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The Best Dish Cleaning Tool I have Ever Used: The Simple, Baby Bottle Brush

Do you ever have those kitchen tools / dishes / utensils / etc that you avoid using simply because they are a pain to clean? I have been in this exact position and decided I'd had enough of small crevices, dish sponges that don't get into tight spaces, getting my hands messy, and breaking finger nails by picking at stuck on food gunk!

In one of my "How am I supposed to get all of this off of this grill pan?" moments, I looked up and saw my son's baby bottle brush. I had a few extra brushes in the cabinet, so I grabbed one and thought that maybe if a nylon brush would get out the little bits of gunk from a baby bottle, it might just work on other surfaces...?

It worked better than I ever expected! I've been able to use a simple, $1 baby bottle brush to do a lot of quick, easy, hassle free cleaning while keeping my sanity and fingernails intact!


Behold - The George Forman Grill Plates:


We made pork chops with a marinade and seasonings. I always clean the grill plates once they have cooled, but even then there are times that there is a sauce/spice/fat 'gunk' that can turn into cement and be nearly impossible to remove without several soaks and washes.


I rinsed off the grill plates and put on some dish soap. Usually, the bottom plate is pretty easy to clean if using a traditional dishes sponge, but then the residue from the food flakes off and gets stuck in it. It's also a very gross feeling on one's hands if not using gloves. The top plate has some "L" shapes which require more attention in the scrubbing and soaking department to get all the little pieces of stuff out. The top plate is definitely my biggest annoyance! 

 A little bit of water, some light scrubbing and...

...the residues, flakes, and sauce is coming off cleanly with the bottle brush after only a few strokes! The beauty of these nylon bristles is that it's getting into all the little spaces that a larger dish sponge can't. My fingers are CLEAN and no longer caked in the after-cook muck!

After a good rinse, I was finished with both plates in 3-4 minutes. I saved my fingers from being in a mess. I saved several gallons of water with less scrubbing and rinsing cycles. I saved my sanity! 



Since using the bottle brush, our grill is now being used several times per week. We are eating waffles, pancakes, steaks, pork chops, etc. and the cleanup is no longer a chore!

 I find myself using the bottle brush more often when rinsing dishes before loading them into the dishwasher than my old dish sponge. :-) 


Other places I've found a baby bottle brush to be helpful in cleaning:
1. Children's sippy sups
2. Potato mashers
3. Wire whisks
4. Mixer beaters  (hand or stand)
5. Tough, stuck on food in plates/pots/pans
6. The soap/bleach/softner tray in my front load washing machine
7. Breast pump parts
8. Charcoal or gas grill grates
9. Grill tools
10. Basters
11. Blender pitchers 
12. Pitcher tops
13. Slotted Spoons / Turners

Please add any other uses you can find!




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