Bicarbonate of Soda

[Colonelcupcake]

There seems to be lots of uses of bicarbonate of soda, now a silly question, is it the same a Soda Crystals (im in uk if that matters) or where do you buy it other than the little tubs in the baking aisle

defo not the same as soda crystals! you can use bicard in cooking but soda crystals would make you feel very sick!

think i've only ever bought it in the baking aisle.

Soda crystals are sodium carbonate, and bicarbonate of soda is, what for it, sodium bicarbonate!

The 2 have different uses.

Soda crystals are a brillint and cheap de-greaser, say for washing grubby kitchen areas and unblocking sinks, but you do need to use very hot water and rinse well.

And bicarbonate of soda is brilliant at removing odours and cleaning stained things like the inside of a glass vase or coffee stained cups.

I always buy the little tubs of bicarb in the baking aisle, as haven't seen bigger ones anywhere.
Soda crystals are in the laundry section.

My kids also loved mixing bicarb with vinegar as it bubbles up like a volcano and if you put some bicarb into a small plastic bottle,then add the vinegar to it itlooks a bit like a mad prof's lab!

But what about when people say to add a couple of cupfulls to help with Chicken pox surely you would have to buy a lot of litlle tubs thank you for explaining the diffrence

I know what you mean, it is annoying as a tub doesn't go far
I've never tried but maybe it's something a chemist stocks?

You can get it in fairly decent sized boxes, about 500g, in larger branches of Boots but I don't think it's any cheaper overall than the small tubs. I've also heard that some Chinese/Asian supermarkets have it in much bigger quantities (and cheaper too) but don't have one near me to find out. I doubt it would be food grade in those large amounts but def fine for cleaning etc.

I've found the larger packs in independent hardware shop, John Lewis and Oxfam (in the eco cleaning sections).

You can buy it often in local hardware stores or ironmongers. I buy it in bulk through my local pharmacist but be warned - you may get asked a lot of questions about why you want so much. I went home and crossly told my policeman hubby that they were very nosy in there and he told me it's often used by drug dealers to cut their drugs!