Kitchen towel stains

Rosyrain

Rosyrain

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Washington, USA
I have some very pretty light colored kitchen towels and noticed that they are starting to get some food stains on them. How do you keep your towels from getting stained, when they are a tool you use in the kitchen to wipe off your hands? Or is it even possible to keep them from getting stained?
 
I don't think you can avoid the stains on kitchen towels. I use vinegar to help remove stains from my clothes when I see a stain I soak it right away to avoid the stain setting in, then it becomes hard to remove.
 
That's a problem for me too - particularly when I'm making tomato-based dishes. I try and have darker towels out when I'm cooking and save the lighter ones for drying dishes. I've often grabbed a white cloth without thinking though and messed it up. When this happens, I rinse off as much of the sauce as possible then soak it in a bucket with some water and bleach for a couple of hours, then throw it in the washing machine.
 
I will put them on a hotter wash (my machine will only go to 60C) with some bleach in the washing powder drawer of the washing machine (with usually washing powder/tablet/gel in the drum). It seems to work really well for me, even with stains like turmeric and blackberries. The same is true with my wooden chopping boards, though they don't go through the washing machine... bleach works miracles on them as well, but they do need re-oiling afterwards!
 
You can always treat a stain. Much like people...:devil:

Anywho, I've accumulated a ton of kitchen rags & I've made it a point to bleach the used ones accordingly. However, having that amount makes me a little less cognizant of treating them with care.
 
It is much easier for me to grab a dark towel if I know that I am going to work with a stain prone ingredient like tomato sauce, but the rest of my family is not as concerned with such things. I will try some color safe bleach because I have some nice bright spring themed towels that I would hate to get ruined from cooking.
 
This is why I only use cheap "bar towels" in my kitchen, that I buy in bulk from places like Costco or Wal-mart. That way I can inexpensively bleach them a few times to keep them bright, but when that no longer works, I just designate them for outdoor purposes such as cleaning stuff on my car, before tossing them out for good. There is no sense in dropping extra money on fancier kitchen towels with all sort of printed and stitched in designs which look "pretty" but are not functional at all since you can't get the stains out of them right after one use. I may have a few decorative towels hanging around, but they are not meant for actual use (though tell that to my family and friends who stupidly grab them when they are visiting!). Otherwise I just stick with cheap paper towels as much as possible before using my rags.
 
Bleach is my best friend here. I honestly try to stay away from white towels because even with bleach they will still end up looking a little yellow to me. I am pretty much like OhioTom76 who doesn't spend a fortune on the towels and once they are not up to scratch for the kitchen will designate their use to other areas outside of the kitchen before tossing them altogether
 
It is not easy cleaning the stains of our kitchen. That is why it is always good to clean your mess every after cooking.
 
I keep some towels for display only, much like the fingertip towels in bathrooms, and then the utilitarian towels, which I use all the time in my kitchen. Those are not very pretty, but they're clean, with permanent stains. I usually have one pretty towel, which I often hang on the refrigerator handle, then the workhorse towels are hung on the stove handle, where I usually am when I'm in the kitchen, so they're easy to grab when I need them.
 
Diane Lane said:
I keep some towels for display only, much like the fingertip towels in bathrooms, and then the utilitarian towels, which I use all the time in my kitchen. Those are not very pretty, but they're clean, with permanent stains. I usually have one pretty towel, which I often hang on the refrigerator handle, then the workhorse towels are hung on the stove handle, where I usually am when I'm in the kitchen, so they're easy to grab when I need them.
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I used to have towels out and about ages ago. I used to do a lot of entertaining back in the day and would always have these special towels that would be set apart from the rough and tumble "permanently" stained ones. I'd always hide those when the guest appeared. Your post reminded me of those days and having a particular towels for different task. These days the process is so different with the wasted paper towels and the odd towel coming out and hardly any kind of entertaining. Life.
 
My kitchen towels are all for disposal, meaning I don't bother with the stains. When it gets ugly stains, well, that's the time to throw it or make it a rag. Kitchen towels are cheap anyway. But with the emergence of the paper kitchen towel, it is handy to use although quite expensive because it is disposal and you don't wash it.
 
I have white kitchen towels because I like bleaching them. I used to buy colored ones but I did not like how they looked after bleaching them. It easy to notice when white towels get stained. I also love white colors.
 
Corzhens said:
My kitchen towels are all for disposal, meaning I don't bother with the stains. When it gets ugly stains, well, that's the time to throw it or make it a rag. Kitchen towels are cheap anyway. But with the emergence of the paper kitchen towel, it is handy to use although quite expensive because it is disposal and you don't wash it.
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Yes, my old kitchen towels get "repurposed" once they are too stained to hang out on the washing line without feeling embarrased. In the meantime, the stained but clean towels get used when I'm home alone and the good ones come out when I've got visitors.
 
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