Plastic containers don't smell "fresh"

chocolate moose

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The title says it all; my Tupperware and Rubbermade containers, which admittedly are pretty old and have been store with their tops on, aren't fresh smelling anymore.

The kids wonder if that's unhealthy and if we should replace them.

Anyone ?
 

Leni

New member
I have some REALLY old Tupperware. I never store them with the tops on. I learned that early on. That is the cause of it not smelling fresh. I would wash all of them and you could run a solution of water and vinegar or lemon juice over them before a final rinse. As far as safety goes, no problem.
 

Shermie

Well-known member
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That happens to mine as well.

Also, try bleaching them, or add a little bleach to the dish water.

You can also wash them in the dishwasher as well!! The extremely hot water, combined with the bleach-laden detergent is enough to kill that bad smell!! Just make sure that you place them in the TOP rack well away from the heating element.

Sometimes, my Rubbermaid AND Tupperware containers smell like stale grease!! On of the two methods above helps get rid of that smell!!!

If you have plastic containers that have sticky stale hard-to-remove old grease on them, just spray some Dawn Power Dissolver on them and wait for 15 minutes. Then rinse it off, and the sticky grease residue is gone!!
 
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QSis

Grill Master
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These are great tips!

I thought this just happened to ME!

Lee
 

Shermie

Well-known member
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These are great tips!

I thought this just happened to ME!

Lee



Yeah, you'd be surprised that a few simple tips can be used to restore plastic containers back to their 'like new' appearances! :applause:
 

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
These are great tips!

I thought this just happened to ME!

Lee

Here is another tip that few realize really and I learned recently. You can add years to the storage of dried beans and rice using plastic two liter soda bottles. They are treated with the same treatment as Mylar food bags and buckets used for long term food storage which removes oxygen.

Wash the bottles with warm water and mild detergent such as Dawn followed by a complete rinse. Allow to air dry then fill with rice or beans to top, cap and tape up. You just added a good 10 to 15 years to their storage life the same as if you had vacuum sealed or stored in a mylar bag and bucket.
 

Shermie

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Here is another tip that few realize really and I learned recently. You can add years to the storage of dried beans and rice using plastic two liter soda bottles. They are treated with the same treatment as Mylar food bags and buckets used for long term food storage which removes oxygen.

Wash the bottles with warm water and mild detergent such as Dawn followed by a complete rinse. Allow to air dry then fill with rice or beans to top, cap and tape up. You just added a good 10 to 15 years to their storage life the same as if you had vacuum sealed or stored in a mylar bag and bucket.



Also, I use the tall Oxo containers with the sealing lids to store rice, pasta, flour, sugar and dried beans in.

They're pretty good and help keep out flying insects, moisture and dust!! :chef:
 

joec

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Also, I use the tall Oxo containers with the sealing lids to store rice, pasta, flour, sugar and dried beans in.

They're pretty good and help keep out flying insects, moisture and dust!! :chef:

Yes they will work also if you remove the oxygen from them. The soda bottles and other things like it do that. Oxygen is what causes it to deteriorate over time, at least with dried food such as rice and beans.
 

chocolate moose

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I used the bleach tip a few times and I think it helped get my silverware clean, but my office water cup started to smell funny, like bleach. I washed it a few more times and am letting it air out, but I'm not crazy about drinking water with a sort of bleach scent.
 

Shermie

Well-known member
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Yes they will work also if you remove the oxygen from them. The soda bottles and other things like it do that. Oxygen is what causes it to deteriorate over time, at least with dried food such as rice and beans.



The stuff isn't in there that long. I use it quite often.

Because I like to bake, and when I bake, make spaghetti sauce, cook rice or dried beans, things tend to move rather fast and get used up a lot. Usually a few days short of a month it's gone. ;)
 

Shermie

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I used the bleach tip a few times and I think it helped get my silverware clean, but my office water cup started to smell funny, like bleach. I washed it a few more times and am letting it air out, but I'm not crazy about drinking water with a sort of bleach scent.



To get rid of the bleach smell, just try using a little bit on bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), let it sit for a few minutes that rinse the cup out with hot tap water.

That should solve the bleach problem.

But be careful of what you let sit in the bleached water Things made of aluminum can blacken - a chemical reaction that sort of oxodizes the surface of the aluminum and turns it a very dark color. :sad:
 

luvs

'lil Chef
Gold Site Supporter
vinegar & baking pop. soak 'em. they'll fizz majorly. put them in the sink so as to keep spilling contained. wait a few, then wash 'em
 

waybomb

Well-known member
Can these things take 165 degrees f? If so, heat to 165f for a few minutes; that will kill the pathogens.

The smell is from the itsy bitsy bugs.

Boiling would be great.
 

Shermie

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Can these things take 165 degrees f? If so, heat to 165f for a few minutes; that will kill the pathogens.

The smell is from the itsy bitsy bugs.

Boiling would be great.




In THAT case, you can safely use your dishwasher's sanitizer rinse (provided that you have one and it has that feature).

Most dishwashers (mine has it) can help get rid of bacteria, germ and pathogens by heating the water temp in the main wash and final rinse anywhere from 140 to 165 degrees!

Bacteria, germs and pathogens die in 140-degree water temperatire up to about 180 degrees, according to the national Sanitation Foundation.

Though machines made today probably don't go as high as 180 degrees for the final rinse, yes, the machine CAN help get rid of such problems associated with plastic containers.

Outside of that, you can use hot water from the faucet as hot as your hands can stand. You can also try to look into getting a commercial food service low-temp sanitizer that also might help. :weber:
 

waybomb

Well-known member
160, well, actually, 158, but we call it 160 for safety sake, instantaneously should kill all the little suckers. Lower temperatures require longer time.

