Recipe: Make Your Own Household Cleaner!

Post by Olivia Martino, Registered Dietitian and Co-Owner, Nourish Northwest

We tend to focus our nutrition recommendations and recipes on things you eat.  Makes sense.  However, it is equally as important to think about the compounds that can seep into your system in other ways.

We do a pretty good job of keeping the foods in our kitchen organic (when our budget allows) local and in season to support the environment as well as our health.  But what about the stuff we are cleaning our countertops with?  Or the stuff we are  using to wipe down our yoga mats?  How about those bottles in our shower, or the cosmetics we are using on our face?  It is just as important to use hygiene products that are not harmful to the environment or our health as it is to make sure what we are eating is healthful and sustainable.  I am no expert in what the negative effects of some of these chemicals are and I’m not sure if anyone really is.  It is difficult to study the long-term effects of being exposed to any single chemical.  So why risk it when it is super easy and effective to make some of these products on your own from perfectly safe ingredients? Here is our recipe for our all-purpose cleaner.  All you need is an empty spray bottle and these common household ingredients.

All Purpose Cleaner

Ingredients

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
2 tsp Baking Soda
Essential Oil (optional- we use lemon or eucalyptus)
Water

Directions

Add first three ingredients to an empty spray bottle.  Fill with water and shake to combine.