- 26 minutes ago
Mix detergent with salt and baking soda, and you get a simple homemade cleaning paste that can tackle burnt pots, cooked-on grease, and stubborn kitchen messes for about a dollar. Elias Yoder explains how this old housekeeper’s recipe works, why the chemistry matters, and how one jar can replace several branded cleaners in a busy home.
The video walks through the exact ratios, the mixing method, and the safety warning that matters most: never use it with bleach. It then shows eight practical uses, from cast iron pans and roasting tins to sinks, stovetops, microwaves, plastic containers, silverware, and bathroom fixtures. The result is a practical Amish home-saving method, grounded in pantry ingredients and everyday household cleaning.
Created for viewers searching for homemade cleaner recipes, natural cleaning hacks, kitchen cleaning tips, DIY degreaser, burnt pan cleaner, and budget-friendly Amish homemaking ideas. It is useful for anyone looking for simple cleaning solutions, old-fashioned household methods, and practical cleaning tutorials for the kitchen and bathroom.
The video walks through the exact ratios, the mixing method, and the safety warning that matters most: never use it with bleach. It then shows eight practical uses, from cast iron pans and roasting tins to sinks, stovetops, microwaves, plastic containers, silverware, and bathroom fixtures. The result is a practical Amish home-saving method, grounded in pantry ingredients and everyday household cleaning.
Created for viewers searching for homemade cleaner recipes, natural cleaning hacks, kitchen cleaning tips, DIY degreaser, burnt pan cleaner, and budget-friendly Amish homemaking ideas. It is useful for anyone looking for simple cleaning solutions, old-fashioned household methods, and practical cleaning tutorials for the kitchen and bathroom.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00It is Sunday after supper. Esther turns to the sink and there it is, the cast iron pot she made
00:06the stew in, with a black ring of burnt-on food crusted around the bottom that no amount of dish
00:12soap and scrubbing is going to lift. The pan from the bacon this morning, with grease cooked into
00:18the corners that the regular wash will not touch. The roasting tin from Saturday's chicken, with the
00:24dark sticky bits that have hardened to the metal like glue. Two hours of standing at the sink, hot
00:30water running, fingernails breaking, and at the end of it, half the pots are still not clean, and the
00:37other half have scratches in them from where she scrubbed too hard. You walk into any grocery store
00:43in this country, and the cleaning aisle has the answer. Bottles of branded oven cleaner, cans of
00:49foaming pot scrubber, jugs of degreaser, bags of scouring powder, special sponges, special pads,
00:57special sprays. $8 here, $12 there, $4 for a single can that lasts a month. A working kitchen runs through
01:07$40, $50 of branded cleaners a year, and most of them are some version of the same simple chemistry,
01:14pantry, dressed up in a fancy bottle with a brand name on it. Now I want you to sit with
01:19this.
01:20There is a paste you can mix in a bowl in your own kitchen in two minutes, with four ingredients
01:26you almost certainly already have in the pantry, that costs about a dollar to make, that fills a
01:32container which will last you many months, and that does every single one of those jobs. Strips burnt pots,
01:39lifts cooked on grease, shines stainless steel, scours the sink, cleans the inside of the microwave,
01:48scrubs the bathroom fixtures, even brings the shine back to your silverware. One paste, four ingredients,
01:55a dollar, replaces a whole shelf of branded products. The recipe is not new. It was not invented by me.
02:03Esther got it from her mother, who got it from a hotel housekeeper friend of the family, and the
02:09housekeepers and the kitchen workers in restaurants have been using this same recipe, and recipes very
02:15like it, for generations, because they clean a hundred pots a shift on a tight budget. The hotel kitchens use
02:23it.
02:23The diner kitchens use it. The farmhouse kitchens use it. Everywhere a person has had a lot of dishes
02:30to clean, and not a lot of money to spend on fancy cleaners, the same kind of recipe has shown
02:36up.
02:37My name is Elias Yoder. I am Amish, and I farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
02:42Today, I am going to walk you through the recipe, the four simple ingredients, the exact ratios, the chemistry
02:50that makes it work, the safety word that matters before you mix it, and the eight different jobs
02:56in your house this one little jar of paste will handle. Esther uses it three or four times a week.
03:03We have not bought a branded scouring product in a long time. Quick word before we go further.
03:09I have written a book that gathers all of these little money-saving
03:13methods my family uses, the things that have kept our household costs
03:17low for two generations into one place.
03:21It is at EliasYoder.com. I will not
03:25bring it up again in the video. If you want it, it is there.
