Cheap Vegetable Wash

[Watchman]

Have you ever seen the stuff they sell - don't know what it's called - but it is a vegetable wash containing citric acid and bicarbonate of soda. Having lived overseas for 9 years we know all about washing vegetables! We concocted our own formula which works fine. We have separate wash and rinse plastic pans (which we got for free from hospital visits). In the wash pan we sprinkle a generous tablespoon or two (depends how dirty the vegs or fruit is) of baking soda; give a good squirt of lemon juice and start filling up the wash pan. As it is filling, a good squirt or two of "bleach water" (half and half - plain bleach, not the ultra kind). It will mix well by the time the wash pan is filled up. We let all vegetables and fruit sit in the solution for about 5 to 8 minutes. Greens get slushed up and down to remove the grit. Vegetables and fruit get scrubbed with a soft brush. Then the vegs and fruit go into the rinse water, sloshing them around a little, then let sit for 2 or 3 minutes. Slosh them around again before taking them out and drying on a clean towel. We try not to buy any foreign fruit or vegetables but when it does happen they get washed good. But we wash everything, even local organic stuff. The damn county sprays insecticide for mosquitoes and West Nile virus and can't be too careful when washing what we eat.