Getting your bottles cleaned inside out after daily use can be a tedious chore but still important to maintain hygiene. There are several methods to get your bottles and containers as thoroughly clean as possible.
- Using a bottle brush
- Using gravel or rice
- Using salt and vinegar
- Using Alka-Seltzer
Method 1 – Using a bottle brush
First, you have to invest in a cheap bottle brush. Pump dish soap into your bottle/container then fill it with some water. Shake your bottle around to dissolve the soap in the water and create some bubbles.
Then, use the bottle brush to clean the insides of the container. When you’re satisfied, just fill the bottle with water again and swish the water around to get rid of all the soapy water.
Drain water and just air dry your container/bottle upside down.
Method 2 – Using gravel or rice
The gravel and rice in this case acts as small abrasives that can go into every nook and cranny of the bottle to remove residues. This method is very useful if you have irregularly shaped bottles. Raw uncooked rice, of course, is recommended.
Gravel can also be used but always look for rounded ones. Gravel with sharp edges will cause scratches. Fill 1/4 of the bottle with rice/gravel, add dish soap, fill the rest of the bottle with water. Shake, shake, shake with lid on to remove all residues.
Then strain the rice/gravel to prevent clogging of the drain. Next just simply rinse the bottle clean and let it air dry.
Method 3 – Using salt and vinegar
This method can only be used for glass bottles because heat is incorporated. First and foremost, fill a pot with 3/4 water and place it on a stove. Add a generous amount of vinegar.
Place your glass bottle into the pot, to make sure the bottle submerges into the pot, you can fill it with water first. Then, slowly heat the water, DO NOT BOIL the water. A slow steady simmer is good enough. Then turn off the heat and let the bottle soak. For stubborn residues, you may want to let the bottle soak overnight.
After that, fill the bottle with generous amount of coarse salt, add in water NOT to dilute the salt but to create a salt water slurry.
Then, shake the bottle vigorously with the salt water slurry. After that just rinse out the bottle and wash the bottle later with soap. Rinse, drain and air dry.
Method 4 – Using Alka-Seltzer
First, fill half of the container with water, then add the alka seltzer. With alka seltzer, the bubbling and fizzing from the tablet will remove residues within the bottle.
Place the bottle in a sink if you want to leave the fizzing action on overnight. The next day just rinse out the alka seltzer, wash with dish soap as usual, rinse and air dry.
