There is hardly any need to conduct research on which one is the most hated cleaning chore among Britons – the result will always reveal oven cleaning as the undisputed leader. If you share this opinion, perhaps you hate the greasy nature of cleaning the appliance, or maybe the fact that it takes some time and elbow grease to complete.
Regardless if you feel this way, oven cleaning doesn’t have to be a burden. Yes, if you let grease and food spoils get burnt on within, you are in for some bad times.
However, certain tricks can help you remove a mess inside the oven or prevent it from happening in the first place:
- Wipe up a spill as soon as possible – if you often cook at home, making a mess of the oven is inevitable. It could be that you made a mistake, or perhaps you pay no attention to the oven after cooking. Whatever it is that you are cooking, the air within the oven becomes saturated with grease mist, which then sticks to the interior and becomes hard to clean when it builds up. The best thing you can do is to wipe the oven interior after every cooking session. Do this as soon as the oven surface is cool enough, and you will be saving yourself a ton of cleaning effort later on.
- Be careful during cooking – one way to make oven cleaning easy is to be a little preventive and keep the oven from becoming a mess in the first place. There are a few things you can do, such as using cooking bags or placing the meal in a sealed casserole. There will be no drips and no spills that way. You can also line the bottom of the oven with a baking sheet to catch any spills and keep the area from becoming a mess.
- You don’t need to use chemical cleaners – sometimes the oven just needs a gentle wipe with a microfibre cloth. You don’t always need to reach for that chemical cleaning solution, especially when you consider the fact they are not that safe due to the high amount of harmful chemicals inside. If you wish to experiment with eco-friendly solutions, you can try out the baking soda. Add water to it till you get a paste-like substance and cover the interior of the oven. You will be pleasantly surprised by the result.
- You can use the self-clean function – if you stay on top of your oven cleaning needs, you will not need to use the self-cleaning feature of your oven all that much. However, you will find it is a useful thing to have when the time comes. It will turn the burnt-on food debris into ash, making it easy to wipe.
There is no doubt that following these tips will keep your oven clean and ready for cooking at all times.