So Gross: Germs in the Kitchen
Are you a dishcloth person or a paper towel person in the kitchen?
Growing up, we were a dishcloth family. I remember the kitchen sink often filled with bleach water and dishcloths.
Once I got out on my own, I favored spraying down the counters with cleaner (lately Honest Co. cleaner) and wiping them with paper towels. There are only a few household products that I am SUPER brand loyal to and Bounty paper towel is one of them. My mom only ever bought Bounty and when I moved out I tried a few other bands and frankly, they all paled in comparison.
So now Bounty is all I buy. I love the Select-A-Size with a passion. Plus Bounty is durable and a little bit goes a long way.
So when Bounty contacted me to try their new Duratowel, I happily said yes. DuraTowel is by far the thickest paper towel I have ever used. It’s crazy! What’s even cooler is that it is the only paper towel clinically proven to leave surfaces 3X cleaner than a used dishcloth.
The only downside is that it does not come in select-a-size. (Personally, I don’t see why all paper towel isn’t select a size. It reduces so much waste.)
Bounty sent me a dishcloth to use for three days in my kitchen. I then had to send it back to them and they tested it for bacteria. This was gross to me because I KNEW that dishcloth was going to be nasty. A clean kitchen has an ATP score of between 150-300. (Adenosine triphosphate or ATP is a molecule present in all animal, vegetable, bacterial, yeast and mold cells.)
Are you ready for what my score was?
You’re not.
I wasn’t.
15,591!
Y’all. Y’ALL! That is SOOOOO nasty. And it wasn’t even like I wiped up a spot where meat had been sitting or something.
I think I will stick to using my Bounty in the kitchen. The DuraTowel is a bit more expensive than regular Bounty paper towel, but it is so thick that you don’t use quite as much. (Unless you are my kids who want to use paper towels for everything.)
Definitely look for Bounty DuraTowel next time you are at the store. Recently I was at Target and they were offering a free DuraTowel roll with any bulk Bounty purchase. I saw a similar offer at Kroger too, so keep your eyes peeled!
Do you use paper towel or dishcloths in your kitchen?
Disclosure: This is the third post in a series sponsored by P&G. My love affair with Bounty goes back to my childhood. 🙂
I think that is interesting. I never use a dishcloth for 3 days. I use it to wash my dishes, then put in in the laundry. I get a clean one if I am washing up spills, then put it in the wash, but that must not be the norm. I do love paper towel though. I agree the duratowel should come in select a size!!
Yeah, the three days part was definitely gross.
OMG. NASTY!! We use paper towels like they’re going out of style. And I only buy Bounty. I always have. When we first got married, my husband tried buying some other brands and I went ballistic, lol. Like you, I’m not 100% loyal to many brands, but Bounty is definitely one of them.
As an aside, my son did a science project to determine the strongest paper towel, and of course Bounty won.
I’m definitely going to have to check out the new Duratowel.
Yuck! I’m a major germaphobe and well – that freaks me out! Ha! We’ve always been a papertowel family! I only use a dishtowel to dry the pots and pans that I wash, etc. That’s it! I love the select-a-size, too! 🙂
I grew up in a paper towel family, and now am strictly cloths. I do not even buy paper towels, unless it is for a special occasion. I guess I will take a little germs (has not killed me yet) over costly paper towels, and non-environmentally friendly products. If I buy paper towels, it is an eco brand. I respect everyone’s opinion, I just cannot jump on the paper towels bandwagon.
To each their own!
We gave up paper towels a few years ago and I’m so glad that we did. The cost savings is great! We have lots of old shirts that we use as rags. If the mess is really bad, we can just toss it out.
We are a Bounty select-a-size family too. White, no inks on my food lol. We have two towels in the kitchen and anyone who enters the house knows what they are for. One is for drying just washed hands the other for drying just washed dishes and they both get washed regularly. ANYTHING else gets a paper towel. Thanks for the heads up on the new product. I had been wondering. Might be good to keep a roll around for tough spills etc.
Yep, we use towels for drying hands and dishes.
Well you sold me ….I will definately use towels alot more now….WOW !!! but always have loved bounty !!!
My mom was/is so obsessed with her dishrags that we jokingly called it her “nanny” (or some other term one might use for a baby blanket or lovey) when I was growing up. I personally have a thing about wet cloth; it grosses me out, so I’ve been a sponge user for years, which I know is soo gross as far as germs and bacteria go, but I just couldn’t stand the dishrag. I gave in and got some dishrags recently, though apparently they’re no less germy! I like the woven pot-scrubbers for dishes best.
We keep a basket of towels in the kitchen for spills and stuff, to avoid the waste of too many paper towels, but we also have the paper towels there for little, quick things.
dish cloths which we microwave if needed/or get a clean one
air dry dishes…no towels on dishes and no dishwasher in this very small kitchen
paper towel for meat drips etc.
This is why I use paper towels in the kitchen and bathroom. It may not be the most “green” thing, but I feel like it’s cleaner. I’d hate to know how bad our kitchen dish scrubber is.
That isn’t a very fair “test” to compare a dishcloth used for 3 straight days. Of course it is going to have a high score.
I do love using paper towels because I hate the musty smell of dishcloths and sponges.