Add just a small amount of bleach to your dishwater. It's a great germ killer and it helps remove stubborn stains from your Tupperware and the like. Removes stains from your hands too if you're a gardener.
Source: Old family tradition.
By Linda from Lebanon, PA
Editor's Note: Be cautious about mixing bleach with other detergents, especially ones that contain ammonia as it can react with bleach to cause a caustic gas. Check your ingredients first to be safe. Clorox recommends using a bleach solution as a final sanitizing rinse in a clean sink.
Years ago, when I was a camp counselor, we used to make a batch of sanitizer as a final rinse for all dishes. The sanitizer was just very dilute bleach solution. I think this is very common for commercial restaurants and food service in general. But maybe they don't use detergent, counting on hot water and sanitizer to remove stains.
I would use a very mild, non ammonia detergent if you want to go this route. I just checked my generic "Joy" dish soap and it clearly states not to mix with bleach.
I am letting those of you who think bleach won't be harmful (whether mixed with another chemical or not) need to take note! I have lung disease because of chemicals and chlorine bleach is one of the chemicals that aided in the disease! Please, do not have such a 'I haven't seen it happen so it won't happen to me or my loved ones' attitude! If you want to well okay and so-be-it but it just might come back and bite you in the behind one day for not taking this seriously :-(
By the way, my local health department recommends for restaurants and even doctors offices to not use more than 'one teaspoon' of chlorine bleach to 'one gallon' of cool water and 'no' other cleansing agents added to this mix and they give leeway for alternative sanitizers as long as they are pre-approved for those who want to be on the safe side when it comes to chemicals.
Here is some information from Clorox about using bleach to sanitize dishes. They recommend adding it to a sanitizing rinse after the soap is rinsed off normally. This is a common practice in restaurants around the world. I wouldn't add it right to the wash or rinse water though as some detergents can interact with the bleach, causing toxic gases to form.
