DIY Fruit and Vegetable Spray + DIY Produce Wash

Forget the expensive produce wash from the store. Make your own and clean your produce naturally this DIY Fruit and Vegetable Spray + DIY Produce Wash.

I love shopping at my local health food store for organic produce and fresh, grass-fed meat. But there’s one thing that bugs me EVERY time I go to the store: cleaning products. It just amazes me how much these natural cleaning products cost. I make most of my own DIY cleaning products at home for WAY less than store-bought versions, usually pennies vs. dollars.

And one product that costs a fortune, in my opinion, is fruit and vegetable wash. I’m guilty of buying those produce wash sprays at the store too thinking I needed that $4-5 bottle of natural cleaner to get my fruit and vegetables clean. Boy, was I wrong.

DIY Fruit and Vegetable Wash Spray

This DIY Fruit and Vegetable Wash works best for hard-skinned fruit and vegetables, such as apples, oranges, cantaloupe, grapes, cucumbers, carrots and eggplant.

Just add 1.5 cups of water, 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp baking soda and 10 drops lemon essential oil to a 16 oz glass spray bottle. Cap bottle and shake gently to mix well. Spray as needed on produce and let sit for a few minutes. Rinse well under cold water, let dry and store produce as desired.

Cost Breakdown

Vinegar = $0.88 ($4.69 for a 32 oz bottle)
Baking soda = $0.07 ($2.09 for a 16 oz. bag)
Lemon essential oil = $0.58($14.50 for 15 ml bottle or 250 drops)

Total = $1.53 for a 16 oz. bottle of homemade fruit and vegetable wash

Compare that to a $8.91 for a 16 oz bottle of a popular veggie wash you can buy in stores. HUGE savings, right?

 

 

DIY Produce Wash

This DIY Produce Wash works best for thin-skinned produce, such as lettuce, dark leafy greens, tomatoes, peaches and berries.

Just fill a sink full of water and add 1 cup of apple cider vinegar and 10 drops of lemon essential oil. Add produce and let soak for about 10 minutes. Rinse well under cold water, let dry and store produce as desired.

Cost Breakdown

Vinegar = $1.17 ($4.69 for a 32 oz bottle)
Lemon essential oil = $0.58 ($14.50 for 15 ml bottle or 250 drops)

Total = $1.71 for use in a sink full of water (about 2 gallons or 256 oz) homemade fruit and vegetable wash soak

Compare that with $1.90 for a commercial brand produce wash for use in a sink full of water (same as above 2 gallons – which requires 1 cup of commercial produce wash in 8 quarts or 2 gallons of water based on suggested use of 1/4 cup commercial produce wash in 2 quarts of water).

While it doesn’t seem like a huge cost savings, consider the ingredients in this so-called natural commercial brand produce wash: Purified water, oleic acid and glycerol, ethyl alcohol, potassium hydrate, baking soda, citric acid, and grapefruit oil.

I wouldn’t want a few of these ingredients soaking in my produce. How about you?

 

Safe, Ready-Made Option

Don’t like to DIY? No problem? One of my favorite ready-made products is called Thieves Fruit & Veggie Soak. It’s awesome! It comes in a 16 oz. container and you just use 1-2 capfuls per sink full of water. That’s a LOT of produce you can wash. I even reuse the sink water with several batches of fruit and vegetables.

Thieves Fruit & Veggie Soak safely and effectively washes produce with the cleansing power of three exclusive essential oil blends – DiGize, Thieves, and Purification. When combined with the other naturally derived ingredients, produce is easily and conveniently cleaned.

You can even get a 2 oz spray bottle of Thieves Fruit & Veggie Spray to use on the go – like when your toddler insists on eating that apple from the grocery store as you’re walking out the door. Just a few spritzes followed by a quick water rinse will have you eating your fruits and vegetables as nature intended. I personally love the 2 oz spray bottle because it’s small enough to fit in my purse, backpack, or carry-on, making it easy to wash my fruit and vegetables when on-the-go.

More DIY Recipes You Might Like

• 10 Easy Ways to Ditch Processed Food for Good
• Homemade Soft Scrub Cleaner for Kitchens and Bathroom
• DIY Household Cleaner

Did you try this DIY Fruit and Vegetable Spray and DIY Produce Wash? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and comment below to let me know how it went. You can also FOLLOW ME on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

 

 

Photo credit: Bigstockphoto.com / olesiabilkei, Kasia Bialasiewicz