I love Pinterest. In fact, I am probably slightly obsessed with Pinterest. It is such a great way to get new recipe ideas, house projects and my favorite is cleaning tips. So, a couple days ago I searched on Pinterest for a way to get the tomato sauce stains out of my food storage containers. Three ideas later and I still have tomato stained Tupperware. I had five containers I tried these on and it failed on all five! I was so bummed about these Pinterest fails.
I first tried baking soda and water. I made it up into a paste and then rubbed it on the containers. Multiple articles mentioned that within a few minutes you could see the paste suck out the color from the container. It sucked for sure. 🙂 Thirty minutes into it, with lots of scrubbing the stain hadn't budged.
I moved on to another popular pin. Rub the container with the lemon and the stain will go away. I tried it, then I let it sit for a few minutes. Nothing. I scrubbed at the container and let it soak. Still didn't lighten at all.
Finally, I finished with another idea I had seen. Lemon juice with salt mixed in. The salt would help scrape away the stain. Nope, no luck. After trying for about 10 minutes I gave up.
By this time I needed to pick up the kiddo at practice, so I just gave up on cleaning the stains. I guess we are forever doomed to eat from stained Tupperware. I still love Pinterest, it is awesome. But, I have to say Pinterest let me down this time.
What about you? What has been your biggest Pinterest fail? What are your tips for getting stains from Tupperware? I would love to hear them.
Urailak @LivingforGod says
I found this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-barnes/how-to-clean-tomato-sauce_b_1521201.html . Hope it's helpful! Or you might like this method better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slh7T0yrunY :).
Julie says
Thank you so much! I will have to give it a try. 🙂
Free says
I saw once on Pinterest that they said to use alka seltzer. I have not tried it because all I have is orange flavored alka seltzers.
Stephanie says
I tried all those to remove stains too, and they didn't work. The only thing I've found that worked to remove stains is bleach, since, well, that's what it's suppose to do.
Celi says
I hear throwing them away and replacing with new ones works wonders. 😉 Lol... No but seriously I actually rubbed the inside of mine with a paste of lemon juice and baking soda then I set it out in the sun for a full day and it worked. However when I tried it with a different plastic container it did not work. So I guess it depends on the type of plastic. Can't guarantee it will work for you but hey, it's worth a shot. Good Luck!!!
Julie says
I laughed for 5 minutes after reading that! Your right, sometimes you just have to throw them out. 🙂
Shelby says
I haven't tried this on tomato stains, but the fizzy denture cleaners (like Polident) work wonderfully on tea stains.
Julie says
I will have to try that. Thanks!
Anjali says
I totally agree and have been equally let down! For me it was all the suggestions on how to remove jar labels. From peanut butter....to oil and baking soda....to vinegar and baking soda...nothing really worked. Labels that were already easy came off but those tough suckers with all their guck stayed on. In the end it was good old fashioned soaking and scrubbing that came through.
Julie says
Nice to know, I just got a new jar I wanted to remove the label on. Sometimes a little bit of muscle is what works best. 🙂
Danielle says
For some jars just washing them in the dishwasher works, for others I have held them over a steaming tea pot (careful with this one) but for the hardest ones I used Windex - I sprayed it on, put it in a ziplock bag and left it over night and the sticky FINALLY came off. On a side note- I also used Windex to clean the grease and grim that built up on said tea pot from sitting on my stove all the time - worked quite well.
Julie says
Thanks for the tips!
Heather Doss says
For the jar label: I know plain old butter gets most stickers off! First peel the label off best you can from the jar (or whatever the item may be). Then simply rub some butter on what's left of the label. Sometimes you can rub it on and rub it straight back off. Sometimes you've gotta let it sit on there and rub on it periodically until it all comes off. some stickers are worse than others. That's a trick learned by my grandma. This definitely works on MOST stickers.
Pat says
I was going to say bleach too.
Rachel G says
Man, sorry it didn't work! It's so frustrating when tupperware gets stained like that, but it's kind of unavoidable, since we're meant to store food in them!
Helene says
It's not just me! Sometimes those Pinterest "hacks" are just baloney!
Julie says
I agree! It always looks better on pinterest, I think.
S.L. Payne says
We were able to bleach the tomato stains on our cutting board just by putting it in the sun for a day or two. I can't remember exactly how long, but it actually worked- I was so skeptical when my husband told me to do it, but I was totally wrong! I have a feeling though it makes a difference what kind of plastic it is. Good luck! I've tried a bunch of pinterest and had a bunch of fails too. I think the worst was a teriyaki chicken that was done in the crock pot and it just tasted gross and our kids who normally love it wouldn't touch it. Oh well, but it was worth a try! I'm up for any crock pot ideas!
