Make light work of, well, light work! (Tesco Value Sponge Pan Cleaners)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Tesco Value Sponge Pan Cleaners
Date:	01/08/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good sponge, absorbent enough for small spills

Disadvantages: Don't tackle anything baked on or particularly dirty with these, fall apart quickly, show the dirt

I refuse to spend a fortune on cleaning stuff so often buy these Tesco Value Sponge Pan Cleaners which are basically sponges with a strip of scouring material on the top. Priced at just 15p for five sponges I think these are great value considering similar products can cost upwards of £1 in many shops.

I find these pan cleaners absolutely fine for light use; I wouldn't recommend using them for very strenuous jobs as they are quite simply not up to it, but for general wiping and washing up then why spend more?

The sponge section of the pan cleaner is fairly absorbent and I have successfully used them for mopping up small spills of various consistencies such as gravy, fruit juice and even some golden syrup when I managed to drop the tin and caused a real sticky mess on my work surface. One problem I have with the sponge is the fact that it is a little too soft for some purposes and if left particularly wet on the side of my sink it will perish somewhat and pieces of sponge will break off next time I come to use it.

The scourer strip is useless for anything but the lightest household tasks in my opinion, although this isn't really an issue for me as I tend to buy flat scourers for heavy cleaning duties anyway. The main problem is they just aren't scratchy enough to really be able to clean much with them, and the soft sponge makes it nigh on impossible to get a good enough grip to be able to use the scourer with enough force anyway.

I do find the scourer side to be ideal for scrubbing vegetables however, obviously using a new one each time, and one of these makes very light work of removing the skins from new potatoes!

I tried cleaning my grill pan with one of these pan cleaners last week and it was an absolute waste of time. I had used the grill for a sticky chicken recipe and instead of cleaning it straight away had ended up making cheese on toast thereby leaving myself with an utter mess to clean up the following day. Even using Fairy Power Spray (the stuff of the Gods in my opinion!) the scourer just couldn't handle the baked on stickiness, whereas once I'd given up and used a more robust scouring pad the greasy, sticky, cheesy muck was removed pretty much straightaway.

For 15p though it's well worth buying a packet for those smaller jobs and this is still excellent value even if you find yourself throwing them away after every two or three uses. They do rinse well so are reusable, although I have found that as they are pristine white (the sponge section) they mark easily and once used never look quite clean again.

Still, for wiping over dirty plates and saucepans they're fine - and really for that price what more can you ask for?

Summary: For 15p I can't really moan, although I would prefer a more efficient scouring side.