The Kitchen Cleaning Job You Should Let Your Sliced Bread Do

We don't give sliced bread enough credit. Not only is it an excellent way to join peanut butter and jelly in holy matrimony, but it also can be repurposed into croutons or French toast, or used to help prevent brown sugar from turning hard. Before you relegate a bad loaf of bread or one that has gone stale to the birds or the ducks at the park, consider getting one more use out of it: Use leftover bread to clean stubborn kitchen stains with. 

That's right, your regular ol' loaf of Wonder Bread can also be used to remove stuck-on stains from counters, walls, and floors. Simply grab your slice of bread, roll it up into a ball, and use it like a kitchen eraser to remove stains from nearly every surface in your kitchen. You don't even need to coat it in a layer of cleaning solution to watch the magic happen. According to Toni Hammersley in her book, "The Complete Book Of Clean: Tips And Techniques For Your Home" it's the gluten in the bread that absorbs the dirt.

Besides cleaning up stains on countertops, you can also use your slice of bread to swipe up any lingering grease that's pooled in your pan, like after you've cooked a fresh, hot batch of bacon. You won't have to pour the grease down your pipes (potentially clogging them), because the bread will more than adequately soak up all that fat. Simply plop the slice into the pan, or use it to mop it up like a paper towel, before you go forth and wash the dish. In a similar vein, you can also use your bread slice to soak up spills like wine or sauce. Its absorbency is like its kitchen cleaning superpower. 

Another use for your leftover or stale bread is to pick up small shards of glass. We've all had those moments when we've dropped a glass storage container or drinking glass on the floor, only to watch the pieces skitter off into all directions. Rather than relying on a vacuum to pick up the tiny fragments of glass, gently pat the floor with a slice of bread. The bread slice will pick up any small, lingering glass pieces, thus keeping your feet, pets, or crawling children safe.