Household Hacks: Spring clean your kitchen naturally in 6 steps

How to clean your oven naturally

Spring has come to Davis! Trees are budding. Flowers are blooming. Bees have returned from a winter of binging Netflix. Now is the time to spring clean the kitchen of your Davis apartment. This being Davis, you’ll want to clean your kitchen using only natural substances. Fortunately the good folks over at Treehugger can show you how to spring clean your kitchen naturally in 6 steps. Here is just one of the steps, tackling one of the hardest areas, your oven:

How to clean your oven naturally

Of all the dirty spots in the home, the inside of the oven should come with its own horror movie soundtrack. All that baked-on gunk, shudder. Which is why “they” came up with oven cleaners. But oven cleaners are primarily lye (either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide), and according to the EPA, lye is extremely corrosive, can burn your skin and eyes, and is usually fatal if swallowed. Is that what you want to use to clean the box where you put your food to cook?

There are a variety of methods to clean your oven that involve assorted iterations of baking soda and other pantry items. Here’s what works for me:

  1. Remove baking racks and use a metal spatula to scrape out any scrapable mounds.
  2. Wipe up as much as you can with a damp rag.
  3. Sprinkle cream of tartar on all surfaces, spray with water.
  4. Turn oven on to 350F and let bake for 30 minutes.
  5. Turn off, allow to cool. Clean out cream of tartar with a damp scouring sponge.
  6. If there are still stains or gunk, make a soft scrub with baking soda, dish soap, salt and a little water, mixed into a paste. Scrub into remaining messy areas and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
  7. Wipe clean, admire sparkle.

Read the whole article here.

credit: photobank.ch