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Over time, unpleasant odors settle in every trash can that can no longer be removed by simply washing out. In this case, a solution with soda is simply a remedy.

Clean the trash can with a solution of 1 part baking soda, 1 part dish soap, and 10 parts warm water.

Put the solution in the trash can and let it sit for at least 5 minutes. Then clean the bin with a brush and warm water and the bad smells will be a thing of the past.

Here’s a little tip: Add a few drops of scented oil to the cleaning solution to create a great scent. Depending on how intense the fragrance may be according to your personal preferences.

Many natural home remedies for bad breath help to get rid of the bad odor coming from your mouth. Avoid and drive away bad breath with useful tips.

Simple home remedies for bad breath

Good oral hygiene is fundamental. Dentists recommend brushing your teeth thoroughly twice a day and also cleaning the spaces between your teeth. In addition to gargling with mouthwash, a tongue scraper is useful, since odors are often caused by the coating on the tongue.

If you are out and about and notice bad breath, you should always have dental care chewing gum or candies with eucalyptus, fennel, or anise on hand. In this way, one is equipped with a “first aid kit” against this unpleasant problem. But what home remedies are there for prevention?

1) Fight bad breath with apple cider vinegar

You can find naturally cloudy apple cider vinegar in any well-stocked supermarket. Now put a teaspoonful in a glass of lukewarm water, gargle with a sip, spit it out and drink the rest.

2) Mouthwashes with sage tea

The anti-inflammatory effects of sage tea are well known. To prevent bad breath, add a teaspoon of sage tea to a quarter-liter of water and let it steep for 8 – 10 minutes. Then rinse your mouth thoroughly with the lukewarm tea.

3) Combat bad breath with myrrh

Myrrh tincture has a beneficial effect on the oral mucosa, prevents inflammation, and is a traditional household remedy. If you put five drops in a glass of water and gargle with this solution several times a day, you are definitely doing yourself a favor.

4) Propolis cure to prevent bad breath

Propolis protects bees from diseases in the hive. This putty resin is antibacterial and inhibits inflammation. To prevent bad breath, several drops are added to a glass of water. Rinse and gargle your mouth with it.

5) Tea tree oil for gargling

Using the home remedy tea tree oil has a similar effect to the remedies mentioned above. Here, too, you put two to three drops in a glass of water and gargle with it.

6) Oil pulling for oral flora

Oil pulling is a traditional method to rid the mouth of bacteria and thus bad breath. You start by cleaning your tongue. Then you take about a tablespoonful of organic sunflower, sesame, or coconut oil into your mouth and move it back and forth for about 20 minutes. You shouldn’t be gargling. When the time is up, it is best to spit the oil into a paper towel and then throw it in the bin so that the toxins contained in it do not get into the water. Finally, brush your teeth thoroughly.

7) Healing earth binds toxins and helps against bad breath

You can also use the miracle cure healing earth to rinse your mouth. To do this, stir a teaspoon of healing earth thoroughly in a glass of water and rinse your mouth with it. To remove the remains of the healing clay, which can be unpleasant in the mouth, you should rinse with water several times.

8) Salt brine relieves many ailments, including bad breath

First, you have to prepare the brine. That takes a day. To do this, but one or more chunks of Himalayan salt in a glass jar with a lid and then fill it up with good spring water. This is left to stand for a day and you get a 26% brine solution, which is alkaline and thus counteracts the formation of acid in the mouth. Now put a teaspoon in a glass of water and gargle with it.

9) Fight bad breath with herbs

If you have a garden, growing a few herbs in it is a nice addition to the kitchen in general. Chewing the following fresh plants also helps against the problem of bad breath: thyme, parsley, dill, aniseed, marjoram, or fennel. If you have an apple tree, eating a grated apple will also help against this annoying problem.

10) Clean coated tongue

You should also regularly clean your coated tongue if you have bad breath. This is because a film builds up over time which can cause bad breath. For this, you need a tongue scraper from the drugstore or the Internet. Then you can use this to remove the coating from your tongue every evening.

Can ice cream go bad? This question is important both the next time you visit the ice cream parlor and for ice cream in your own freezer. We explain how you can extend the shelf life of ice cream and what you should pay attention to before consuming it.

Whether as a ball of ice cream in a cone, as a bar or on a stick: ice cream is particularly popular in summer. But can ice cream go bad? Here you can find out when you should stop eating the popular candy and what role the cold chain and best-before date play in this.

What role does the cold chain play?

Maybe you know it: You just bought an ice cream in the supermarket and were stopped on the way home. Suddenly you realize you’ve been carrying the fresh ice cream around with you for an hour in the heat. Can ice go bad if the cold chain has been broken for so long?

If you transported the ice in a cooler or in a special cooler bag, you may be lucky. But: Just to be on the safe side, check whether your ice cream is still good. If ice crystals have formed on the surface, this is a clear indication of an interrupted cold chain. In this case, you should not refreeze the ice cream. This is because germs can easily develop that can cause food poisoning.

Even if you have stored the ice cream in the freezer at home, you should still pay attention to the cold chain. It is best to fill smaller portions of ice cream into a bowl instead of leaving the whole pack out for a long time. Make sure to use a clean spoon or ice cream scoop for this.

Can ice go bad in the freezer?

If the cold chain is maintained throughout, you don’t have to worry. In this case, ice will last for many months. Of course, there is also a best-before date for ice cream. But you don’t necessarily have to stick to it. As a rule, you can still eat ice cream after a week has passed.

It’s best to do a little “taste test”: If your ice cream tastes fresh, it’s still edible. On the other hand, if it tastes slightly sour or has a different consistency, you should better dispose of it.

