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How to clean a dirty oven

I am not one for using many chemicals if I can get away with it and have always found cleaning my oven to be such a chore and hate the thought of using harsh chemicals on it.

Not any more, the secret is Bicarb of Soda

Materials

  1. Large quantities of bicarbonate of soda (not the little supermarket baking pots),
  2. Warm water.
  3. Bowl
  4. Cloth
  5. A paint brush
  6. A scraper or some sorts, I use a plastic pollyfiller knife, but a wallpaper scraper is fine

You can get larger quantities of bicarbonate of soda from your local chemist or online.  I have used Summer Naturals in the past.
Method
  • Mix the bicarb and water into a thick paste, so that it doesn't drip
  • Use the paint brush to coat the paste across the oven door and walls
  • Leave for at least 30 minutes to allow the brown residue to begin to soften and melt
  • Scrape off the paste
  • For any stubborn areas reapply the paste and repeat.
  • Using a clean cloth make sure you remove all residue
  • You can also do the same with the shelves and racks, but I would advise leaving for an hour or so and making the paste lightly thicker, so you can get it on.  Also a butter knife is the perfect scraper for them.
If you have any suggestions for oven cleaning, I would love to hear them.





Comments

  1. Oh my oven is a disgrace at the moment and I hate commercial oven cleaners. Will try to source some bicarb at the weekend and give this a go!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I put off cleaning my oven because the chemicals are so horrible (that's the only excuse, honest *cough*). I remember cleaning out ovens in a Saturday job years ago and had to wear a face mask and goggles. Will definitely try it with bicarb now. A good old fashioned tip!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I trained my son as one of his 'earning his pocket money' jobs! Seriously, if you use those wire wool cleaners that are similar to nylon scourers with bicarb, that also works really well on the oven racks and gets all the burnt on residue off grill racks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh wow what a lovely idea! A great way to have the kids earn their pocket money! And also teaching them some great life skills at the same time! I am definitely going to try this - I've been using professional companies (I don't mind recommendign to anyone in my area: oven cleaning sheffield or oven cleaning sutton coldfield) but great to see this tip and implemented so well :D Sarah x

      Delete
  4. Great tip. It had never even occurred to me to use bicarb before! Emma :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great tip Jen, thanks! I’m doing our oven this weekend with my brother and we have been looking for tips that won’t upset my breastfeeding wife - and there are more than enough to keep us going here lol. Our son has been baby led weening... it's brilliant, but we seem to be cooking proper meals so much more now. That's not a bad thing, but this is our first time cleaning it ourselves so it’s a bit daunting considering in the past we’ve always used companies to do it! I’d definitely recommend http://www.cleansmartsolutions.co.uk (oven cleaner kent) or http://www.flash-cleaners.co.uk (oven cleaning birmingham) if you’re close by to them, but if you’re going for the DIY route like we are going to try, this page looks perfect! Thanks again :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey! Love the cleaning tips, I actually came here looking for advice one carpet cleaning. I think I'll give this a go! I just moved to London, until now I've been using oven cleaning sheffield which are great, but no longer in my area sadly, can anyone suggest a decent London cleaners please?

    ReplyDelete

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