Brillo Scrub ‘N Toss: No More Mozzarella-Covered Sponges for Me
Brillo Scrub ‘N Toss are a lot thinner than the usual dual sided sponges; in a way that is nice because you can get it into areas that you couldn’t get a regular sponge. The downside is that there isn’t a lot of absorption power to it so if you try to clean up a spill with it, you will be making many trips to the sink. Most of the time these are used to clean up pots, pans and roasters after they have been in the oven for a long time and have baked on foods that require soaking and a lot of elbow grease to get them clean.
Why are these so nice to have? The cost per pad is about .25 cents; that’s a lot less than what you would spend for a regular dual sided sponge so if it gets trashed when you use it, throwing it away isn’t a big loss. They retain only a minimal amount of smell; even though they aren’t as absorbent as a regular sponge it is a perk in this case. Since it is thinner and less absorbent it has less of a chance of harboring foul smells. As far as putting it in the dishwasher to clean it, good luck. It is light weight and unless you wedge it in between something, it is going to get tossed all over the place.
Are Brillo Scrub ‘N Toss tough enough to handle the really tough messes? I am not going to lie, you are going to have to use some human power with these but that’s the case with most food messes. They are strong enough to work off baked on foods but the reverse side is soft enough for glasses and delicate items. Considering that this is marketed as a disposable item they work a lot better than expected and if you are just using them for washing dishes and every day clean ups you can get about a week or so from each of them before they start to look beat up.
If you are used to using regular sponges it might take you a little while to get used to these; since they are thinner you have a natural reaction to hard hold of it and scrunch it up. I find that laying it flat on the surface I want to clean works best but everyone is going to have their own ‘right’ way to use this. If you let it sit out to dry it will feel extremely hard and you might be tempted to throw it out and grab a new one. All you have to do is toss it in your soap water or run it under the tap and it will soften up and be ready to use.
Brillo Scrub ‘N Toss are modestly priced at about $2.50 a pack with ten pads per package. They are something that I buy when I come across them as there is no shelf life to them and as long as you keep them in the plastic container they are safe from dirt and dust. Other companies make comparable and similar products and I have probably tried them all at some point in time but I really like the Scrub ‘N Toss. They last a long time but if you need to toss them out after one use you don’t feel like you are wasting your money.
If you are worried about germs in your kitchen or bathroom then this is definitely a product that is worth checking out. You can use them a few times and toss them out when they start to break down or they have started to wear out a bit. I would never use a regular sponge of any type of try and clean up things like mozzarella cheese, custards or anything that seems to stick like glue to the surface of a sponge. While some may argue that these are not environmentally friendly I would rather throw one of these out than to have bacteria and germs breeding on it.