Tips for the ice cream parlor on the shelf life of ice cream

You can also easily recognize good ice cream in the ice cream parlor with a few tips. If you like to get vanilla ice cream at the ice cream parlor around the corner, next time you should take a closer look at the ice cream parlor. Is the water in the scoop clear or stale? Are the ice tubs clean? Does the ice cream itself look smooth and creamy? These indicators already tell you whether the ice cream is good or whether it could be contaminated.

A clear red flag that indicates “bad” ice is a friable surface. Then you can be sure that the ice has definitely been thawed before. The risk is great if you ingest germs and pathogens with the ice cream.

Make ice cream yourself

If you want to be on the safe side, you can of course prepare the frozen candy yourself. Then you can also be sure that there are no additives (such as flavor enhancers or preservatives and colorings) in the ice cream. However, even with the homemade varieties, make sure to use up the dessert quickly after the cold chain has been broken. Put ice cream that you don’t need back in the freezer as quickly as possible and use clean utensils to serve.

Again and again one hears that aluminum foil is said to be harmful to health. We explain where you should avoid aluminum foil and which alternatives you can use when grilling.

Aluminum in everyday life

Aluminum is a light metal that occurs naturally on the one hand on earth, on the other hand, z. B. is released into the environment by industrial processes. Humans absorb aluminum mainly through food (as a natural component or as part of additives) and drinking water, but also cosmetics, antiperspirants, toothpaste, or medicines containing aluminum.

Aluminum & food

If food packaging containing aluminum, aluminum foil, or crockery made of uncoated aluminum comes into contact with salt or acid, aluminum ions can be released from the packaging or from the crockery and transferred to the food. For this reason, salty or acidic foods such as sliced ​​fruit or vegetables, feta, sausage, marinated meat or fish, etc. should not be stored or prepared in aluminum foil. Aluminum cooking pots that are not coated should not come into contact with salty or acidic foods. Caution should also be exercised with ready meals made from aluminum trays because according to a study by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), these too can have high aluminum contents. Aluminum ions can be transferred to food, especially when keeping uncoated meal trays warm, as they are often used in community catering (kindergartens, schools, nursing homes, and canteens).

Beverage cans, yogurt cup lids, or coffee capsules, on the other hand, are harmless. These are coated on the inside so that no aluminum ions are transferred to the food.

Health Effects

When considering the hazard potential of aluminum, the focus is on the effects on the nervous system, fertility, unborn life, and bone development. In healthy people, aluminum is excreted via the kidneys, but over the years it can accumulate, especially in the lungs and skeletal system. However, people with kidney failure are particularly at risk. Due to the inability to excrete aluminum, it accumulates in the body.

A connection between aluminum intake and the development of Alzheimer’s or breast cancer has not yet been scientifically confirmed.

Limit

The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) has set the tolerable weekly aluminum intake level for consumers at 1 mg/kg body weight, i.e. the amount that can be taken weekly for a lifetime without having to expect any undesirable health effects oral intake derived from food.

Since the intake of aluminum cannot be avoided in all areas (environment, medicines, …), it is worth avoiding it where there are alternatives.

Grilling

Since carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed when fat drips into the embers when grilling, many people still use aluminum foil or aluminum cups. The bad news: Harmful substances are also released from the aluminum cups when they come into contact with acid or salt (e.g. marinated food). The good news: There are alternatives that make barbecuing a safe pleasure.

Grilling without aluminum foil

As a natural alternative to aluminum foil, e.g. B. cabbage, chard, or vine leaves, in which the food can be wrapped. Blanch hard leaves beforehand, so they become softer and easier to fold. Potatoes, fish, or vegetables can also be wrapped in baking paper. It is best to oil the paper a little and make sure that the temperature is not too high.

Aluminum grill trays can be replaced with grill trays made of stainless steel or enamel, which also offer the advantage that they can be reused. Teflon-coated silicone grill mats are now also on the market.

If you want to give your food a subtle smoky aroma, you can use wooden grill paper to wrap it or place meat, fish, vegetables, etc. on grill boards or planks made of wood (usually cedar or beech). The boards can be used several times, just soak them in water before grilling. This creates a light smoke and the boards do not burn.

Grill woks made of coated steel are suitable for the gentle preparation of fresh vegetables.

Butter can go bad – if you store it wrong. We explain how to recognize this and give you tips for the right storage.

Can butter go bad?

If you store it incorrectly, butter can go bad quickly. According to the consumer advice center, butter only lasts a few days at room temperature, for example, while it can be kept for several weeks in the refrigerator and even months in the freezer. If you are unsure whether you can still eat butter, trust your senses.

Signs such as a sour odor, dark yellow discoloration, and rancid taste can indicate the butter has gone bad. If you can identify the characteristics mentioned in your butter, you must throw it away. According to the consumer advice center, harmful decomposition products can arise during the decomposition process.

Note: An expired best-before date alone says nothing about whether the butter is still good. After all, this is not a use-by date like meat, but merely an orientation for you as a consumer.

Storing butter correctly: This is how it works

So that your butter does not go bad, you should store it properly:

Keep the butter as cool as possible, preferably in a sealable container in the butter compartment of the refrigerator.
Alternatively, you can freeze them in small portions.
If you want to spread the butter on your bread, for example, make sure you use a clean knife.
Incidentally, these storage tips can also be applied to margarine.
If you buy butter, you should pay attention to organic quality. This is how you support species-appropriate animal husbandry. The Naturland, Demeter and Bioland seals have particularly strict requirements. You can also make your own butter.

The same applies to margarine, which is even more environmentally and animal-friendly in production because it is mainly derived from plants (and vegan margarine is entirely plant-based). Margarine is particularly sustainable if it contains no palm oil.