Kitchen Roll Alternative!

[Wanderlust20]

Now hear me out - I know my title sounds weird!

So I used to buy and use a lot of kitchen roll. In the past couple of years, I've made an effort to be more eco friendly but the one thing I couldn't quit was the kitchen roll! I know it sounds silly but, to me, it just seemed way more hygienic than sponges or cloths etc as it was single use - convenient too but so wasteful as you obviously can't recycle it (due to it not being made of paper but lots of little fibres).

So my question is this - what do you wipe down spillages/your kitchen worktops with? And if you do just use a wet cloth or something else, where do you store/dry it? And how often do you wash them? We cook every night (and sometimes make a right mess) so I could imagine any cloths getting quite stained and dirty after one use.

The thought of using the same manky cloth or sponge makes my skin crawl! But then my husband pointed out that you'd do the same with a washing up sponge so he has a point!

So many questions ha ha, I know, I'm strange .

I use a vast amount of tea towels. I have the type your dry glasses with, thin cotton ones. I use them as kitchen clothes for whatever needs wiping. Then I wash them on a hot wash once I have enough. I get through about 5-6 a day. I have around 50 in a big drawer.

This method works for me, I haven't bought kitchen towels in years.

I use the towelling type tea towels as traditional tea towel.

The only time I come unstuck is when I'm visiting family and forget and use their tea towels to mop surfaces with.

Bacon fat? pour in one spot in flower bed while hot, else kitchen paper. Everything else? Tea towels cut half, or old t shirts chopped up.

I use cotton or bamboo cloths and never microfiber, it sheds masses of tiny plastic particles into the water system with every wash and is probably worse for the environment than kitchen roll! We only use kitchen roll for soaking up grease etc. I use a nappy bag to store used cloths (as you can zip it up to avoid odours) and do a cloth and towel wash twice a week. Despite my best efforts we still produce a massive amount of rubbish

I’ve just brought some simple wash clothes from IKEA (4 for £1) brought 12 or 16 altogether and we’ve just been using them and then just throwing them in a tub to be washed (also got from IKEA) and I actually am preferring it! I also brought a load in a separate colour to wipe my daughter’s face, her bibs and high chair down now that she’s weaning.
We use cheeky wipes for wet wipes but wanted a cheaper alternative for cleaning!

My used ones in the basket don't stink but I do rinse them in v hot water and wring well after use before I throw them in there. Get washed once or twice a week.

We use cloths for wiping surfaces. I leave them soaking in dilute bleach overnight.

They don't get used for wiping raw meat or gross nastiness.

I too understand this problem. I use kitchen roll a lot. I want to use something else but I don't know what.

But I'm not prepared to have a bucket, or stinky cloths. I can't seem to find an 'easy' substitute.

I don't have a bucket. I use the washing up bowl.

I quite like the smell of bleach in the morning. It smells like cleanliness.

@lazyakita

I use cotton or bamboo cloths and never microfiber, it sheds masses of tiny plastic particles into the water system with every wash and is probably worse for the environment than kitchen roll! We only use kitchen roll for soaking up grease etc. I use a nappy bag to store used cloths (as you can zip it up to avoid odours) and do a cloth and towel wash twice a week. Despite my best efforts we still produce a massive amount of rubbish

Unless all your clothes are also cotton many clothes will also do the same thing. You can get filters for the washing machine for this, I think some now even have it built in.

I have loads of ecloths. I get through 2/3 a day. They get thrown into a basket in the utility room and have a separate wash with Zoflora every couple of weeks. I now know they aren't as eco friendly as I would like but surely it's better to use them than to dispose of them and buy new cotton ones?

I still use kitchen roll for some jobs, mostly wiping out food and oil from cooking pans. It goes into the food waste bin to be composted.

I don't get why peoples used cleaning cloths would smell? All mine smell of is the (eco friendly) cleaning product I use. Any food product that might create a smell as it breaks down is goes into the food waste caddy either directly or on a piece of biodegradable kitchen roll.

Damp wet things do tend to smell if you leave them, I find that of one of the kids just throws a wet cloth into the basket. Hence I rinse in hot water & wring well.

I have a load of mostly cotton cloths that I use for wiping up. They get changed at least once a day. Rinsed and draped over the edge of a bucket, by the following day they are dry. Then I dump them in the bucket to go in the next towels load. Worn out tea-towels get cut in four and added to the stash of wiping-up cloths.

I do use kitchen roll as well, but a roll can last several months.

I wouldn't use a cloth to mop up copious amounts of fat. Washing it would just transfer the fat to the insides of my washing machine and the sewers. If I can't get the fat into a bottle for the food waste recycling, then I soak it up with kitchen roll and bin it.

We have a little tub of cheeky wipe reusable wipes on the kitchen surface. We use them to wipe down surfaces, DD’s high chair, (and DD after meals..). Then they just get chucked in the washing machine when dirty, and washed with the next wash.

@Hastingsishot

I ha e loads of micro fibre cloths. Green ones for the kitchen and all other colours for everything else.

We get through at least 1 or 2 a day.

I started switching to microfibre cloths, but then read about how they shed microscopic amounts of synthetic fibre when they are washed, which is of course getting into the environment. So I returned to cotton waste cloths. I tried to buy bamboo cloths for a while but TBH there is so much worn out cotton in a household that I haven't had to buy wiping ip cloths in years.

Keep your bacon fat and use it for frying like a hillbilly, gives loads of flavour.

I have lots of cotton dish cloths which I keep under the sink. We use those to wipe down surfaces after cooking - we just wet them and use the wet cloth with kitchen spray. They get used once and are then put in the laundry.

I have lots of microfiber cloths for cleaning and mopping up spillages. And washable sponges for washing up.

I have a container by the washing machine for cloths, flannels, towels and tea towels. When it's full I wash them all together.

We do still use kitchen roll for food - draining fat off things and pressing tofu. But 1 roll usually lasts a month or two!

i use newspapers ripped into large squares for mucky jobs, grease etc and it goes in the compost bin.

Wiping counters - use damp dishcloth, wiped down with clean rag.

Rags made from old tea towels, face flannels, t-shirts etc.

I have cloths and kitchen roll, raw meat I use disposable, really staining disposable (eg turmeric, everything else washable cloths which I change daily

@Overoptimistix

Beware of the cult of cloth napkins . Once you start you have to have different colours, styles, the markets in France in particular sell beautiful ones ... then when you are packing your house up getting divorced you realise you have over 200!

i use a sieve for draining tofu, sometimes a clean teatowel.

I go through a lot of cloths and teatowels.

@mootymoo - what have you done to me?! I am now dreaming of beautiful French linen napkins and wafting through a market to buy them...
I'm pretty sure I would be given full custody of the napkins in the case of divorce though.

I've just spent a lot of time on Ebay looking up cloth napkins.

@mushforbrain which reusable kitchen roll do you use? I’ve just had a look and there are mixed reviews about lack of absorbency & shedding fibres. I don’t want to buy some that are useless. Thanks

I only use kitchen roll for oil mop up. Everything else is just a cloth, of which I have lots. I have a storage tub from Ikea in the utility, cloths are always wrung out and I throw them plus tea towels, kitchen hand towels, and our napkins into that tub.

It gets washed every week on a high temp with Dettol laundry. The tub gets wiped out using one of the clean cloths and Zoflora.

For Ds2 I used reusable nappies so went down a cloth washing route 15 years ago.