product can you use in any room of the house, in food, and laundry, in cleaning and in Easter egg dying? I mean, really? What else? NOTHING.

Today, we're discussing vinegar's place in the laundry room.

1. As an additive to your wash cycle
    1/2 cup- 1 cup vinegar added to a wash cycle (that includes laundry detergent as well) will remove virtually any stinkiness that may cling to clothing. This includes 1. Urine 2. Smoke 3. Mold 4. Must 5. Vomit or really anything else that stinks up clothes.
   If you're like me and have small children, a large portion of my children's wardrobes will end up with some sort of bodily fluid on them. It is inevitable. So rather than sort through my dirty clothes and decide which loads need vinegar and which don't, ALL loads get vinegar. ALL OF THEM. And then, I never have to catch of whiff of a pair of undies that still stink like a toilet.
  (And as a sidenote: In reality, you don't have measure the vinegar. I gave that up a long time ago, just dump some in. A bag full of smelly swim gear you forgot about for a week will need more than just a regular load of laundry though.)

A ruling principle I live by is: If it smells bad, it's not clean. And I cloth diaper too, so don't forget I'm washing stinky STINKY laundry. And it never comes out of the laundry still stinky.

I'll repeat: If it stinks, it's not clean.


2. Vinegar as a stain remover
    Vinegar has incredible stain-removing properties and as far as I can ascertain, it doesn't remove color. (Don't take my word for it though, please. Do a color-safe test on anything BEFORE using it as a stain remover).
   For certain stains you use vinegar entirely by itself and for others, you employ other measures.
As an example: Blood, just pour the vinegar right on, let it sit for 15 minutes and rinse with cold water. Repeat if necessary.
Sweat stains: Use vinegar and coarse salt to rub into the stain. Let sit in the sun to dry and then rinse.

(Sidenote: The sun is a natural bleach, so for things like urine stains and sweat stains, the sun is a very helpful friend.)

Here is a link to all the different uses for vinegar as a stain remover. It works WONDERFULLY.

I keep a big jug of white vinegar on top of the dryer so it's always available.

Cheap and easy folks. That's why we're here. Cheap and easy.

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Vinegar + Lemons+ Baking Soda Sink Cleaning

As you know, I'm a big BIG fan of vinegar as a cleaning product. It works really well.

And for my kitchen sink, it is no different. HOWEVER, sometimes, my sink gets so monumentally stinky (any time I cook with fish for example...) that bigger guns are needed.

That's when I call in the BAKING SODA AND LEMONS!

So, you do your dishes, wipe clean your sink and realize, PEEE-UUUU! It still reeks. Even a vingear scrub doesn't kill the smell. GAG!

To rectify the situation you will need BAKING SODA AND LEMONS. Okay, depending on the size and stench either one or two lemons.

Here's the how to:

Sprinkle GENEROUS amounts of baking soda on the sink's surface, as well as into the disposal. Let it sit for a minute. (I'm assuming your sink is still damp from washing it with vinegar and water to begin with, if not then wash it with vinegar and water to begin with. :) ) Cut the lemon in half width-wise (you know, hamburger style, not hot dog style).

Now, using the lemon, cut, open side DOWN, scrub your sink. YES, what I mean is, use the lemon like a scrubbing sponge and scrub your sink. When the half you're using is dead, throw it in the disposal. (Most disposals can handle an entire lemon.) Continue process until the entire sink has been scrubbed.

It BUBBLES! It's so fantastic, I get excited every single time. It's just so CLEAN!

Once you're done scrubbing, rinse the sink clean, using water and vinegar and wipe it down with a cloth, then run your disposal. The stinkies should be gone! Fantastic. Depending on how foul your sink was to begin with you may have to do it twice. (Not that that has EVER happened to me...).

Pretty awesome huh? SO easy, cheap and incredibly effective. NO LIE.

I'm not allowed to lie, remember?

Give it a whirl. You won't be sorry!

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TGIF Tidbits

That has a ring to it, no?

Anyway, here are the tips to send you off into the weekend with:

First, going back to vinegar as a deodorizer, you know how after you cut up fresh garlic and/or onions, the smell lingers on your hands, even after you wash 'em? Rinse them in white vinegar first. Then wash.

No more smell.

And finally, so, yesterday I cleaned the bathrooms, right? Well, this tidbit works well for mirrors, windows, any glass surface really.

Newspaper.

What?

Newspaper.

See?

From The Diet Coke Diet

Use it instead of a cloth or a paper towel. It is AMAZING how well it cleans. NO smudges.

It even works on metal fixtures:

From The Diet Coke Diet

So shiny!

It does not work on counter tops, or toilets.  (It smudges.)

It's a miracle. Give it a try. NO fuzzies or fibers left behind. I've used newpaper that was printed and I've used blank clean newsprint from packing boxes one of the 14 times we've moved. Both work equally well.

NO CLUE why.

But it's amazing.

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Cleaning the Bathroom using ONLY Vinegar

Ok, fine and water.

So, remember how I said that I love me some vinegar? Well, it's true. I do.

And since I'm having guests this weekend (SOOOO EXCITED!) it meant I could no longer put off the bathrooms that have needed a deep clean for 2 (okay fine 3) weeks. (We don't lie here at The Diet Coke Diet.)

So, I whipped up some Vinegar + Water (1 cup vinegar to a full spray bottle) and got to work. And wow, the boys' bathroom was yucky. And now it shines "like the top of the Chyrsler Building".

Now, "How to Clean the Bathroom using only Vinegar + Water" in pictures:

Counter Before:

From The Diet Coke Diet

Dontcha LOVE the piece of the TP roll on the counter? Yeah, Henry dismantled it in TWO of our three bathrooms.

Counter After:

From The Diet Coke Diet

Remember the tub in our car seat post? Well, it wasn't THAT bad this time around, but I forgot to take "Before" pictures, so assume it was that bad.
Here's the tub after:

From The Diet Coke Diet

Toilet:

From The Diet Coke Diet

I'll say it for you: EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW boys are gross.

And after:
Whoops. I forgot it. I assure you, I would happily use the throne in there now.

Mirror before: (well, mid-spraying it)

From The Diet Coke Diet

And after:

From The Diet Coke Diet

FINAL PRODUCT:

From The Diet Coke Diet

Cute boys:

From The Diet Coke Diet

Mmkay, so seriously, I used NO commercial cleaners in here. It's SPOTLESS.

Why? Because vinegar kills 1.Mold 2. Bacteria 3. Germs. It also deodorizes beautifully.

The only thing I DIDN'T use it on was the floor because I used my steam mop. (Don't fret, there will be a steam mop review in the near future.) BUT before my steam mop, I did use it. I'd just spray and mop it up.

Like I said. Spotless.

"But Morgan," you say, "What's so bad about (insert random cleaner here)?"

The answer: Well, it depends. See, for me, Vinegar water is EASY. I have to buy stuff to clean with anyway, right? And vinegar is insanely cheap. It costs me a 10th of what a conventional cleaner costs. Also, there are very dangerous chemicals in conventional cleaners that make them unsafe. My kids drink the bath water. Ya know? If I don't HAVE to use, harsh, engineered chemicals, I'm not going to. That's all.

If you absolutely can not believe me, then that's okay. I just know, it WORKS. But we can still be friends if you are 1. Horrified by the state of my restrooms pre-company coming or 2. Can't fathom actually just using vinegar because you don't want to (for whatever reason). We're still buds. It's all good.

Never fear. This is NOT the last you shall be hearing from me about vinegar. We're in love!

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