Today I embarked upon a new adventure. I’m 40-something years old
and can honestly say that until today, I've never cleaned an oven. OK, so I've been around when
those toxic bombs you put inside (aka “Oven Cleaner”) go off, and I've had a
wonderful life, in which mothers, grandmothers and roommates do the dirty deed.
I have to admit; also, that it’s been awhile since my own oven has been cleaned
(by aforementioned roommate) so I thought “Pinterest to the Rescue!” and hauled
out the vinegar and baking soda.
One other thing I've never done is the “volcano” experiment.
OK. So I KNEW there would be a chemical reaction… that’s exactly what I was planning
for in my “natural oven cleaning” approach… but I didn't THINK about it when I
concocted the miracle cleaner – nowhere near my oven.
On the plus side, that cabinet, counter-top and floor area “OVER
THERE” is sparkling.
After cleaning up that misjudgment, I started to work. Ever
so elegantly grubbily attired in my Avengers PJs (a girl needs all the
help she can get-Avengers Assemble, this oven ain't gonna clean itself*)
hanging upside down, half inside-half outside my oven, getting gunge from all
manners of dinners and desserts and food fiascoes all over myself, gritting my
teeth and employing “elbow grease”… which must also be comprised of spittle
from seething and maybe even skin from the heel of one’s hand… the definition of
the phrase is just about accurate enough to describe the level of scrubbing I
engaged in.
After several heats in which I coated the thing with this "sparkling" (it bubbles - made me think of sparkling water) paste, let it set, scrubbed and scraped, I’m down to this:
Apparently there will be a grudge match.
I won’t call this a “Pinterest Fail” but I would caution everyone that it IS NOT a miracle… It’s a good old fashioned natural cleaner without much in the way of fumes or any scent really, so that’s good. It’s "old fashioned", which means you’re going to have to invest some of your strength, some time and get up close and personal with your oven. More than once if your oven started out like mine did.
I won’t call this a “Pinterest Fail” but I would caution everyone that it IS NOT a miracle… It’s a good old fashioned natural cleaner without much in the way of fumes or any scent really, so that’s good. It’s "old fashioned", which means you’re going to have to invest some of your strength, some time and get up close and personal with your oven. More than once if your oven started out like mine did.
*I don’t even know how useful the “self-cleaning” feature on our oven is… I've never used it either.
