I don't like to spend time or put a lot of muscle into chores like oven cleaning. A great tip is to let the oven do the work for you! Take a large pot (dutch, crock, etc.) and fill it with water and fresh lemon juice. Place the pot in the oven and turn it to 350 for 30-40 minutes. This will actually steam your oven and help loosen anything caked on. You can easily wipe the oven with a clean rag afterwards. If you have caked on areas, you can add a little baking soda to make a paste.
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Oven Cleaning
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Wow i just tried this. And it
Wow i just tried this. And it worked like a charm, our 10 year old oven now looks like it was installed!
Brett from Steam Hygene Mattress Cleaning
Thank you
I just had a Duh! moment. I use the steam technique for the microwave and never thought about the oven. Thank you for the environment and lung friendly idea. I have memories of cleaning the oven at my mother's house. The oven spray is the worst.
Time saver and just as effective
You can also boil the water on the stovetop, add the lemon juice (or white distilled vinegar) to the water, preheat the oven to 400, put the pot of water with lemon juice/vinegar in the oven and then turn the oven off. This still gives your oven a steam bath effect (without running the oven the whole time) which helps loosen the grime. I still use good ole elbow grease to wipe everything down after as I am not diligent enough to clean up spills after each use (or after many months of use). If my oven is really grungy, I use the hot water from the pot, add a couple drops of natural dishwashing liquid and baking soda to help finish the job.
Just an environmental thought
As we are all supposed to be environmentally aware, as well as organically minded, having the oven on for 30-35 mintues seems a bit extravagant. Maybe you should all get stuck in with a bit of elbow grease and bicard. Get those muscles working!
mouse helpers!
your post warmed my heart...indeed if only they could clean the rest of the house, even just the bathroom would do nicely!
I love this method of the lemon steam clean! fabulous! thank you!
green oven cleaning by the mouse volunteers
I live in an older house with a crawl space. Every winter when it gets cold, a mouse or two moves in. They seem to come in via the gas line to the stove, so they find themselves first.....in the oven. I will say, those little mousies did a bang-up job of cleaning the oven, eating all the baked on burnt stuff. Now that is some SERIOUS green cleaning.....eventually, my kitty did kill them, quickly, so they didn't suffer.....I thank their little mousie souls for saving me work :-) If only they could clean the rest of the house..............
Another way
I've used baking soda for years. Just make a paste of it and spread it all over. For really stubborn areas a good razor scraper takes care of it quickly. Also works on broiler pans. PS Don't use a razor on ceramic-OK on most everything else...always try a patch test.
Oven cleaning
What would the appropriate ratio of water to lemon juice be? And do you think vinegar would work equally as well as fresh lemon juice (which is more costly and time consuming)?
You read my mind!
Your article couldn't have been more timely. I was just thinking about how I might clean my oven without chemicals and fumes. I'm ashamed and embarrassed to admit that I haven't cleaned my oven in... years. Really. It's been years. I have a feeling that even after steaming it with lemon and water I'll still be applying mega amounts of elbow grease. Thanks for reading my mind.
sqeaky clean
Sounds great! I'm going to do that today in preparation for the big T-day cooking, leading to the annual orgy of cookie baking ;-)