Tags
baking soda, clean, Cleaning, green, homekeeping, housekeeping, organical, organically, oven, vinegar
One of the thing that I hate cleaning is the oven (although my boyfriend just told me we can actually REMOVE the door) everything is stuck so hard, the element is always in your way, the door prevents you to easily access the bottom of the oven (I can’t wait to try with the door removed)
A few months ago, we had an “event” in the oven, my boyfriend baked a pudding chômeur; with the heat, the dough rose and the maple syrup boiled. And what happen when you don’t use a baking plate large enough? That’s it, spills all over the place. What is nice with the maple syrup, taste aside, is that since it’s mainly sugar, with the heat it caramelizes and bakes on hot surfaces. At that time, I cleaned it the best I could, but the bottom of my oven is ruined. Since then, we have been using disposable cookies sheets under the element to catch up any spills.
In the new house we purchased, there is a built-in oven, we won’t need my Maytag anymore, but my boyfriend’s youngest daughter is moving in and needs a stove. I was happy to offer mine for free. However, I can’t give her a gross and dirty appliance. So last night, I started cleaning this. I thought I had some Easy-Off left, there was still product in the can, but no more gas to bring it out. No worries, here is a good start for my “green commitment”. Moreover, using Easy-Off in my oven always freaks me out, I mean, I cook food in there! Rinsing the oven takes more time than cleaning in my case.
According to Becky Rapinchuk from clean mama and her book Organically Clean Home, I was fairly convinced I could find some miracle recipe.
Using :
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1 squirt Castile soap (in Québec, easily found at Avril)
- 1/2 cup water
This is not nuclear physic, I haven’t measured anything. Mix to get a paste and then spread with a sponge or a cloth.
I waited about 15 minutes, than, with a spayed bottle, I liberally sprayed vinegar everywhere to increase the cleaning power. Waited another 15 minutes and just wiped everything.
My oven is now as clean as it is possible to be, so I won’t be the gross step-mother when handing this appliance.