paper towels (old)

[Wilson513]

For kitchen towels, I use them only until I cannot remember every use they had. Usually this is a matter of hours. I might wipe up a little clean water on the counter or dry clean hands. But once something organic has been wiped up or I can't remember when I got the towel out, its gone. I have about 50 kitchen towels in use, wash them every week or two with nothing else (no clothes or other towels) and use lots of Clorox and hot water.

As for poultry, I never handle raw poultry without vinyl exam gloves on and never put the raw poultry on any surface that is not going into the dishwasher or equivalent.

Also a big help is that I have a 200 F. water dispenser on the kitchen sink which is what is really needed to kill the bacteria. I'll use that on my cutting board after use.

People who mess around with poultry bacteria have never been sick from it. I had a neighbor who ate some pink chicken at his daughter in law's house being polite and darn near died. He was in the hospital for two weeks and lost almost 50 pounds.

[chicagojlo]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

I use paper towels but not a lot of them.

I have cotton and linen kitchen towels hanging from the drawer pulls all over my kitchen. I wash all of them once a week unless I know I used one for something nasty. I don't worry much about the germ factor because I figure everyone who lives here has the same cooties anyway.

This is what we do too. And in all honesty the day my husband gets his hands wet in my kitchen will be the day pigs fly.

I don't disinfect my house. The only sanitizing product I have in my house is the hand gel and that's for guests who ask for it. I do sterilize my baby's bottles in a microwave sterilizer but that's the exception. I don't even have bleach in my home.

Nobody in my family has ever been sick from my 'unclean' house. If anything my kids are healthier because they haven't been exposed to all the chemicals that I see people dousing their home in, their clothes last a lot longer because I don't crank up the water heat on my washing machine and my electric bill is less because I don't use the drying function on my dishwasher.

People are insane about germs in this country. I honestly feel it has hindered us rather than helped us to have all these amazing products that supposedly protect us.

[hotzcatz]

One of the first things guests do here is buy paper towels. Generally, they get one look at the price and gasp, but then suck it up and buy a big bulk package anyway since it's cheaper per towel or something. During their stay they use about one roll of paper towels and then they leave the rest here. Like what am I supposed to do with them? Obviously, I don't use them since there weren't any when they showed up. Sigh! I put them off in the back of the storage area and bring them out when the next guests show up. Guests like to leave bottles of wine, too, but that can be made into useful things like wine vinegar.

[need4Trees]

I am Not into using paper towels at all, well, do have some in the house and i hardly use them, my friend/roommate uses all the time and lots!

for his hands, nose blowing... windows... spills...

i use rags that can be washed and rewashed...!

easy and way less $!

[displacedmom]

I gave up paper towels and paper napkins three or four years ago to save money and trees (but I think the trees would disagree with all the computer printing I do, LOL). I went out and bought a ton of white cloth bar mop towels and white bathroom washcloths to replace the paper products.

Well, I have given up on the bar mop towels as they didn't get very clean after washing them with lots of bleach and the bleach tended to destroy them too. But we are still using the washcloths for our hands and mouths at the dinner table and have started buying very inexpensive paper towels which last a long, long time. We only use the paper towels when we are eating food that stains a lot like spaghetti sauce or pizza OR when cleaning up using anti-bacterial cleaner after handling raw chicken. After reading some of these threads it sounds like I should be adding bleach to my anti-bacterial cleaner...I am a vegetarian, but my family is not so this REALLY grosses me out. I never get sick, but my family gets everything that's "going around", so that makes me wonder if it's the chicken.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by displacedmom

We only use the paper towels when we are eating food that stains a lot like spaghetti sauce or pizza OR when cleaning up using anti-bacterial cleaner after handling raw chicken. After reading some of these threads it sounds like I should be adding bleach to my anti-bacterial cleaner...I am a vegetarian, but my family is not so this REALLY grosses me out. I never get sick, but my family gets everything that's "going around", so that makes me wonder if it's the chicken.

Bad news:

Consumer Reports latest tests, released today, of 382 whole chickens bought from more than 100 stores in 22 states, found that two-thirds harbor disease-causing bacteria—salmonella, campylobacter or both (read the full report). While one name brand, Perdue, and most air-chilled organic chickens were significantly less contaminated than Foster Farms and Tyson brand chicken, consumers still need to be extremely vigilant in handling and cooking chicken.

The National Chicken Council responded to these results by downplaying the problem. In a statement issued today the NCC said, “Like all fresh foods, raw chicken may have some microorganisms present, but these are destroyed by the heat of normal cooking." True about cooking, but it is hard to think of another category of food where your chances are better than 50-50 of encountering a contaminated product. If a consumer slips up and raw chicken juices drip on salad greens in the refrigerator, or a cook uses a contaminated chicken knife on a salad tomato, the consequences could be severe.

Good News:

If you had salmonella, you'd know it.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

I was raised using paper towels. My dh, on the other hand was not. He uses a very nasty "dishrag" to wipe up stove and counter top messes and such.

He gets this from his mother who would sooner have her toe cut off than use a paper towel because it is "wasteful".

So, my question my frugal friends. Do you think that paper towels are "wasteful" and expensive or do you use them.

Thanks

20yrsinBranson

We use plenty of paper towels, but in the winter they go into the woodstove (a few at the time) so it's not a waste.

We use cloth for some things in the kitchen, but for messes we want to throw away, yeah, we use paper.

DH of yours seems to be "a piece of work" as the Brits might put it.

[christina0001]

I was raised on paper towels, we seldom used rags, but I am trying to remember to use rags more often. Mostly if I use paper towels, it is to clean up food spills and pet accidents. I love the fact that when I clean the house, I'm not going through a 1/4=1/3 roll of paper towels anymore. 1-2 rags will do it all.

[snofarmer]

Paper towels.

When I use a rag it's a one time use same goes for a paper towel.

I wonder how much energy goes into creating your cloth Rag and how much the soap/bleach, washing in hot water and drying it costs?

The trees are grown right here in the US and your supporting a US industry that is renewable.

How many of your "rags" were made in China or some other foreign country?

[formercalifornian]

I haven't used paper towels or napkins in years. I have about twenty dishrags that I wash with the regular laundry.

I prepare a roast chicken once a week or so, and I can't remember the last time someone in this house was sick. So either we have profoundly vigorous immune systems, or my cleaning methods are sufficient. I wash the counters vigorously with soapy water using a clean dishrag before preparing meals and after doing the dishes. I handwash my cutting board the same way, because it's too large to fit in the dishwasher.