03:29Stay with me. Let me first tell you the chemistry, because once
03:33you understand why the four ingredients work together, you will not
03:37need to memorize the recipe. You will just know it. The job
03:41of any cleaner is to do four things at once. Break up
03:45grease, lift dirt off the surface, scrub away what
03:49is stuck, and rinse clean. The branded cleaners do
03:53all four jobs with a mix of detergents, abrasives,
03:57and softeners, wrapped in fragrances and dyes to make
04:01the bottle pretty. The old housekeeper's
04:04recipe does the same four
04:05jobs with four pantry
04:07ingredients, plain and
04:09unfancy. Dish detergent
04:11is the grease lifter. It is
04:13what they call a surfactant.
04:15It grabs onto the oils and fats
04:17and holds them in the water
04:19so they rinse away instead
04:21of clinging back to the pot.
04:23Any plain dish soap works.
04:25Dawn, Palmolive, Joy,
04:28the store brand, they are all surfactants with different smells.
04:32The one in your bottle is fine.
04:34Salt is the gentle abrasive.
04:37Small crystals scrub the surface without scratching it
04:40the way steel wool would.
04:42The salt finds the stuck-on burnt food and physically
04:46lifts it off as you rub.
04:48And, this is the part most folks do not know,
04:51salt dissolves slowly as you scrub.
04:54By the time you are finished,
04:56the salt is gone.
04:57There is no powdery residue to rinse away.
05:00It does its work and then
05:02disappears.
05:03Baking soda is the alkaline grease cutter.
05:06When grease is just slick
05:08on a surface, the detergent
05:10handles it. But when grease has been
05:12heated and cooked into a hard layer,
05:14the burnt ring around the bottom of the
05:16stew pot, the cooked-on grease
05:18at the edges of the bacon pan,
05:20the heat has changed the chemistry
05:21of the grease, and you need something
05:23alkaline to break it back apart.
05:26Baking soda is exactly
05:27that. It quietly turns
05:29the cooked-on grease back into
05:32something the soap and the salt can
05:33lift off. It is also a natural
05:36deodorizer, which is why
05:37the same baking soda absorbs the
05:39smell in your icebox.
05:41Warm water is the carrier.
05:43Thins the paste enough to spread,
05:45hot enough to help the chemistry work,
05:48but not so much that the paste
05:49runs off the surface before it
05:51has time to do its job.
05:53Together, the four of them do exactly
05:55what a $15 bottle of
05:57branded pot scrubber does.
05:59Lift, break, scrub,
06:01rinse. In the same order.
06:04With the same result.
06:06Now let me give you the exact
06:07recipe. Here is the parts
06:09list. Total cost for
06:11one batch, about $1.
06:14One cup of plain liquid
06:15dish detergent, any brand.
06:17The cheap one at the dollar store
06:19works just as well as the expensive one
06:21with the lemon scent.
06:23One cup of warm water.
06:25Not hot, not cold.
06:27Warm, about the temperature of a baby's
06:30bath. The warmth helps
06:31the baking soda activate,
06:33and helps the paste mix smoothly.
06:36Two tablespoons of plain table salt.
06:38The cheap kind.
06:39You do not need sea salt,
06:41or kosher salt, or anything fancy.
06:44Plain, iodized table salt
06:46from a box for $0.99
06:48at the grocery store is exactly
06:50what the old housekeepers used.
06:52One tablespoon of baking soda.
06:54A small box at the grocery store
06:56costs about a dollar,
06:58and lasts forever.
06:59Make sure it is baking soda, sodium
07:02bicarbonate, not baking powder,
07:04which is a different thing.
07:05The orange box, the kind everyone
07:08keeps in the ice box.
07:09That is the whole list.
07:11Four ingredients.
07:13Most kitchens have all four already.
07:15Here is how to mix it.
07:17I will tell it slow.
07:18Take a clean bowl, big enough to hold
07:20about two cups of liquid.
07:22Glass or ceramic is best.
07:24Pour in the cup of liquid dish detergent.
07:27Add the cup of warm water.
07:29Stir gently. Too vigorous,
07:31and you will whip up a head of suds
07:32you do not need. You just want them blended.
07:35Add the two tablespoons of salt.
07:37Stir it in.
07:39The salt may not fully dissolve.
07:41That is fine.
07:42The small crystals are doing their job as the abrasive.
07:45Some grains will dissolve as you mix.
07:47Some will stay, giving the paste
07:49its gentle scrubbing power.
07:51Add the one tablespoon of baking soda.
07:53Stir it in slowly.
07:55The baking soda may foam slightly
07:57when it meets the water and detergent.
07:59That is just air being released.
08:01Nothing to worry about.
08:02Keep stirring until the foam settles,
08:04and you have a smooth, slightly thick,
08:07pearly looking paste.
08:08That is your cleaner.
08:10Pour it into a clean glass jar with a lid.
