My mom is an exclusively cloth house - she doesn't even buy paper towels or paper napkins since she doesn't have kids or pets leaving nasty bodily fluids on everything.
she just buys them at goodwill or the like whenever she sees some she likes and keeps them in a basket on the table for use whenever. All different colors and patterns and they're all nice and broken in and absorbent. People at her house always have a moment where they look around for the paper products, but she just hands them a cloth one and is like, "it's meant to be dirty and cost me a nickel. Just use it, k?"
I've been trying like hell to break MH of paper towels - we have like 3425455 kitchen towel/rags and unlike the rest of our laundry, I do actually wash them regularly so there is always a stack of clean ones. And yet the man will STILL reach for a paper towel for damn near everything. I have started nagging in the way that will actually influence him...I point out that paper towels cost MONEY.
We use cloth napkins for the environmental factor, but they are not nice by any means. I don't know many people who use them in their own homes, and I would never expect to be given one except for times when I visit my ILs or H's grandparents because of that.
dont use paper towels for bacon. bake the bacon in the oven (and save the grease)
we have this and let tacosforlife back me up here in the amazingness of bacon grease cooked pancakes
I'll back you up. I need to get that grease container. We also make scrambled eggs, chocolate chip cookies, and tortillas with bacon grease. Nom nom nom.
ETA: Skillet cornbread, roasted vegetables, corn muffins, etc. I LOVE IT ALL with bacon grease.
If someone is kind enough to feed me, I don't particularly care about cloth vs paper unless we're eating something like lobster in the rough or boiled crabs where a roll of paper towels makes more sense.
I have both at home. I use cloth at dinner most nights, paper otherwise. I use paper and cloth towels. I don't usually use paper plates.
I am not a fan of actual cloth napkins (we have some, we just rarely use them), but I love using washcloths as napkins. I've bought a bunch at Target on clearance over the years, so we have a big stack we use in the kitchen for both napkins and clean up. They're softer & more absorbent than regular cloth napkins, so my delicate skin likes them better. They don't fold down as small, but we just have a basket of them on the microwave that we use.
We have cloth napkins and placemats on the table all the time, but we usually eat at the coffee table and use paper towels. :/ I need to stop. I do get people who are like, "uh, what should I do with this?" when they have to use a cloth napkin. Also, maybe this is gross, but I don't wash them daily, I was them once a week or so. But we aren't eating ribs or wings or anything around here, so they don't get bad. And I wash them if someone is coming over for dinner. I have 8 total. They are cotton. They get wrinkled, but not if I take them out of the dryer and fold them pretty soon after.
I prepped chicken parm with bacon grease (searing the breaded cutlets before baking in oven). DH was amazed and impressed. It is awesome.
We have cloth napkins for the 1-2 times a year we have a fancy dinner; but most of the time we don't even have paper towels or paper napkins at the table.
We have a nice set of cloth napkins that we bust out on special occasions. Day to day I use the Elly dish towels from Ikea as napkins. They are the best, they get softer after each wash, they are super cheap so I buy a new set when they get too grungy looking. We use papertowels for pet and kid messes mostly. Also, I really need one of those grease buckets.
I am not a fan of actual cloth napkins (we have some, we just rarely use them), but I love using washcloths as napkins. I've bought a bunch at Target on clearance over the years, so we have a big stack we use in the kitchen for both napkins and clean up. They're softer & more absorbent than regular cloth napkins, so my delicate skin likes them better. They don't fold down as small, but we just have a basket of them on the microwave that we use.
I was thinking about getting auto shop towels to use as napkins because they're nearly indestructible.
This thread inspired me to throw some cloth napkins into my amazon cart. i am such a follower.
Speaking of being a follower, I started keeping bacon grease in a mason jar because of tacosforlife. I love it for sauteeing brussels sprouts. We eat them 1-2 times per week so I've essentially switched from sausage to bacon with our weekend eggs to keep the supply rolling.
This is my method of keeping bacon grease, too. Of course, now I want a fancy crock instead. lol.
Post by tacosforlife on Mar 4, 2015 15:57:27 GMT -5
In the topic of grease going bad, I did have a jar grow visible mold. Not sure why. It was ok, though. I threw it out since we had 4 others. I was actually relieved to have a reason to throw one away.
grease can go bad - it goes rancid and tastes funny. Kinda tastes like cardboard to me. I had it happen to a jar of duck fat that got lost in the back of the fridge. (I nearly cried) It won't hurt you, but it tastes like butt and ruins whatever you put it in.
grease can go bad - it goes rancid and tastes funny. Kinda tastes like cardboard to me. I had it happen to a jar of duck fat that got lost in the back of the fridge. (I nearly cried) It won't hurt you, but it tastes like butt and ruins whatever you put it in.
I would have cried. That stuff is incredible. Duck fat fries 4 lyfe.
share.memebox.com/x/uKhKaZmemebox referal code for 20% off! DD1 "J" born 3/2003 DD2 "G" born 4/2011 DS is here! "H" born 2/2014 m/c#3 1-13-13 @ 9 weeks m/c#2 11-11-12 @ 5w2d I am an extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby wearing, pro marriage equality, birth control lovin', Catholic mama.
We used placemats and paper napkins most of the time.
I know in the super frugal groups, it's popular to use cloth to save money.
We're using cloth diapers...does that get me happy-earth points or something? Especially since I'm using an extra 144 paper towels everyday cleaning up DD's messes.
i guess if you are doing it to save $$, fine. If you are doing it b/c you like cloth or it's nicer, cool. If you are doing it to be environmentally friendly, it seems like a pretty low-impact change since there are so many bigger environmental sins & worse things that paper towels.
i guess if you are doing it to save $$, fine. If you are doing it b/c you like cloth or it's nicer, cool. If you are doing it to be environmentally friendly, it seems like a pretty low-impact change since there are so many bigger environmental sins & worse things that paper towels.
Seriously? Their industry is like the third biggest producer of greenhouse gases and water/air pollution are rampant. Taking so much timber destroys habitats. Paper products have to be transported long distances usually because who the fuck wants a paper mill near them? It reeks. A large portion of household trash is paper products alone.
pixy0stix can correct me if I'm wrong here because I'm sure she knows, but this was accurate information the last time I checked.
i get that the paper industry as a whole is problematic, but it just seems like there are other ways to meaningfully reduce paper consumption besides using a cloth napkin.
i get that the paper industry as a whole is problematic, but it just seems like there are other ways to meaningfully reduce paper consumption besides using a cloth napkin.
The little things matter too. Should j let the water run when I brush my teeth simply because it's a relatively small waste?