Your oven could look really menacing if it hasn’t been properly tended for a while. That burned pizza from a week ago fused to the grill, oily drops on the hotplates from your last foray into deep fry cooking, primordial soup odour, the list goes on. Commercial oven cleaning products will get the job done, but why shell out money when you can whip up your own. Speaking from our experience, industrial-strength cleaners are really bothersome to use, and can be really harmful if used improperly. We open windows and doors, hold our breath when spraying, but there’s so much you can do. The detergent’s fumes and drops can always manage to find your eyes, throat and lungs, causing irritation and coughing fits worthy of an octogenarian tobacconist.
So we’ve found another way for you to clean your dirty oven. Did you know that a homemade solution can be just as effective as a store-bought oven cleaner? We didn’t back then but now we recommend using household cleaning products whenever you tackle a dirty oven on your own. They turned out to be not only as effective but also eco-friendly and health friendly. Here are a few tips of ours on how to clean your dirty oven with natural products.
For the cleaning solution, you will need:
- Liberal quantities of baking soda
- Water
- a Cloth
- a Bowl
- A Wallpaper scraper
Here are the instructions:
- Combine the water and baking soda to form a thin paste.
- Apply the a thick layers of the paste to the oven door/walls using the cloth. Make sure the paste is distributed evenly.
- Wait for at least 30 minutes before proceeding. During that time the solution will soften and melt those unpleasant brown stains.
- Use the wallpaper scraper to remove stains. Once you have done cleaning, rinse the scraper under running water and return it to its place.
- Wipe the oven with a damp cloth to remove any residue.
With this method your oven will be clean and sparkling in no time! Also, you will avoid exposing yourself to the powerful chemicals causing breathing problems. Baking soda doesn’t leave any odour so you can cook right after cleaning, which usually is not possible after the usage of commercial oven cleaners and their specific smell. If you want to add a fresh zesty smell to your work, some lemon juice in the mixture will do the trick.
