House Grooming

How to Clean Smelly Lunch Box?

Lunch boxes are essential for children as well as adults when they spent hours away from home. These are generally made out of plastics due to the convenience which they bring in. Metal lunch boxes are heavy and cumbersome to carry and in today’s date are redundant. Foils are of the use- and- throw nature but are generally not air tight for anything with gravy or semi solid base. Also, they cannot be recycled. Plastic is the handiest option since it is microwave friendly, airtight and reusable.

No matter how much a plastic lunch box is cleaned soaked or scrubbed, sometimes the smell says back. This makes it difficult to use it again. The smell can be so annoying that some of the lunch boxes are disposed off due to the smell.

Here are a few tips to get rid of the smell in the lunch boxes:

• Sometimes the easiest way and the best way is the most obvious way. Cleaning the lunch box inside out properly with soap and warm water can keep it free from germs and smell.
• Lunch boxes with lining to insulate need to be just thrown in the washing machine and after a few cycles they can be left in the sun to dry. After drying the smell disappears completely.
• Diluted bleach can be sprayed inside a lunch box and wiped dry. The box can be left open overnight to dry out. Next morning wash it out and the smell will be gone completely.
• Clean the lunch box well with soap and water properly, inside- out and wipe it dry. Moisten a piece of bread with white vinegar and put it inside the lunch box overnight with its lid shut. By morning the vinegar will kill the entire odor.
• When the lunch is packed in an aluminum foil and then put in the lunch box, it can keep help in keeping the box odor free.
• Another option to get rid of smell in lunch boxes is to wash them in soap and water and dry them out. Open the container and freeze it overnight.
• Washing and then setting the lunch box out in the sun to dry for a couple of hours can kill the odor. The lid should be separated and also dried out.
• After Washing, cleaning and drying the lunch box, a few lemon slices can be put inside. Cover the box with the lid and leave it for a few days. The smell will be reduced. This procedure is time consuming as it requires four to five days, at least to work.
• After the washing and cleaning of the lunch box, sprinkle a bit of baking soda. Leave it overnight and in the morning just dust it off. The smell will be gone.
• Leave a few coffee grounds in the lunch box. Shut the lid tightly. Leave it overnight. The smell will be neutralized by morning.
• A few chemical cleaners for odors are available in the market. These when mixed with soapy water to clean the box kill all the odors