Oven cleaning is one of the toughest jobs in the kitchen, and no-one wants to spend hours scrubbing on their hands and knees. Thankfully a hero is here in the form of a natural and cheap ingredient – baking soda!
Some modern ovens now have a “self cleaning” option, where the oven goes on a cycle that is far hotter than normal baking temperatures – over 500 degrees – to turn any baked on messes into ash, easily brushed away. However, these options have a reputation for burning out your fuse, and before you know it a time saving device involves a call to a repair man and a hefty bill.
Oven cleaners will get off that baked on grease, but many of them are also full of harmful chemicals – maybe something you don’t want to be putting near your food!
There is a safer option –cleaning your oven naturally using ingredients you find around your kitchen – lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar, and even essential oils can clean your oven up a treat. Not only do these methods work, but they’re cheap, organic, and non-caustic, causing no damage to your oven – self cleaning or not!
Baking Soda for Burnt on Food
Before cleaning your oven with baking soda, squeeze a couple of lemons into a baking dish and mix with water, mixing the remains of the lemons in with the liquid. Cook for half an hour to get rid of smells, and the citrus oil will help soften the food spills in your oven.
Sprinkle baking soda on the bottom of your oven until it creates a thick layer (around a quarter of an inch) and spray it with a bit of water from a spritz bottle until it creates a thick paste. Leave it overnight before cleaning with a sponge and some water mixed with a natural detergent.
For extra-tough burnt-on mess, mix baking soda with a bit of white wine vinegar – the mixture will bubble. Leave for 30 minutes and it will have broken down enough to sponge down gently.
Baking Soda and Lemon for Oven Doors
To clean the inside of your clear oven door, add lemon juice to baking soda until you make a paste and spread it over the window and leave for ten minutes. When you clean it off, the window will be good as new!
Try it – baking soda is cheap, natural, and great for getting rid of those food splatters and tough burnt on stains.
Great!
What a great idea!