Oven Cleaning The Green Way!
I've been challenged to switch my chemical cleaners in favour of natural alternatives and harness the cleaning power of water with e-cloth's great products! Up until now, most household cleaning products have been easily exchanged. I am amazed by the effectiveness of vinegar solution as a cleaner for most surfaces when used with a general purpose e-cloth. Environmentally friendly laundry tablets and washing-up liquid are just as good as my usual brand. Going green is proving so much easier than I thought it would be.
But this week, I needed to turn my attention to the interior of my oven. This is a horrible job! Chemical cleaners are so harsh. They stink out the house and are terrible for my hands. They are generally very expensive and also don't live up to the promises on the packaging. All in all...this makes oven cleaning very high on my list of least favourite jobs!
The e-cloth hob and oven pack consists of two clothes. One is heavy and slightly abrasive for tackling burnt on grease. The other is a light cloth for shining up the stainless steel and glass.
Using just water, the heavy duty cloth picked up a lot of the grease and black deposits from the walls and shelf edges of the oven. It is far less mucky using the Oven e-cloth than when cleaning with a spray on chemical foam cleaner. The bottom of the oven had some really stubborn marks. To assist in the job, I made up a paste of bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to help shift the burnt on grease.
Using the bicarb and vinegar paste really helped cut through a lot of the muck. It fizzed up, eating through the grease. It was odourless once dried and did not effect the skin at all. After a quick scrub, a wipe off with an e-cloth cleared away most of the mess. As it is not toxic, I didn't feel paranoid about any residue remaining in the oven and was happy to cook again straight away.
The end result as you can see was pretty good. There are some slight burn marks still visible in the enamel, but there is nothing nasty lurking at all. It was much simpler using the cloth and some bicarbonate of soda paste rather than a shop bought chemical oven cleaner. The peace of mind knowing that it was 100% harmless was a real bonus...I hate those smelly, expensive, noxious, toxic, psoriasis inducing oven cleaners!
The oven e-cloth rinsed clean with some hot water and once dried was ready to put away, ready for the next oven cleaning day.
The polishing e-cloth was really effective in buffing up the stainless steel and glass door.
I also used the oven clothes with plain water on my microwave which was a much easier job than cleaning my oven. The heavy duty cloth lifted off the food spatterings really effectively and the polishing cloth made the exterior shine.
For more information on the products check out www.e-cloth.com.
