Better than Baking Soda

As we all know, baking soda can do just about anything. I keep it in the house for baking, for cleaning, and of course there are boxes in my fridge and freezer for deodorizing.

That was until I saw Ted Allen's new show of the Food Network, Food Detectives. Ted was testing whether or not baking soda was the best deodorizer for the fridge. It turns out that although baking soda will absorb some odor, the best deodorizer out there is activated charcoal or activated carbon. Now, you can buy little balls of activated carbon to put in the freezer, but I thought I could make my own .

So, I thought I would do my own test. I bought some of this:


Activated charcoal/carbon can be found in pet stores, or the pet section of department stores because it is used in fish tank filters. it is a little more expensive than baking soda, but it works better for longer, and you only need a little bit so you get a lot of uses out of one container.


and found some old knee highs (I used black, but color really doesn't matter):

and proceeded to make my own deodorizing carbon balls.

Step 1: Cut the knee high in half

Step 2: Spoon approximately 3 Tbs. of activated charcoal into the toe of the knee high. (If you are using the non-toe end of the knee high, tie it off first before spooning in the charcoal)

Step 3: Tie off knee high

Step 4: Toss carbon ball in the fridge, freezer, diaper pail, trash can etc.


So far, so good. I threw one in the kitchen trash can and one in the trash can/diaper pail in the baby's room. Neither can has been very odoriferous of late, so I think they are working. I still have to make one for the fridge and one for the freezer.