Yorky
RIP 21/01/2024
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There were a few tap rooms in pubs in Leeds with sawdust on the floor. They are most likely still there.
Paper Towels - do you use them?
- Thread starter Morning Glory
- Start date
There were a few tap rooms in pubs in Leeds with sawdust on the floor. They are most likely still there.
I can't imagine how a paper towel would clean dirty caked on greasy food. Sponges are sanitary when you clean and change them regularly. I said I display some of my dish towels, and didn't you make a comment about a dish towel catching on fire near the stove. I think we all know when to clean a dish towel.
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Aromatic cedar or pine shavings would be nice.
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Soaking and elbow grease.
Add a little bar keepers friend to paper towel if needed but its rarely needed, i have a fresh sanitary paper towel every time i wash dishes and if something is particularly icky(like a cheese sauce) i can throw it away and get another fresh sanitary paper towel to finish the dishes with. I think most of the baked on hard to remove grease must be animal derived cause i just don't see it on my pyrex or stainless steel while cooking vegetarian. When i bake i use parchment paper as a liner for easy removal so i am sure that helps. And my dish towel hangs from the handle, right beside my square potholders that are on a S hook, the towel never goes in the oven nor on the cooktop. The door opens down so no dangling towel near the elements.
Lullabelle
Midlands, England
We don't use them everyday but they are used regularly, as napkins, or to drain any oil from fried eggs etc..
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I'm sorry folks, but I'm the boring sod who never uses paper towels in the kitchen ,dining room etc. In fact only the bathroom gets paper towels on the usual form and we barely get through 1 roll of toilet roll a week as it is .
I knit our cotton kitchen cloths, dish cloths. There's no shortage of them and when they are dirty, just like tea towels or hand towels, they get dried out and put into the laundry before they start to smell. If they are smelling it's been left too late and the lesson needs to be learnt. Sooner next time round. They still get dried out and washed. They go through with all the other laundry as normal. I will sometimes run a separate load of I've had to clean up a chicken ,but at present we are using a tea towel a day on our laps to put hand cream laced with an insecticide onto the legs of our chickens. At least 6 need to be caught each day to be treated. Clothing and tea towels alike plus anything else that is towel based will get a separate load in the washing machine at a hotter wash than clothes and linen. So that makes 3 loads a week some weeks ,but usually only two.
I honestly don't see the need to use paper towels for anything. It's yet another marketing gimmick to get people to spend money on something that is not needed and add to the wastefulness of the western/modernised world we live in. . if you're that worried about gems ,boil your cloth towels in a touch of bleach and recycle both the towels by cleaning them and reusing them time and time again, and the bleach solution down the drain to kill any germs you are panicking about or better still mop the floor with it and put it to a secondary use before it finds a drain.
And yes, before you ask, I do moan if lights get left on and doors not shut. If you're cold in this house ,you put another layer on you don't turn up the heating or put another log on the fire, you sit under a blanket on the sofa if needed which by the way is where I'm about to retreat to and watch the match hit the tinder and a fire storm start! Afterall, it's only 6C outside, it's 10pm at night and we've no fire lit ,no heating and guests staying!
I knit our cotton kitchen cloths, dish cloths. There's no shortage of them and when they are dirty, just like tea towels or hand towels, they get dried out and put into the laundry before they start to smell. If they are smelling it's been left too late and the lesson needs to be learnt. Sooner next time round. They still get dried out and washed. They go through with all the other laundry as normal. I will sometimes run a separate load of I've had to clean up a chicken ,but at present we are using a tea towel a day on our laps to put hand cream laced with an insecticide onto the legs of our chickens. At least 6 need to be caught each day to be treated. Clothing and tea towels alike plus anything else that is towel based will get a separate load in the washing machine at a hotter wash than clothes and linen. So that makes 3 loads a week some weeks ,but usually only two.
I honestly don't see the need to use paper towels for anything. It's yet another marketing gimmick to get people to spend money on something that is not needed and add to the wastefulness of the western/modernised world we live in. . if you're that worried about gems ,boil your cloth towels in a touch of bleach and recycle both the towels by cleaning them and reusing them time and time again, and the bleach solution down the drain to kill any germs you are panicking about or better still mop the floor with it and put it to a secondary use before it finds a drain.
And yes, before you ask, I do moan if lights get left on and doors not shut. If you're cold in this house ,you put another layer on you don't turn up the heating or put another log on the fire, you sit under a blanket on the sofa if needed which by the way is where I'm about to retreat to and watch the match hit the tinder and a fire storm start! Afterall, it's only 6C outside, it's 10pm at night and we've no fire lit ,no heating and guests staying!
I notice you are using the washing machine far more than I do (there are just two of us here now). I have one washing load a fortnight now compared to your three per week. So its arguable that my use of paper towels actually saves energy... 
If you take into account the electricity used, detergents, heating up of water to wash by hand etc...
One thing I find paper towels very useful for is soaking excess fat from things that have been deep fried. What would you use to do that?
If you take into account the electricity used, detergents, heating up of water to wash by hand etc...One thing I find paper towels very useful for is soaking excess fat from things that have been deep fried. What would you use to do that?
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I notice you are using the washing machine far more than I do (there are just two of us here now). I have one washing load a fortnight now compared to your three per week. So its arguable that my use of paper towels actually saves energy...
One thing I find paper towels very useful for is soaking excess fat from things that have been deep fried. What would you use to do that?
Three loads a week is a bad week. I don't often need to separate chicken use stuff from normal washing but I do separate bedding/linen from general washing because it's all whites as are hand towels and bath towels and most of my tea towels. They get a 60C wash because of my allergies. Everything else is a cold water wash. In Australia washing machines are very energy efficient. Water usage is minimal and remember, I'm not using treated water to wash anything in. Is all rain water, untreated so I am probably saving more than yourself. Plus I don't have enough clothing to last 2 weeks without washing and don't tumble dry anything. I don't have one. If I can't dry it on the washing line the same day, it doesn't get washed.
As for deep frying, I don't deep fry anything, end of story. All chips are oven baked. Onions are cooked in a little oil, usually only half what a recipe requests. Your recent challenge of deep fried eggs was a huge struggle for me. I had to cheat and shallow fry them on both sides to give the impression of deep frying. It was the closest I could come. We are still using up the oil used in that challenge in our ordinary cooking .
Lullabelle
Midlands, England
I notice you are using the washing machine far more than I do (there are just two of us here now). I have one washing load a fortnight now compared to your three per week. So its arguable that my use of paper towels actually saves energy...
One thing I find paper towels very useful for is soaking excess fat from things that have been deep fried. What would you use to do that?
There are only 2 of us but I do at least 2 loads a week.
Toffeeapple
Über Member
I used half of one today, the first for months; I tend to use microfibre cloths which can be washed and re-used.
CraigC
Guru
I use them for drying chicken, to lay peeled veges on while doing prep work, to clean up spillage and wipe out pots, bowls and plates before washing them. I use dish towels for pot holders and drying stuff, especially my knives after washing them.
Good point. J-cloths are a good substitute. I am going to order some.
Well, I try not to wash things until really necessary (in my world). But I think judging by other threads that I tend to wash things less frequently than most folk. Bedding is once a month at best, for example (if that!). Also, I have a large capacity machine. I just let it pile up until I have a load.
Lullabelle
Midlands, England
I find 2 medium loads easier to cope with than 1 large load.