Tomato sauce stains: how to get pasta sauce out of clothes

Many of us who take a peek into our kitchen cupboards will find a number of packets and jars filled with store-bought tomato sauce (also referred to as simply pasta sauce in many homes). This stuff is hugely versatile and can be used as part of practically any form of quick weeknight meal for the family – pasta, lasagne, pizza, chilli, stew, and so on. It’s also very nutritious, packed with Vitamin E, which helps the body protect and repair itself.

There is one downside to tomato sauce, however – it’s pretty messy. Whether it gets too hot in the pan and splatters on your clothes while cooking, or whether your kids spill some sauce at dinnertime, you can almost guarantee you’ll find yourself doing laundry the following day. The good news is that knowing how to get tomato sauce stains out of clothes needn’t be the stuff nightmares are made of. With the right products and the right techniques, removing tomato sauce stains on clothes can be really simple.

Persil small & mighty bio can claim full stain removal, even in a quick wash, for pasta sauce stains – so it’s a great choice for a pre-treatment and for a laundry detergent. Just follow the directions on the label and wash as normal.

How to Remove Tomato Sauce Stains: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you ask any of your friends or even if you scour the internet, you’ll find all sorts of crazy solutions that people swear by when it comes to dealing with a tomato or pasta sauce stain. Why waste time on remedies that don’t work? Instead, stick to tried and tested techniques such as this method for how to remove pasta sauce stains from clothing:

• First, to remove a tomato sauce stain, there are two factors you’ll want to tackle head on immediately – the chunks of tomato that are laying on the surface of the fabric, and the sauce that’s soaking further into the fibres with every passing second. In terms of the solid food, use a spoon to carefully scoop up as much as you can – gently so that you don’t spread the stain. The more contained the stain is the better. For removing the excess liquid, use a clean, dry cloth to dab the area (don’t rub as this could also spread the stain). Keep dabbing until the cloth comes away clear – this indicates that you’ve removed as much of the excess liquid as possible

• As a natural stain, tomato sauce can be treated well via the flushing method – the act of running cold water directly onto the stain. Flushing is an easy process, but it needs to be done right to be effective. Rather than running water onto the surface of the stain, try holding the fabric inside out, so that the water hits the back of the stain, instead of the front. This tends to work much better as it encourages the food residues to exit the same way that they entered – through fibres that have already become swollen with the moisture of the sauce. Trying to force residue through dry fibres is much trickier, and can even make the stain look worse

• Use a pre-treatment stain remover before to putting your clothes in the wash. Persil small & mighty bio is great to use on tomato sauce stains, and is very easy to use thanks to the handy measuring device – the Stain Eraser Ball – which means you use just the right amount each and every time. After applying, leave the pre-treatment to soak into the fabric for a few minutes, and then place into the washing machine

• Then, wash as normal with Persil small & mighty bio, always making sure to read the care labels on your clothing and to follow the directions on the label.

Key Steps

• Dab, don’t rub – Never rub a tomato sauce stain, as this could make it worse

• Pre-treat – Using a laundry detergent like Persil small & mighty bio as a pre-treatment is a great option – just follow the directions on the label to apply a small amount of Persil detergent to the stain

• Wash as normal – Avoid high heats, as these could set the stains