-Sara, uncommongrace.net
Lexi says
I love pinterest and sometimes the advice is great but sometimes it isn't. The worst one I have tried was a mix to get rid of ants-it was a complete flop. Good luck with the Tupperware and if you find one that works hopefully you will share that with us as nothing I have tried has worked for me either
Julie says
I will definitely let everyone know if I find something that works. 🙂
Tanya @ Mom's Small Victories says
Tomato stains are sooo annoying. Sorry these failed you. I bought some new cookware that is ceramic nonstick and white on the inside and all I'm thinking is it's going to get stained the first time I make spaghetti sauce or chorizo. I haven't opened it yet, might return it. Anyway, Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday Linkup. Pinning to our linkup board and hope you join us again this weekend.
Meredith @ The Palette Muse says
I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one who has pinterest fails! Sorry, I have no advice for you. We just use tomato-stained tupperware. 🙂 But for every fail, you know there will be more inspiration next time...
Irma says
Rinse stained container in a solution of bleach and water and put out in direct sunlight...Hasn't failed me yet. Also works great on dingy white clothing... Your whites will never be whiter!!
Angela @ Simply Beautiful By Angela says
I have tried and tried to find a good way to clean my glass stovetop and everything I've seen on Pinterest has failed. I can totally relate!!
Debbie says
I have found that you have to be really careful of everything on pinterest ... I've had a couple recipes that look so good ... then turn out poorly! But, I too ... am hooked on pinterest! I use denture tablets to get stains out of plastic containers ... doesn't always work on tomatoes, however! Depends upon the type of plastic. Enjoyed your post. Thanks for sharing!
Julie says
I will have to try denture tablets sometime. Thanks for sharing.
MM says
I had to laugh at your pinterest fail post! We recently have decided to not use plastic storage any more, and I bought a couple of sets of glass storage ware, and they have been wonderful so far. No more tomato-ish stains to deal with! May be this is your best bet 🙂 Glad to have found you today through A Wise Woman!
Julie says
I might have to try that! Thanks 🙂
Jaime says
I do like to see how sometimes Pinterest isn't perfect, lol. =) I tried to do the Dr. Seuss cookies, the pastel swirled ones, but something went wrong and all the cookies ended up a pastel brown.
Julie says
Isn't it fun to check out the pinterest fails? I could see how the Dr. Seuss cookies could be an easy fail. 🙂
LaKita says
Yes I have had a few Pinterest fails as well, but I think its been previously mentioned I usually just allow mine to soak in warm soapy water with a few drops of bleach and that usually removes the stains. Stopping by from #SITSBlogging
Julie says
Thanks for stopping by!
Zan says
Trust me, they may not have been Pinterest but I sure do have some web recipes fail. I am surprised that none of these worked for you!
Zan says
BTW: Thanks for sharing with us at Home Matters linky party. Hope you join us again!
Keri says
I think I remember reading somewhere that if your plastic containers are stained, it means they've been damaged by heat. I'm paranoid about toxins leaching out of the plastic into my food, so I try to buy BPA-free. Those seem to stain a lot less than the other ones. I know that doesn't help with getting the stains out, but maybe an ounce of prevention?
Julie says
I have heard a lot of people suggest glass. That might be my best bet. Thanks for stopping by!
Beth McIntire says
Sorry to hear about your fail, but at least you can laugh about it now and got a great post out of the experience. I don't think I've tried anything like this from Pinterest. I have tried some crafts and recipes, though. Tide Oxi might work for your stains, but I've never actually tried to get the tomato sauce stains out of my bowls. I just assumed I was stuck with them.
Danielle @ Poor and Gluten Free says
Sorry about your fails! I switched to glass containers years ago, partly because the stains creeped me out, but also because glass lasts longer, doesn't stain, can be heated or chilled without worrying about chemicals, and is recyclable. Stain problem solved 😉 Thanks for sharing this on Waste Not Want Not Wednesday!
Julie says
I think I might try switching to glass. Thanks for the tips!
Corinne says
I am so glad you linked this up at This Is How We Roll Thursday. I've had almost as much fun reading the comments as I did reading your post. I agree with the suggestion to throw them out and replace them. That seems like the most reliable method! 🙂
Natasha Daniels says
I have almost all pinterest FAILS! I am glad I am not alone. I loooove pinterest, but when I actually do it the way it is supposed to be done - I am shocked!!
Carmen Smith says
Oh boy. We started using glass tupperware specifically for this reason. My biggest pinterest fail to date is trying to make homemade almond butter. WHAT A DISASTER :'( I actually published a post about this... https://apinteresthousewife.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/failed-it-homemade-almond-butter/
Funny to look back on now but boy was I angry at the time, haha