Last May I wrote about how I tried to make my own oven cleaner. At the time I was surprised that it worked pretty well – even though I attempted it during a time crunch caused by melting down children.
All year, though, I remembered what a mess I had to deal with. Because I added far too much white vinegar, I ended up with a baking soda and vinegar lake in the bottom of my oven – and it wasn’t so enjoyable to figure out a way to get it out.
This spring, I knew I had to clean my oven – and I was prepared. I did not want to revert to toxic sprays. I just needed a little strategy to add to my baking soda and white vinegar. So here’s what I did:
Step 1
Remove all the burnt food remains from the inside of your oven. (If you’re a clean freak, you probably won’t have to do this step. If you’re like me, you will.)
Step 2
Sprinkle baking soda on the bottom of your oven. Pour just a small amount of white vinegar on top of the baking soda.
Step 3
While an optional step, I turned the oven on to 150 degrees for five minutes, in an attempt to melt some of the grease and loosen some of the dirt. (An Accidentally Green reader suggested this step. I think it helped.) Let the oven cool for about fifteen minutes.
Step 4
Scrub your oven. I tried to wipe and scrub with an old cleaning rag, but wasn’t getting much scrubbing action. So I wadded up a used piece of aluminum foil and used it as a scrubber. The foil got completely filthy and I didn’t feel bad about throwing it away afterward – that small square served many purposes.
Step 5
Keep scrubbing. Wipe clean with warm water. Scrub some more. Wipe some more. Your oven will get clean – and you’ll be able to breathe without gagging on the fumes of toxic chemicals.
Talk back
Have you tried any homemade cleaning methods while scrubbing your oven? What has worked? What has not worked?
Read about easy and affordable ways to make a healthy difference in your own home in my eBook, Accidentally Green.
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Great recipe thanks Hilary! May I ask your opinion on essential oils as part of the mix?
I’m sure you could add them if you wanted, but the vinegar and baking soda are pretty effective on their own.
Thanks for the interesting information – there’s nothing better than a clean, fresh, neatural house and one of the best ways of achieving this is through your carpets! As well as DIY solutions I also like to recommend oven cleaning birmingham professional companies to people because you can often surprise yourself at the price and how natural their cleaners are. Great post, thanks again.
My Natural Oven Cleaner. First I mix 1/2 cup of baking soda with some apple cider vinegar, like a paste. Rub all over the inside of the oven. place a sheet cake size pan on the bottom rack, fill half full with hot water. Turn oven on to 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn oven off and put a pair of rubber gloves on and very carefully place a rag into the hot water, squeeze out most of the water and wipe your over clean. Let the steam from the water, activate the vinegar and baking soda and do the work for you. Works great for the inside of a microwave, just place a warm wet towel inside microwave and heat up for 60 seconds, let cool inside the microwave so the steam will clean it for you. when you can safely touch the cloth, wipe clean. repeat if necessary.
Thanks for the recipe. As an asthma sufferer that is triggered by strong chemical and perfume smells, I am always looking for healthy natural cleaners. Cleaning my oven has been the worse chore for me.
I have a “self-cleaning” oven which basically incinerates the grime and fumigates the house so I can only clean my oven when it’s nice enough to open all the windows. I still have to use an oven cleaner to clean the soot and ash left behind so I’m really looking forward to try this as soon as I can open the windows today.
The absolutely safest and easiest product out there is to spray your oven down with SHAKLEE BASIC H Degreaser solution, and scrub it with SHAKLEE SCOUR OFF paste. It’s so easy, so safe and natural, and so incredibly cheap. No toxic chemicals at all. You can read more or check out the product at http://www.everydaysnapshot.com It’s fantastic.
Great recipe! It’s quite simple but though very efficient. I’m using a recipe with more ingredients and part of the procedure is leaving the oven overnight. I’m trying your way next time and I’m definitely recommending it to my friends. Thank you for the idea!