The 3-Part Solution For Removing Pesky Tomato Stains From Plastic

Whether you're lugging last night's pasta leftovers in your work lunch, or you've batched a big pot of pigmented tomato curry in your fridge, there's a good chance that the memory of the meal lingered long after. If you glance at your orange-tinted plastic containers and are always reminded of "that time I made tomato sauce," you aren't alone. 

These frustrating, greasy tomato stains don't pose a threat to food safety, but that doesn't mean they won't harm your appetite. These stains come from the bright red pigment lycopene, a natural antioxidant that's also found in beets, papaya, guava, pink grapefruit, and red cabbage, among other things. With the addition of oil in tomato sauces, lycopene is super prone to sticking around once it gets absorbed into the plastic. Luckily, there's a simple solution to ditch that orange tint once and for all, and there's a pretty good chance that you already have everything you need on hand. It only takes baking soda (which is also great for curry stains), dish soap, and water.

To remove tomato stains, combine two tablespoons of baking soda, one teaspoon of water, and ¼ teaspoon of dish soap into a paste, then scrub it into your unsightly tinged plastic containers. Allow the paste to sit for 15 minutes to an hour, then rinse and repeat until it comes out clear and good as new.

We have a few more tips for using this three-part cleaning solution in the best way. Don't be tempted to skip out on letting the paste sit — scrubbing too vigorously can scratch your plastic container and make the stain even worse, so the extending the soaking period is more effective here. For ultra-tough stains, you might need to reach for a highly concentrated dish soap.

To help avoid future tomato stains after making your favorite spaghetti night recipes, allow sauces to cool completely before transferring them into your resealable plastic containers. Heat (which can also affect microwaved leftovers, for the record) makes the plastic more prone to absorbing the tomato pigments, and clinging to those pesky "forever stains." Or, line your container with a layer of plastic wrap before filling it with your tomato-y leftovers.

Pro tip: After scrubbing with the baking soda paste, you can allow your container to air-dry on a windowsill that gets high sun exposure for several hours. The sunlight will help bleach out the tomato stain, and can also help eliminate lingering food odors. Looking for more plastic container cleaning tips? Check out this TikTok paper towel hack for restoring your stained Tupperware to its former glory.