Oily Rag: It's easy to get your 5 a day

Adding fruit to every meal will encourage youngsters to eat up everything.

The mailbags are full again. This week the tips range from a "feel-like-Cleopatra" face cleaner to keeping your pot plants well watered.

Marie from Rotorua has this tip about face cleaner. "The best face cleaner you can get is ground almonds -- from the bulk foods section at Pak'nSave. Make a thick paste with milk, and just before using add a quarter teaspoon of salt. Rub fairly gently on your skin at first as it is abrasive. Wash off with warm water. Makes you face feel like Cleopatra and her bath of milk."

Marie also has this unusual way of titivating silverbeet. "Silverbeet is our favourite vegetable. Wash well, chop very roughly and steam. Do not boil or overcook. Add a sprinkle of sugar and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Delicious."

Nikita from Taupo has these tips for introducing fruit and vegetables into the family diet. "Growing up I lived with my grandparents. I always had cereal with tinned fruit for breakfast, two pieces of fruit in my lunch plus a sandwich which normally had lettuce or something like that on it, and a piece of fruit when I got home from school. For dinner Nana used to mix potato and kumara or pumpkin in a mash, and at least two other veges. So it's not hard to get lots of fruit and veges into your diet.

"I always went along to the supermarket and helped choose the fruit I wanted that week which made me more inclined to eat it. Now it's just a habit to eat lots of fruit and veges every day."

Now for another tip on cleaning dentures. J.M.L. from Whangarei writes, "To clean dentures use a teaspoon each of citric acid and baking soda. I found if I mixed these together in a container they hardened, so I keep them in separate containers. Put dentures in cup, add citric acid and baking soda, then cover with hot water. It will fizz when water is added. Rinse with clean water. Occasionally you will need to give dentures a clean with a toothbrush and just baking soda."

Jill from Dannevirke has a suggestion for the reader who had cat invasion problems. "I have successfully used Jeyes Fluid to deter cats. Sprinkle undiluted on the area targeted by the cats, but be sure to clean the area up first. You may have to repeat a time or two, but cats hate it. It also works for dogs. Jeyes Fluid can be hard to find, but I bought some recently." (Jeyes Fluid is a multi-purpose cleaner and disinfectant that is used for a wide range of garden and outdoor cleaning jobs.)

J from Paraparaumu has this tip for getting out the last of the cream from containers. "Instead of cutting the top off a hand or body cream container put it in the microwave for about ten seconds, then pour the contents into a new container. Works well for makeup and other products."

KASW from Waikanae says, "Baby wipes are wonderful for removing fly-spots from walls and ceilings."

John from Whangarei says he got a number of great tips from his latest gardening magazine. "To keep pot plants watered, punch a column of small holes down the side of a thin plastic bottle. Bury it with the top poking above the soil, and the holes facing the plant. Fill it e up and it will act like a reservoir and drip feed plants."

Spring is a really busy time in the garden, so let us know if you have any garden tips to share.

• If you have a favourite recipe or oily rag tip that works well for your family, send it to us at www.oilyrag.co.nz, or by writing to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei, and we will relay it to the readers of this column.