Image via The Ewan at FlickrThat’s not the way the saying goes, I know. But that’s how it happened. Last night, my mom made a fabulous homemade spaghetti sauce. It simmered all afternoon, meatballs bubbling inside. The house smelled great. After dinner, there was a ton left over, so my husband and I cleaned up, and he wanted to freeze the leftovers in a big plastic container.
Oh, no, I said. I hate when the plastic turns orange. Just use a freezer bag.
So we filled up a freezer bag, all the way to the top, and left it sitting on the stove to cool so we could pop it in the freezer before going to bed. About a half hour later…
Splat! Splash! Splat! Glug, glug, glug.
We looked around, confused by the sound. I came around the corner and saw a lot (a lot!) of tomato sauce, pouring from the bag onto the kitchen floor, bouncing up almost four feet onto the walls, the cupboards, and into the living room.
We have a beige carpet in the living room. Or rather, we had beige carpet in the living room. It reached a full couple of feet into the living room, splashed on the cabinet with the toys, the books, all over. It took us almost an hour just to make a dent. I halfheartedly tried some carpet cleaner. Sigh.
Today, it doesn’t look as bad as we thought it would. It’s orange, so it doesn’t have that CSI-blood-spatter look it had last night. I opened a drawer to get a pot out for lunch and there was sauce in there too. I suppose it will appear here and there for months…
*thank you* for posting this….
We had a bad experience today that involved painter's tape and paneling and well, let's just say that we will need to find a picture to hang on one particular part of a basement wall
Anyway, thanks for sharing. Compared to you, your situation sounds much, um, worse.
Know that somewhere, someone has had a worse debacle than you this weekend
Hey there…
To keep your containers from turning orange, just spray them with any kind of cooking spray. It's been known to work.
Sorry about the carpet…
I just wanted to cry for you! Those things happen to the best of us
I call that Ziploc bag fail. So sad!
To keep your containers from turning orange- just soak them in soapy water for half an hour before you put them in the dishwasher… they will absolutely come clean!
And try peroxide on your carpet, my girlfriend swears by it (you'll need to Google how to use it!) but its inexpensive!
Happy New Year anyway!
Oh dear! Happy New Year Gina! xo
Oh, I can so relate and I'm so sorry!
Stop reading here if you don't want to read a suggestion…
Last year we had an unfortunate accident involving a gallon of orange paint, a couch, and beige carpeting. Our hoover wet vacuum/carpet shampooer was amazing. We just kept pouring water on the spot and sucking it up (we didn't bother with the sprayer or cleaner until we'd gotten most of it up). Truly, there is no sign of the incident in that room at all.
Good luck!
That is horrible!
I hope you are able to get it all cleaned.
Yes! Do try the hydrogen peroxide! Try in an inconspicuous area first to make sure it does'nt take the color out of the carpet. Then just pour it on blot! Keep repeating till it's clean. My husband spilled a bottle of black heel and sole dressing for shoes on our beige carpet and the hydrogen peroxide took it out!
So many good suggestions–thanks everyone. I picked up some hydrogen peroxide today so I'll give that a try. I'd been looking at steam cleaners but couldn't decide on a model, but I'll try the cheapy solution first. Of course, there are still plenty of milk stains on other parts of the carpet…
That is starting out the new year with a splash and splatter! Sorry to hear about the tomato sauce incident. Hope you can get the stain out. If not, there are some carpet cleaners in NOVA/DC that will clean the carpet in a section of one room for free if you are a first-time customer. We used Absolute Carpet Care (out of Sterling, VA) per suggestion of a friend about a year ago, and they did a good job. I have to be honest though, I rarely shell out the big bucks on our old carpet, but I like it when they have a free offer for new clients to try them out!
That brought back some memories! Our bagged sauce made it into the fridge, and then must have shifted around. When my unsuspecting brother in law opened the refrigerator door later – a gallon of sauce went splat! Our carpet was spared because the door blocked the splatter, but it was still a horrible mess, and a sad waste of good sauce. Good luck with peroxide.
I'm sorry you have to start the New Year off this way!
Rubbermaid makes a stain-resistant plastic container – mine is gray, and it's worked beautifully for tomato sauce for years. The plastic is pretty rigid, so prone to cracking if dropped – I only have one container left from a set of 6 or so, but it's probably close to 10 years old. If they don't make this specific kind anymore, they must make something similar. Definitely worth the investment if you store a lot of tomato sauce.
Also, Spot Shot works pretty well on stains – kind of chemically, though, so not my favorite thing …
Oh no! What a way to kick off the new year. I am sorry to hear about the stain though. What a bummer to have the floor "eat" the leftovers. Well, I know you didn't run for the paper towels to clean up!
Congrats on such great publicity and growth of your blog over the past year. You are a blogger inspiration to me personally. Keep up the wonderful work you do to help us busy moms be more money mindful.
Happy New Year.