08:12A leftover pickle jar works perfectly,
08:15washed out, with the label off.
08:17Put the lid on tight.
08:18Store it under your sink.
08:20That single jar of paste will last you
08:22many months of daily cleaning.
08:24Esther's lasts our kitchen about 2 or 3 months
08:27of regular use, and we cook
08:28every meal at home.
08:30Before I show you the safety word
08:32and the 8 uses, let me pause
08:34for a moment.
08:35A steadier home is easier to build
08:37when you are not building it alone.
08:38Join our Amish home savings system
08:41and community, get full access
08:43to our courses and challenges,
08:44and ask Esther and me your household questions inside.
08:47The link is in the description.
08:49Now, the safety word.
08:51Plainly. Because this matters,
08:53and a person could hurt themselves
08:55if they did not know it.
08:57The one safety word
08:58with this recipe, and with every
09:01homemade cleaning recipe,
09:02is never mix it with bleach.
09:05Not the recipe in the jar.
09:07Not the surface you are cleaning.
09:09Not the rinse water afterward.
09:11Never.
09:12Here is why.
09:13Bleach mixed with any cleaning product
09:16that contains ammonia, vinegar,
09:18or certain alkaline compounds
09:20releases chlorine gas,
09:22a poison gas that has killed
09:25people in their own kitchens.
09:27It is not theoretical.
09:29Every year, there are
09:30real news stories of folks
09:33who poured bleach into a sink
09:34that still had another cleaner in it
09:37and the gas overcame them
09:39in seconds.
09:40This recipe by itself does not
09:42contain bleach and is safe.
09:44But if you keep a bottle of bleach
09:46under your sink, and most folks
09:48do, be very careful
09:50that you never use this homemade
09:53cleaner on a surface that has
09:55just been bleached.
09:56And never store the jar of paste
09:58near the bleach bottle.
10:00And never pour any of the paste
10:02down a drain right after pouring
10:04bleach down that same drain.
10:06Use one at a time.
10:09Rinse thoroughly between them.
10:11This is the same kind of basic
10:13chemical care you would give
10:15to any household cleaner.
10:16Treat it with respect.
10:18Keep the paste jar up high
10:21out of reach of children.
10:22Same shelf you keep the dish soap
10:24and the laundry pods on.
10:26And you will have no trouble.
10:28Common sense around chemicals
10:30is the same with the homemade recipe
10:32as it is with the branded ones.
10:35That is the safety word.
10:37Mind it.
10:38Now let me show you the eight jobs
10:40this one jar handles
10:42in our kitchen and bathroom
10:43in the rough order Esther uses
10:46it through her week.
10:481. Burnt Pots and Pans.
10:51This is the headline use
10:53and where the paste truly shines.
10:56Spoon a generous tablespoon of paste
10:58onto the burnt area of the pot.
11:00Add just enough warm water
11:02to wet it.
11:03Let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes.
11:06Go do something else.
11:08Do not stand over it.
11:10Come back, scrub with a sponge
11:12or a soft brush,
11:14and watch the burnt ring come off.
11:16Most pots Esther treats this way
11:19come clean in one round.
11:21The very worst,
11:23the bottom of the stew pot
11:24when she forgot it on the wood stove,
11:27take a second treatment.
11:28A pot that the branded scouring powder
11:31could not handle,
11:32this paste lifts in 15 minutes.
11:352. Cooked on Grease.
11:38The bacon pan,
11:39the roasting tin,
11:41the cast iron when it needs a deep clean.
11:44Spread the paste on the grease,
11:46let it sit a few minutes,
11:47scrub it off.
11:48The baking soda breaks the cooked grease,
11:52the salt lifts the residue,
11:54the detergent rinses everything clean.
11:573. The Kitchen Sink.
11:59Sprinkle paste around the sink,
12:02scrub with a sponge,
12:04rinse.
12:04Stainless steel sinks come back to a shine.
12:08Porcelain sinks brighten
12:09and stop holding the gray cleaning residue.
12:13Once a week,
12:14and the sink looks like the day it was put in.
12:174. The Stove Top.
12:19Around the burners,
12:21where spatters cook on.
12:23A small amount of paste on a cloth,
12:25scrub gently,
12:27wipe with a damp rag.
12:28The cooked on spots lift right off.
12:31Do not use the paste on the inside of a gas burner head,
12:35that is a separate cleaning.
12:37But the cooktop surface,
12:39the trays around the burners,
12:41the backsplash,
12:43all the paste's territory.
12:455. The Inside of the Microwave.
12:48Spatters and dried food on the inside walls.
12:51A dab of paste on a damp sponge,
12:54wipe gently,
12:56then wipe down with a clean wet cloth to rinse.
