Overwhelming Oven Cleaning
Filed Under Clean Quick and Green |
You may be spoiled and have a self-cleaning oven. If so, consider yourself blessed. If you don’t (i.e., if you have a convection oven or one that needs to be cleaned by you), here’s an eco-friendly way to solve the problem.
Squeeze the juice of a lemon into an oven-safe bowl or pan (a casserole works well). Fill it with water and drop the whole lemon in (sliced—you want to make sure it’s totally covered with water). Turn the oven on to a low setting (about 150°F) and let it boil in the oven for about 20 minutes. Once the time is up, turn off the oven and let it cool.
The lemon juice and oils mixed with the steam from the water should greatly assist in loosening the dirt inside. After about 20 minutes or so, once the oven is cool enough for you to clean, remove the pan and start scrubbing with a double-sided sponge (scour and soft). You will need to do a bit of scrubbing, but that is expected.
If the oven door is really bad, sprinkle baking soda (of course!) on the glass and drip a bit of that lemon water on the oven door (not too much—you don’t want the water to leak between the glass because you can’t get it out). Let this sit for a while (the longer the better), and eventually the baked-on grease marks should come right off.
You’ll never need to buy oven cleaner again!
Melissa
