How do you clean a lunchbox?
Tomorrow is an all-day field trip for our second grader. Wanting to be organized and prompt in the morning, we prepared all the school stuff tonight. When I opened up her lunch box, it stank like spoiled milk or something else rotten. I looked inside and it was empty, except for this icky stench. Her lunchbox has lots of seams and ridges, now collecting peanut butter smears and cracker crumbs and stinky milk remains.
How the heck do you clean out the lunch box? Soap and sponge won't do the trick in all the nooks and crannies. Any other tricks up yo' mama sleeve?
hot water and baking soda are really good at getting out stinks. it doesn't need to be boiling water. if the stink is really bad you can scrub the thing out with the baking soda water in it. then rinse with regular water and voila!
Posted by: bottleman | March 09, 2008 at 10:28 PM
If the lunch box is soft side...throw it in the washer under low spin with a little bleach. "It's a miracle!" :)
Posted by: Francine | March 09, 2008 at 11:02 PM
dishwasher...?
toothbrush...?
make it a tub toy for a couple of nights and then wash out with hot soapy water???
tricky.
Posted by: rae ann | March 09, 2008 at 11:39 PM
For the style of lunch boxes we use, I put very hot water in them with a bit of tea tree oil and soap. But I figure the tea tree oil is an anti-bacterial and it smells nicer than in your case stanky milk. good luck.
Posted by: Kimmy Simon | March 10, 2008 at 02:59 AM
Try vinegar--either straight up, mixed with water, or even sprinkle the cracks with baking soda and douse it with vinegar and the bubbles will clean it up.
Posted by: Leah | March 10, 2008 at 08:51 AM
We had a soft lunch "box" that got the stickies and I could never get the smell completely out -- tried everything, the washing machine worked best but still...
Now we have a Laptop Lunch set that I can put in the dishwasher or wash by hand and I (and the kid) love it. So easy and never a smell.
Posted by: AmyS | March 10, 2008 at 12:27 PM
I'm all about the tupperware. It's easy to clean and cuts down on waste. There are some great 2 to 4 compartmentalized locking ones out at Owigamaya. I also have the laptop lunch box, but I'm always struggling with the sizes of the containers and that they don't all have lids. It also does not stay closed as well as I would like. I got a soft zippered thermal lunch bag (at the Hello Kitty store in Lloyd center) and just put the tupperware containers in it.
Posted by: elena | March 10, 2008 at 01:12 PM
I use tons of tupperware, but if lids aren't super tight, there is oozies everywhere. I used a big scrubber brush with strong bristles (so like a big toothbrush) to scrub the lunch box. It worked pretty well.
Posted by: olivia | March 10, 2008 at 09:32 PM