The Best Ingredient for Removing Food Odors Is in Your Spice Cabinet

I cherish my reusable food containers—don’t we all? Whether they be plastic ones from a takeout meal and leftovers from your mom’s house or glass jars used for canning and meal prepping, it’s a special mission to get maximum use out of these items.

One major block on the road to this success? Food odors! Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how much you scrub or how long you soak food containers—stubborn smells like garlic, tomato sauce, onion, and fish are a battle to get rid of. Additionally, plastic food containers tend to cultivate a stale odor over time, which is also undesirable.

I recently heard about this trick for removing food odors, and I was a total skeptic—until I tried it for myself and it worked like a charm! You’ll never believe what works best for kicking food odors to the curb.

Try This Ingredient For Removing Food Odors

All you need to get rid of food odors is ground mustard and very hot water. Sprinkle a teaspoon or tablespoon of ground mustard into your reusable food container, depending on the size you’re soaking, and fill it with hot water. Place the lid on top, and shake it like a Kardashian mixing a salad.

Allow the solution to sit in the container for a few hours or overnight if the odors are really strong, periodically giving the container a gentle shake. Once the mustard has worked its magic, simply remove the lid, pour the solution down the drain, give the container a quick scrub, and you’re all set!

The Science Behind This Method

Dry mustard powder has natural antimicrobial properties that can actually attack stubborn odors and stains lingering in your food containers. Hot water combined with ground mustard activates the mustard’s natural cleaning properties.

Tips For Using Mustard Powder to Remove Odors

• Plastic needs more time than glass. You’ll find that reusable plastic containers require more soak time if you’re trying to give food odors the boot. This is because plastic is more absorbent than glass and has microscopic holes that can trap smells. Glass is nonabsorbent, so while it may take on the smell of foods, those odors are more likely to dissipate in a shorter amount of time.

• Make sure you’re using the correct type of mustard. Be sure to use ground mustard, a dry powder, rather than bottled, prepared mustard. If you’ve never picked up ground mustard at the supermarket, you won’t find it in the condiment aisle next to ketchup, mayonnaise, or even mustard. It’s most likely located in the spice section. Interested in learning more? Here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about mustard.

• What if you don’t have ground mustard on hand? If you don’t have ground mustard in your pantry, use baking soda instead and follow the steps mentioned above.

Related: 5 Easy Ways to Get Stains Out of Plastic Food Storage Containers

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