E-cloth Hob & Oven Pack : perfect cleaning with just water

One of the bet bits about creating this blog has been all the opportunities I've had to try out various eco-friendly products around the home that have now replaced my ungreen options. So what is the most environmentally-friendly cleaning product that I have found so far ? Well, the answer has to be ... NO cleaning products ! "What ?" I hear you cry ! "Are you going to start going on about the merits of white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda now?" Nope, even better ... you can get a perfectly clean house with just water ! Yes, really ! As long as you've got a range of these nifty e-cloths.

I first discovered e-cloths when I was sent a free sample of their microfibre window and glass cleaning cloth. I received, through the post, a little scrap of blue cloth about 5cm square and I thought to myself, what's the point of trying to clean a big glass door with that ?! It's tiny ! And our patio doors are covered in gunky baby handprints and doggy noseprints too. There's no way it'll get anywhere near cleaning that ! So I decided to try it on a tiny mirror instead. It cut through the greasy fingerprints and left it totally smearfree. So I thought, oh well, in for a penny in for a pound, I know it won't cope with a whole window but I'll just have a little play - and I was gobsmacked that this innocent-looking little scrap of cloth managed to clean all the patio doors with just one little rinse and squeeze in the middle ! I've tried various things to get clean windows in the past, from chemical window cleaner to vinegar and screwed up newspaper, and none of them have worked properly, leaving loads of streaks and smears. Well, the tiny free sample e-cloth did ! And you just rinse it, leave it to dry and use it over and over again.

Well, this time I got the full-sized versions of the Hob & Oven pack to test, but you be warned Mr E-Cloth, you've got a lot to live up to now, after seeing the powerful punch that little blue scrap packed on my windows ! The label says : "E-cloth : perfect cleaning with just water. Chemical free cleaning for all hobs and ovens. The toughened strips remove dirt and grease after cooking. Great on stainless steel, ceramic and other hard surfaces. Saves time. Saves money. Kind to your family and the environment." Well, whereas I would have been dubious, I now came to this pack wanting to be convinced and proved right about how effective e-cloths really are. But nevertheless slightly wary about how effective chemical-free cleaning can actually be on tough grease stains and cooked-in dirt.

Well, only one way to find out so off I go. I opened the pack and pulled out the two cloths. In both size and material, the Hob & Oven cloth looks just like a face cloth, with a few lines of velcro attached to it - how is a cloth like a flannel supposed to clean my greased-up hob ? Well, I have absolutely no idea but it does ! It needed a few more rinses than when I cleaned the windows, but it really did remove all the bits of food residue and grease from lunch, as well as a few cooked-in stains that I hadn't got around to scrubbing yet. And it didn't even take any effort. Unbelievable ! The second cloth in the pack is grey but apart from the colour, it is exactly the same as the blue window-cleaning cloth I told you about. Woohoo, I'll be able to get sparkling windows so everyone in the street will be able to admire my xmas tree after the weekend !!

What I really love is that, as you're not using harmful or harsh chemicals, you can get your kids involved in the cleaning without worrying. That may sound like slave labour but both Sophie and Juliette actually ask to help do the cleaning and love getting involved - but I'm always worried about their skin reacting to cleaning products or them forgetting to wash their hands and getting it in their mouths. No risk of either if they're just using water to clean !

The only downside is that you don't get the nice fresh smell that you get with cleaning products so you might want to spray around something nice and fragrant to get that "just cleaned" smell, as much for yourself as to let your husband know that you've been busy cleaning rather than sitting around watching the telly while he's been at work !

Just be warned - you can wash your e-cloths in your washing machine but DO NOT use bleach or fabric softener as it will remove their magic ! The label states : "A warm rinse is often enough for day-to-day use. However, for e-cloths to perform correctly, they must be washed regularly. They may be machine washed at 60°C but for a full clean, wash at 90°C or boil in a saucepan. Use only a small amount of washing powder and rinse well. Do not use bleach or conditioner as bleach breaks down the fibres and conditioner will block them. Tumble or hang dry." You have been warned ! The pack says that they are guaranteed for 300 washes so that's probably almost a year of chemical-free cleaning in each cloth, if you wash them once a week.

E-cloths are recommended by a whole range of well known companies, including Bosch, Hotpoint and Magimix. I think it must stand for E-cological, E-fficient and E-asy peasy cleaning. They've convinced me again - I really need to try out the Bathroom pack and the Mop Set now, to see if they live up to the products I've tried so far !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £8.80

for more info : http://www.e-cloth.com