Eco-Friendly Ways to Clean Your Oven
When You Area as Allergic to Chemicals as I Am You Need to Find All the Alternatives that You Can!
Commercial Eco-friendly, Nontoxic Oven Cleaning Products
Bryson Industries makes an eco-friendly, nontoxic oven cleaner called Citrusafe. It is biodegradable too. You can purchase it on Amazon.com here.
All-Spec has a nice eco-friendly oven cleaner product called Techspray. It is also biodegradable, non-flammable, non-ozone depleting. http://www.all-spec.com/products/1573-QT.html . It is $10.71 online.
Homemade Eco-friendly, Nontoxic Oven Cleaning Products
Why risk using a commercial product when there are so many homemade solutions available? These solutions have been around for centuries, long before caustic lye became the common chemical for cleaning ovens.
Try these popular home remedies:
1) Make a paste of equal parts of baking soda and water. Spread the paste on the oven and let sit overnight. It will power through even the toughest baked on grime.
2) Fill a spray bottle with vinegar and saturate the inside of the oven. Let the mixture sit for at least two hours before removing with warm water.
If you have a self-cleaning oven make regular use of the self-cleaning cycle. It will burn off the large patches of grease and grime making frequent cleaning unnecessary. When you do have to clean these homemade solutions will be all you need.
An Ounce of Prevention
Of course the best way to make sure you have an easy time cleaning your oven is to take steps to prevent it from getting dirty to begin with. Placing foil on the bottom of the oven and replacing it when it gets dirty is a great preventative measure, and very eco-friendly and green as well!
My new oven is labeled to specifically warn against this practice so I place a cookie sheet under everything I bake to catch any drips. I religiously cover things to prevent splatters and greasy steam from covering the inside of the oven.
Aside from using the self-cleaning setting routinely you can also spray the inside of your oven with vinegar. Vinegar is a very green, eco-friendly solution. Much like the sprayers you see advertised for use in showers, vinegar will coat the inside of your oven making it more difficult for greasy to adhere to its surface. Spray it on and leave it - don't wipe it off. This is best done to a cool, empty oven.
My all time favorite eco-friendly solution for keeping my oven clean (and my house cooler!) is to cook outside on my grill. The same green, homemade cleaners can be used on your grill as well, but the cleaning will be done outside, keeping your house free of fumes and mess! Plus who doesn't like a little BBQ on the grill every once in a while!
Published by Colleen Mitchell
Colleen is a Cafe & Bakery owner, Entrepreneur, Freelance Writer, & Blogger. She has had 2 Years of Food Service Training, 30+ Years catering experience, and is a Wilton Cake Decorating Graduate (all levels... View profile