Woman shares simple hack to remove stains from plastic containers in seconds

Scrubbing stained plastic containers ranks among the toughest kitchen chores. Whether the tub has been filled by curry or bolognese sauce, it's always a nightmare getting it back to pristine condition.

No matter how vigorously you might scrubit or run it through the dishwasher, the marks appear to have become permanently etched into the plastic food container. And while they won't be grimy due to your thorough cleaning efforts, they'll always appear grubby. But one woman called Kristie now shared her straightforward kitchen trick on TikTok, revealing how you can banish these stains in moments without any scrubbing being required.

"One of my favourite and most useful hacks I've ever seen," she captioned her clip, which has racked up more than 6.7 million views.

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The footage showed Kristie beside her kitchen sink holding a grimy plastic tub that had contained what looked like bolognese, leaving it with orange staining.

She proceeded to rinse the container beneath the tap. However this still left it covered in obvious tomato marks. She then squeezed several drops of washing-up liquid into the plastic tub alongside some water.

Next, she placed a sheet of kitchen roll into the container before securing the lid and giving it a vigorous shake for several seconds.

Kristie then lifted the container's lid and pulled out the now orange-tinted kitchen towel before washing out the tub, which emerged completely stain-free. How does this work?

While it might appear like magic, there's actually a straightforward explanation for it.

The vigorous shaking action physically helps the detergent break down and lift grease and oil from the plastic's surface.

Meanwhile, the kitchen roll acts as a sponge, absorbing the loosened grease and oil and physically pulling the stains from the plastic.

This method is particularly effective on fresh stains but may also work on older or stubborn ones.

People quickly took to the comment section to share their thoughts, with some having questions as to how it worked.

"Does it work on bowls that have been like that for months," one viewer asked, to which another viewer replied: "It did for me!"

Someone else wrote: "YES I also saw it from TikTok years ago and i've been doing it ever since! gets rid of the oil so fast.

"Literally LIFE CHANGING! Have been using it for more than 3 years," another person said, while someone else wrote: "I don't understand how this works, but cleaning it with the same soap and scrubber doesn't."

Several people also said they'd switched to glass containers for this exact problem, as glass don't stain as easily.