12:59Easier than the special microwave cleaners and cheaper.
13:046. Plastic Plates and Cups Stained from Oil or Sauce.
13:09The orange stain from spaghetti sauce on a plastic container.
13:13The greasy film inside a plastic bowl that the dishwasher did not lift.
13:19A small amount of paste, scrubbed in, rinsed off.
13:23Brings the plastic back nearly to new.
13:267. Silverware and Stainless Steel Utensils that have gone dull.
13:32Forks and spoons that have lost their shine over time.
13:35Paste on a soft cloth.
13:38Gentle rub.
13:39Rinse with warm water.
13:41Dry with a soft cloth.
13:43The shine comes back.
13:458. The Bathroom.
13:47Sink, tub, tile around the fixtures.
13:51Same as the kitchen sink.
13:52Sprinkle, scrub, rinse.
13:55Removes soap scum, brightens porcelain, deodorizes drains.
14:008 jobs, 1 jar, 1 dollar.
14:03Now I want to take a moment because this is where it all comes together.
14:08Look at what we have just walked through.
14:114 ingredients you already have.
14:142 minutes to mix.
14:16A dollar's worth of pantry staples.
14:18A jar of paste that lasts you months.
14:228 separate household jobs handled with the same one cleaner.
14:26The cleaning aisle at the grocery store has at least 8 different branded products
14:32you would otherwise buy to do these same jobs.
14:35Pot scrubber.
14:37Oven cleaner.
14:38Stainless steel polish.
14:40Multi-surface spray.
14:42Microwave cleaner.
14:43Sink shine.
14:44Silverware polish.
14:46Bathroom cleaner.
14:473 to 5 dollars each.
14:5040 dollars worth of products replaced by one 1 dollar jar.
14:54And the homemade version works as well as any of them with none of the harsh fumes,
15:00the colored dyes, the perfumed sprays that make folks with sensitive lungs cough.
15:06There is no money in teaching folks how to mix 4 pantry ingredients into a paste that replaces a whole
15:13shelf of products.
15:15There is a great deal of money in selling 40 dollars of separate branded cleaners every spring.
15:21So the chemistry sits in the kitchen and nobody runs a commercial saying,
15:27look in your own pantry first.
15:29They run commercials with sparkling kitchens and white clothed actors holding the bottle.
15:35And a whole nation spends 40 dollars on cleaners every spring when their grandmothers spent 50 cents.
15:43Esther's mother taught her this recipe.
15:46Esther's mother got it from a hotel housekeeper.
15:48The hotel housekeeper had been mixing it for 40 years before she taught it to a young farm wife who
15:55needed a cleaner she could afford.
15:58That is how the knowledge actually passes.
16:01From working hands to working hands, one kitchen at a time.
16:06The bottles on the shelf are just the version that got loud enough to be remembered.
16:11You can be the one who remembers the old version.
16:14So here is what I want you to do.
16:17This week, mix one batch of the paste.
16:20The whole job takes two minutes.
16:23Pour it into a clean jar, label it so nobody mistakes it for something else, and put it under the
16:29sink.
16:30Next time you have a burnt pot, and there will be one, there always is, do not reach for the
16:37branded scrubber.
16:38Spoon a tablespoon of the paste onto the burnt ring, add a splash of warm water, let it sit while
16:46you go do something else for 15 minutes, and come back to scrub.
16:50Watch what comes off.
16:52The first time you see a pot come clean that you thought was ruined, you will not go back to
16:58the branded cleaners.
17:00Then, start using the paste on the other jobs as they come up.
17:04The sink, the stove top, the microwave, the bathroom.
17:09Within a month, you will have replaced the whole cleaning aisle with one jar under the sink, and Esther's mother's
17:17mother's recipe will be back in your kitchen where it belongs.
17:21Tell me in the comments below, what is the worst burnt pot you have ever had to scrub, the one
17:28you almost threw away?
17:30And do you have an old recipe from your own grandmother or your mother that does what the store cleaners
17:36do?
17:37Share it.
17:38The little family recipes are exactly the kind of knowledge that disappears when nobody writes them down, and the comments
17:46on this video are how we save them.
17:48I read every single one.
17:52Next time, since we have been speaking of how to keep a clean kitchen with what is already in your
17:57pantry,
17:58I am going to show you the old way my people make their own bar soap from scratch.
18:03The lye, the lard, the seasoning, the cutting, the curing.
18:08So a household can wash itself for years on what costs the English family $10 a month at the grocery
18:16store.
18:16It is the natural next step after today.
18:20Until then, mix the paste, fill the jar, and remember that the cheapest cleaner in your kitchen is almost always
18:29the oldest one, waiting for you to remember how to mix it.
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