By instantaneously, I mean every part of the heated part reaches 160, not just the temperature of the water/oven/microwave.
 

Shermie

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160, well, actually, 158, but we call it 160 for safety sake, instantaneously should kill all the little suckers. Lower temperatures require longer time.

By instantaneously, I mean every part of the heated part reaches 160, not just the temperature of the water/oven/microwave.



Yeah, my dishwasher heats the main wash & final rinse, but after the water temp is raised in the final rinse to about 140 degrees, the rinse cycle continues on for about 20 minutes or so longer.

To make sure that all micro-organisms are destroyed in the superheateed water. The heated dry also continues to kill the bacteria, keeping the dishes hot until the machines shuts off!! :)
 
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Leni

New member
I wash my Tupperware in the dishwasher all the time. I've also washed other plastics in it such as Rubber Maid but always on the top shelf.
 

Shermie

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Yeah, that it wear it should go. The heating element could damage it during the drying cycle!!
 

Shermie

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i never using the drying cycle. think t hat's another reason why they smell ?



To me, the drying cycle helps get rid of any & all moisture left on the dishes during the washing & rinsing.

And I think that it's very important to have the hottest water availible to melt and get rid of any grease on the load and to help promote better drying qualities.

Plus, using a rinse agent for the final rinse is also important because it makes the water sheet off the load by helping to reduce the surface tension of the water, thereby making spotting a thing of the past.:clap:
 

Shermie

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i never using the drying cycle. think t hat's another reason why they smell ?



Plastic items don't dry very well in the dishwasher if the final rinse water isn't hot enough and if there's no heat during the drying.

That is why it is neccesary to use a rinse agent for the final rinse portion of the cycle. To help get as much water off the plastic items as possible.

Mine comes out bone dry with no spots. :)
 

Embryodad

Well-known member
I had found, the best thing to remove odors from tupperware type plastic, is Sunlight Dishwasher Detergent. The lemon scent one.
I add a tsp. of the soap powder to each medium size container with warm water, and siwsh it around to disolve it. Let it sit for 10 minutes, and then I rinse thorouly, and imediately swipe a cloth with alcohol inside the container.

The dish soap for dishwashers is caustic like draino...either Potassium Hydroxide or Sodium Hydroxide... with a scent and anti foam agent.
The alcohol wipe, kills germs well. It also Masks Odors. It's the ingredient in that odor mask, Fabreeze! .... I don't use that because of the perfume additive.
I just use 20% alcohol with water in a spray bottle!
 

Shermie

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Will Cascade dishwasher detergent do the same thing?

It would seem like a definite waste to me to buy Sunlight Dishwasher Detergent, when I still have almost a full box of Cascade Lemon-scented detergent.

Anywho, since the plastis IS often machines-washed, I just throw a little bleach into the machine's tub afyter the water has started to fill.

Normally, for me, all plastic containers are odor-free after being washed in the dishwasher. The extreme comdination of detergent-charged extrahot water, a superheated final rinse and a hot drying cycele not only kills any odor on the containers, but it also sets the stuff up to be bone-dry after all that hot action.

Some really old plastic container items though, may have to be discarded, since there is just no hope of getting rid of the odor!! Also, the containers themselves become stained from things like spaghetti sauce. And also, if they are in the microwave too long for reheating things, they can be damaged to the point where they just have to be theown away!! I have several really old containers that I plan to replace soon with some new ones.

In time, like most everything else, plastic starts to show its age and it is usually not too expensive to replace. You can also get by with the cheaper throw-away type containers like Glad and Ziploc, but those also cost money, especially the larger ones, and they are too valuable to just give away or to just throw away!!!
 
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chocolate moose

New member
Super Site Supporter
I used to ask Tupperware to replace things but it became a hassle. It's true, new things are not that pricey anymore and then I have a fun shopping trip. Dunno what I'll do.

But thanks all, for the lively discussion!
 

Embryodad

Well-known member
Sherman...Cascade lemon scent may work, but if not, what you could do, is buy a small size box of sunlight (w) Lemon, and use it only for the purpose of de-odorizing etc. They have the small baby box like 12 oz's
I will say one thing, and the proof to me that it works..................."My wife worked the Seafood in the A&P supermarket years ago, and she got those shipping containers that the fish like scallops and other varieties come packed in from the Fish distributers. She brought a few home (they only throw them in the trash ) and I said,"How the heck am I supposed to get the fish smell out??

I put them in the dishwasher with Probably Cascade...which is a good soap, and the smell was still there. I was about to abort the idea of saving those containers, and someone mentioned lemon. I remember we had a box of sunlight with lemon dish detergent, and I filled the container with warm water, and a tsp. of the sunlight, and after 10 minutes I rinsed it; then in the dishwasher,...and low and behold, no fish smell, and no lemon smell.
Tina gave it the nose test (she can smell a dead mouse in the garage, from the opposite end of the house.) it passed the test.
We use them for storing the cookies when the girls bake, and they stack so nice.

After that...Tina brought so many home....we had to throw them away even after giving tons of them out to friends and family.

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The tall containers are the ones the scallops come in.

If you have a friend that works in the supermarket...they can probably get some of these containers for you. They only throw them in the dumpster. Free Is Good!
People don't want or save them for the simple fact, that they think the fish smell will always be impregnated into the plastic. W R O N G !!! hahahaha... I LOVE THEM! LOL...Like ? Do I have a Container fetish? YES!!!
 
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Shermie

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I may try it someday.

But Cascade seems to work for me right now.

I still have some of the all Tupperware containers that had once smelled like stale grease. One washing in the dishwasher and the smell was gone!!
 
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