Does this trick really work to get rid of plastic food stains?

Put any tomato-based sauce into a clear plastic container just once. Soon enough, the container will be stained red forever. And it doesn't seem to matter how many times you wash it. Changing soaps or cleaning techniques won't help either.

But this TikToker, Pressie (@shpresseyyyShe claims to have solved the problem. In a viral video that has been viewed more than 5.4 million times, she shares a trick that promises to teach people “how to remove grease stains from plastic food containers easily.”

The grease is gone

“If your plastic food containers have yellow stains that you can't get out of them no matter how hard you scrub, let me show you a quick trick,” Brissie says at the beginning of the video.

She then explains the steps to follow to clean the food bowl. In the clip, she holds a plastic bowl up to the camera.

“Fill it with a little bit of water. You’re going to need some soap. You’re also going to need a piece of paper towel,” she says. “Just throw the paper towel in there and spray a little bit of soap on.”

Place a dry paper towel in a little water at the bottom of the container. Then spray it with a few short pumps of liquid soap.

“It’s that simple. Okay, let me get a lid,” she said, closing the container. “Okay, put the lid back on, after you have a paper towel, soap, and water.”

Then Prissy began shaking the container. “Literally shaking it,” she said, briefly reacting to some of the water leaking out of the bowl.

shake it, shake it

“But just shake it hard. But look, you can already see it, bro, look,” says Prissy. “You can already see it disappear.”

She claims that the paper towel is what removes the stains.

Then Prissy holds the bottom of the food bowl up to the camera. Through the soapy water, it looks like the paper towel has absorbed some of the stains.

“It has all sorts of grease stains on it. Well, let me show you. Let me rinse it off. Actually, to show you I'm not lying, I'm going to pour it out here,” she said, bringing a bowl to the frame.

“I’m going to pour it all out here,” she says, showing the Tupperware bowl she’s holding over the large white bowl. “Then I’m going to literally rinse it out, and look at this final reveal.”

Then you take another cup filled with water and start removing the soap from the Tupperware bowl.

“Look at this amazing final reveal,” she says, showing off the freshly cleaned container. “It’s literally perfect and you don’t have to scrub it for 40 hours to get it clean with a sponge.”

@shpresseyyy How to Remove Grease Stains from Tupperware Bowls Easily #plastic bowl #fat #cleaning #breakthrough #cleaning_tricks ♬ Original sound – Presse

How does it work?

A video of TikToker @facesbyadi sharing the same advice about using stained plastic containers went viral in 2020. The stunt caught the attention of other media outlets, such as NowThis Impact, who posted it on their YouTube page. The video has been liked by 100,000 people. 327,000 views thereand a 4.5 million on TikTok.

@Faces_of_Bayadi This trick has saved many of my friends who use plastic containers. Try it!!!! #fyp #cooking videos #cooking tricks #Life hacks #hacking #stain remover #for you #For_You_Page ♬ Original Sound – FacesByAdi

tasting table He also gave a somewhat logical explanation for why this trick works better than others. Due to the nature of grease/oil, and its reluctance to mix well with water, traditional cleaning methods rarely work. However, torn paper towel strips seem to be the key. These strips, combined with soapy water and shaking, are enough to loosen the grease. The porous nature of paper towels also makes them a great magnet for loosened grease stains. So the dirt sticks to the towel, leaving you with a clean, clear plastic bowl once again.

TikTok users are impressed.

One user confirmed the same explanation as above for the role of paper towel in this cleaning process.

“Soap pulls grease to the surface, and the paper towel is the last surface for the grease to settle on. The sponge/rag just pushes the grease away. The paper towel absorbs liquids well,” they wrote.

But many people believed in the power of a wet paper towel.

“The paper towels absorb the grease and the soap helps remove it from the container. Same thing if you have a greasy soup, just put a paper towel over it,” said one user.

Another chimed in: “Wipes absorb oil and grease, so when you're not using them, there's nowhere for them to stick!”

Some have questioned the effectiveness of this method in removing long-term stains. “What about spaghetti sauce stains that are five years old?” one person asked.

Others were delighted to discover this knowledge. They said, “The way I’m going to teach my mother how to clean plastic food containers. How the roles have changed.”

Daily Dot reached out to Pressie via TikTok comment for more information.

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