Why is kitchen roll so bloody expensive?

[Tootsweetrodders]

First world problem obviously..

But why the mother fecking feck is kitchen roll SO expensive?!

Possibly it’s just me and my — Sunday evening, but drunk, doing the shopping on my phone app in front of shit telly - self…

It’s hardly 20 loads of washing a week for cloths..
I just put dirty cloths in a small lidded box above washing machine, then maybe twice a week wash on hot with the last few days of tea towels, cleaning cloths, mop head etc..

DH said at first he didn't like it because it 'wasn't white' but now wouldn't have anything else. Some other rolls are cheaper but you use more.

Be like a chef and drain fatty things on those blue and white absorbent clothes

What do you use it for? We barely use it at all. Wouldn't miss it.

Do you mean what people generally call J cloths? Wouldn't that be even more expensive than kitchen roll? They're disposable too because it's not like you can wash and reuse a cloth soaked in fat.

I never buy, never seen the need? Just use washable microfibre clothes to clean and wipe up stuff.

I get the massive elehpant bog roll type ones from Aldi, they last for ages.

Are plastic cloths that shed fibres in the wash really any better than paper? And if you use them to wipe out greasy pans or roasting tins, you might as well cut out the middle man and wash the fat straight down the sink.

I’ve never used it, I stick a cloth in the machine each time I do a wash.

It's £5.50 for 3 rolls in Asda and Tesco (club card deal) at the moment.

Home bargains have some really thick kitchen roll, it lasts for ages. Reasonable price too....£1.20 i think???

@PickAChew - plastic cloths? Why would you be using those? I just use cotton flannels or muslin depending.

@Caspianberg there are people upthread saying they use microfibre cloths. Those are plastic.

I have a stash of old tea towels, muslins (my youngest is 17!), knickers and so on that get used for various mucky jobs that I will wash out or dispose of, depending on what they've been used for - all cotton (no accounting for DH though who sneaks micrfibre cloths into the house, periodically!)

@PickAChew - ah ok. We have lots of cotton cloths leftover from Ds butt cleaning days.

I make a stack of these out of junk mail advertising and use them for vegetable peelings etc. Very therapeutic and they cut down on paper towel use.

I use kitchen roll for the odd greasy thing, but otherwise cloths, eg old towels cut up and overlocked for cleaning, old linen or cotton teatowels for glass and windows, and cotton bandanas to dry salad, fruit etc.

How much kitchen roll is anyone using to create 20 loads of washing a week?

Reusable wipes are excellent.

Dry counters with clean wipes.
Dry off oily stuff on a rack.
Pour fats into a jar or fat trap.

We don't have kitchen roll and haven't missed it in 5 years.

We have a stack of cheeky wipes, first used for kids bums and now household cloths.

Serviettes every meal.... I'm questioning what people are eating to need them.

I use maybe 1 or 2 kitchen rolls a year. Almost everything can be done with a clean cotton tea towel instead, or a dishcloth. As for wiping out greasy pans, I let them cool completely then scrape out the fat and put it out for the birds.

Some people are weird about re wearing clothes. Oh, that coat touched a fence post...wash it. You wore that jumper for an hour? Wash it. The cardigan you wore to cover up whilst answering the door to the postie? Wash!

LOL as if using around 3-5 small 6" square muslins a day would add significantly to your washing? It would add up to maaaaybe an extra t-shirt a week!

I'm waiting for the fallout from @Hercisback admitting to using cheeky wipes as household cloths after using them on kids bums, as if repeatedly washing them afterwards had no effect and she's now smearing diluted shit all over her surfaces.

It does in the bigger picture. This is one example, but on many threads discussing different issues the 'go reuseable!' gets thrown about. Nappies, pads, etc.

I then marry this to the 'how many loads of laundry do you do' threads. Have a search, it's astonishing how many loads of separate washes people do a week.

Here's an example of one

It seems when it comes to what's good for the environement, no one talks about water wastage.

I use the Morrisons saver range, it's only about £1.40, a giant roll. Lasts me ages. It's not quilted or fancy but does the job. There's no way I'd pay a fiver for it.

I agree, and some of us do talk about water wastage. Also that of electricity, detergent and other cleaning products. Some Mumsnetters have talked about bleach, shampoo, shower gel, fabric conditioner and other product usage that seems alarmingly high to me (imagine the massive factories producing all this stuff and the enormity of the plastic bottles left over).

But you can't be too clean, according to MN. There's a thread running where some people are showering 3 or 4 times a day and several have confidently stated that 'everyone' showers twice a day.

There's people unashamedly using their tumble dryers during the current hot, dry spell even though they could easily line dry.

But it does need to be borne in mind that some things do have to be used many many times for the environmental impact to be less than single use, shopping bags in particular. People have those jute bags, they need to be reused thousands of times before the environmental impact is less than a single use plastic bag, properly disposed of, eg reused as a bin bag for non recyclable rubbish that is incinerated so never ends up being dumped in the sea.

You might find this podcast interesting about the nappies (spoiler, reuseables are better for the environment when all factors are taken into account, but not by as much as you'd think, although I don't think they mentioned using them for more than one DC, which I think would be a given, because even if you only use them for one yourself, you'd sell or give them away when you've finished with them).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001md4l

Yep it's bloody crazy prices these days'