19 Clever Uses for Baking Soda in the Kitchen

Every thrifty home should have Baking Soda on hand! It is such an amazing, simple, natural product that does so much good around the home. It is also very cheap!

In fact, many of your household cleaning and deodorizing questions will be answered with baking soda.

Today, we are going to share the uses of Baking Soda in your kitchen!

Here we go!

On Appliances:

• Dishwasher Cleaner: Pour a bunch on the bottom of a dishwasher. Then pour some vinegar and lemon oil or juice and run the dishwasher for a non-toxic dishwasher cleaner!
• Coffee Maker Cleaner: Clean the coffee maker by running it with a a few table spoons in the coffee grounds spot. Then follow up with another run of just water to rinse it all away.
• Fridge Odor Neutralizer: Keep a box of baking soda in the fridge to absorb odors.  Also clean with a paste of baking soda and lemon oil to remove even more odors when you clean your fridge.
• Oven Cleaner: Clean your oven by spraying water all over.  Then sprinkle baking soda on top. Let it soak for 30+ minutes and come back with steel wool and scrub away. Then wipe with a wet rag and rinse until clean.

For Cooking/Food:

• Clean produce: Make a natural fruit and vegetable cleaner HERE.
• Remove odors and stains on skin: If you get garlic or onion odors or food stains on your hands from cooking, pour some baking soda on your hands, add a bit of water to make a paste, scrub your hands and nail and then rinse the odors and stains away!
• Stop a kitchen fire! Stop an oil fire by covering the fire in baking soda!
• Create Crystal Clear Iced Tea: Clear your brewed iced teas with a pinch of baking soda – this clears up the cloudiness that brewed teas create.
• Tenderize Meats: Tenderize meat by rubbing the outside of the raw meat in baking soda.  Soak in the fridge for a few hours and then rinse away before preparing to cook!

For Cleaning:

• Garbage Disposer and Drain Cleaner: Clean and disinfect the garbage disposer or pipes by pouring baking soda down the drain or disposer, then follow up with vinegar.  Let it set overnight and then run water down the drain and turn on the disposer.  You can make this super effective by also mixing in lemon oil into the dry baking soda in the first step.
• Eliminate Trash Can Odors: Absorb trash can odors by sprinkling baking soda on the bottom of the can or even the bottom of the bag. 
• Wood Surface Cleaner: Clean wooden cooking surfaces and cutting boards by liberally sprinkling baking soda over the wooden board.  Then follow up with vinegar and scrub and rinse clean.
• Baking Pan Cleaner: Clean metal baking pans by sprinkling baking soda.  Add just enough vinegar to make it paste like and rub it all over the baking pan.  Let it soak for 30+ minutes. Come back with steel wool and scrub away and rinse clean!
• Greasy Dish Cleaner: For extra greasy dishes, add a tablespoon or two of baking soda to your dishwater. This will help the degreasing of those dishes!
• Clean-Up Grease: For any spill of grease, sprinkle baking soda and wipe away with a disposable cloth and then follow up with sponge or rag that is dipped in baking soda to clean the remaining residue.
• Deodorize Smelly Kitchen Rags: If you get a smelly kitchen rag, soak it in a bowl of hot water and baking soda for a few minutes. Squeeze it and then reuse, or place in the laundry room to be washed (without sitting in the hamper being stinky!)
• Deep Clean Kitchen Rugs: When you wash your kitchen rugs, add baking soda to the wash to help remove odors even further than your wash soap alone!
• Make your own cleaners: a natural mold and mildew remover to clean these areas of your kitchen HERE, and a Natural Heavy Duty spray cleaner with Baking Soda HERE.

For Pest Control:

• Trap Roaches: Baking soda is toxic for some pests like roaches. Mix baking soda with sugar and set it out.  The sugar attracts and the baking soda poisons them.

An extra note:

Baking soda and lemon essential oil are like the PB&J of natural cleaning! They are an incredible pair in the kitchen!  Just mix the oil with dry baking soda before using to up the power of baking soda and to make things also antibacterial! Learn more about Lemon Essential Oil HERE.

Where to Get Baking Soda 

First, know that the more you buy at once, the cheaper it is! You can get the small boxes of this for about .50 for generic 1 lb. box in the grocery store.  This is the typical cardboard box size and if you start to use baking soda like we do, this will not get you far!

So, you can get a 2-lb. box for $1.25 at Walmart in the laundry section.  Or you can get a 12-lb. bag for $8 at Walmart.

But even better,  you can get a 13.5 lb. bag at Costco and Sam’s Club for around $6.50.  This is what we use and this is the best price we have found.

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