Reduce Oven Grime
Sometimes prevention is better than cure. When it comes to ovens, this is very true as nobody enjoys cleaning the oven, especially not using harsh and abrasive chemicals. The answer is to head off oven grime as quickly as possible before it becomes an unmanageable problem.
Steps
- Use drip trays. Place a baking pan or foil containers at the base of your oven before you cook. This is especially important for roasts, casseroles, pies etc. and any other type of food that might bubble over and leave a residue on the base of the oven.
- Cover the base of your oven with aluminum. Just one sheet placed down once a week or even once a month will make the mopping up a breeze. Just make sure it doesn't touch any of the heating elements and do not cover any vents in the oven (air holes). When the foil becomes dirty (dependent on how often you use the oven or how much of a mess even a single dish has made), remove the foil and dispose of it. Replace with a new sheet.
- Sprinkle salt on spills. If you haven't already taken the above precautions and you do have a spill, quick action is the best remedy. Once the oven has cooled down (do not stick your hand into a hot oven), sprinkle the spill with salt and let stand for a few hours before wiping it off.
- Remove spills as soon as you note them. If you continue to bake spills on, they simply get harder and harder to fix. Grease is the hardest to remove the more that you bake it on.
- Clean your oven with safe cleaning solutions:
- Use a vinegar dampened cloth and water to wipe over the oven
- Use baking soda to clean off stubborn spills
- Use your self-cleaning mechanism if your oven has one but do not wait for it to be blackened and piled up with grease inside before using it or it will not succeed and it will create an awful stench in your home. Indeed, it may even cause smoke and sometimes can catch fire if you have an oven piled high with grease residues. Follow the instruction manual carefully.
Tips
- If you use the foil step, please be aware that you are probably not going to be able to recycle this foil because it will be greasy and grimy. Better this than using chemical concentrations to clean the oven with.
Warnings
- Never stick your hand and/or arm into a hot oven. It is all too easy to brush the heating elements and burn yourself severely. Another risk is dangling clothing catching on fire. Just don't do it - turn all the elements off and wait until the oven has cooled down before dealing with spills, grime and implementing the steps in this article.
Things You'll Need
- Oven
- Simple cleaning solutions, such as vinegar, cloth and baking soda
- Salt
- Aluminum foil or tray
- Baking dish
