There’s no side dish that unites us all quite like mac n cheese, with its thick, gooey cheese sauce that makes everything seem right in the world. Of course, it’s that same thick and gooey cheese sauce that can make for a disastrous stain should we drop it on our favorite clothing items. But, don’t fret – with some all natural cleaning products that you already have lying around your house, you can fix a mac and cheese stain like it never happened in the first place, removing it entirely with eco friendly laundry pods and natural dish soap, rather than harsh, toxic chemicals.
Getting Rid of a Mac n Cheese Stain
Let’s face it – even when we (or our kids) are at our most careful, it’s all too easy to spill the messiest foods on our favorite clothing items. But, with some non toxic cleaning products that you’ve already got in your home, you can take care of a mac n' cheese stain in no time.
Step #1: Scrape and Blot
First thing that you gotta do is remove the stain as soon as it occurs. Cheese stains clothing in two ways: one is through its proteins, and the other is through its fats. That’s why you want to act quickly – the longer the sauce has to absorb into the material of your clothing, the easier it is to set and become very difficult to remove when the time comes.
So, remove the garment and lay it on a flat surface. Get a dull knife and scrape away excess mac and cheese from the surface. From there, grab a non toxic dish soap and eco friendly dish soap, such as Grab Green Liquid Dish Soap to use as an effective pretreatment, and pour it into a small bowl with some cold water. Dip a towel or sponge into the soapy water solution and start blotting the stain repeatedly to lift away any excess sauce on the clothing. Do this without rubbing the sauce in deeper by mistake. Once you’ve lifted all that you can, move onto the next step.
Step #2: Time to Rinse
Now, rinse the garment using cold water, by turning it inside-out and running cold water directly through the stain. Without turning it inside-out first, you’ll just be pushing the stain deeper into the fibers.
Step #3: Go Ahead and Wash
Now, you can run your garment through the washing machine. We suggest using the hottest water that your garment will allow according to its care label, as hot water is better for addressing the grease found in cheese sauce. Stick to natural laundry pods that can get rid of stains without the use of harsh chemicals. We always encourage going with sustainable laundry pods like our 3 in 1 Laundry Detergent Pods and Stoneworks Laundry Detergent Pods, which are non toxic laundry pods that fight stains using clean methods.
Now, you can go ahead and dry your garment as you normally would. Feel free to use some natural dryer sheets like Grab Green Classic Laundry Dryer Sheets, sustainable dryer sheets like Stoneworks Dryer Sheets, or even Grab Green Dryer Balls, to prevent static cling and keep fabrics nice and soft.
If the Stain is Old
Let’s say your kid comes home from school after eating mac n cheese during lunch, and it takes days for you to notice that their shirt has been stained. You can still take care of the stain effectively using the same method above, skipping the blotting part since the stain is already dry.
If the Clothing is Delicate
If you’re dealing with a fabric that can’t go through the dryer, that’s okay! Just air-dry the garment as you normally would, since the actual drying process doesn’t have any effect on the stain. If the item is delicate in that it can’t go through a washing machine, then follow the care label’s directions. If the item can be dry-cleaned, consider this option, since dry-cleaners have stain removal methods for many common types of stains.
To summarize:
- Cotton clothing will offer the most stain removal options.
- Wool is more delicate than cotton and cannot endure repeated washing and also needs to be spread flat to dry.
- For silk clothing, it’s recommended you take it to a professional dry cleaner, due its extreme delicacy.
