Should I throw this pan out?
 

Ok, so I live in an appartment that I'm never at, and my roomate never cooks, so that means, when something is cooked, the pot for it sits in the sink for about two weeks (gross, I know). I figured that it wouldn't be a problem, but one of my pots grew some fuzzy stuff which smelled like all hell, and I can't get the stench to go away. Do any of you have any ideas to get the stench out, or should I pitch it and spend six dollars on a new pot?

arm and hammer baking powder (or is it soda) the same stuff in the orange box that you put in the fridge to destinkafy that....

Pour some in with some hot water and let it soak...

49 cents spent...

if it doesn't work -- toss it --

I'll go pick some up. Thanks.

Also very inexpensive, you could add a splash of bleach to the pot and fill it up with water, then let it sit for an hour or so. That'll at least kill anything that may be living in the pot:p Just gotta make sure you rinse it thoroughly before using it again... ingesting bleach is generally not good, hehe.....

If its a copper bottom pot, fill the bottom with salt, then add vinegare till it gets to a muddy consistency and rub it around with your fingers.

You can fill it with anything that kills bacteria and let it set over night. Rubbing alcohol works, as does Hydrogen Peroxide.

But the tell tell sign is the stench, it is truly stinking that badly, it could have residue which can be worse than what was growing.

If the pot was inexpensive or you can find another one pretty cheap, get rid of it. It's better to be safe when dealing with what you eat than sorry.

Shoot, don't get another one. It'll just get wrecked too. Make the roommate buy the next one.

agree, roommate needs to buy another one

disgusting... need to find a new roommate.

Um, to the 3 posters above me, where do you see that the roommate cooked?
Sounds like Luke is cooking and hoping that his roomie will clean.

I'm hoping it's a typo and he meant "my roommate never cleans, so that means when something is cooked blah blah blah cakes"

Other wise... Luke, clean up your own mess :p

Face it - 95% of roommates suck.

And those that don't - kick them out until you find another girl that does!

/please, don't ask for dating advice.

I assumed that there would be no need to mention the roomate if it was not the roomate that messed up the pan

Fill pot with water, bring to boil, let it cook for awhile that way, without evaporating all the water. Good luck. That is what I would try.

I had a roommate in college who's idea of cleaning items was to leave them in the sink, soaking in water, for three weeks. Until one of his other roommates needed it and cleaned it for him. He claimed is was to "soak off the charred bits."

Now, anytime my wife and I need to soak something to actually soak off the charred bits for real, we call it "TCing it" in honor of TC, our old roommate.

If everything a roommate cooked had "charrred bits," that roomate would be banned from cooking very quickly.

Well, we weren't about to cook for him.

No, It was my mess. I was lazy, and this thread was me asking for advice on how to clean up my own mess. Recently though, the roomate made some shrimp in a pot, and let the water get very rancid. I could only bring myself to throw out the water, as it made me want hurl.