How to clean a REALLY dirty oven
This is the industrial-strength rendition of my Hassle-free oven cleaning post. Trust me: the inside of your oven door could look like it was painted with Cuprinol, several times over, and this would still make it look like new.
For this heavy-duty version, you will need:
- Liberal quantities of bicarbonate of soda.
- Water.
- A bowl.
- A cloth.
- A wallpaper scraper.
Yes, that is all! I don’t use the supermarket bicarbonate of soda, which comes in small pots in the home baking section; instead, I buy bicarb in bulk from Summer Naturals, because I put the stuff to various uses.
This is what you need to do:
- Mix the bicarb and water into a thin paste.
- Smear the paste across the oven door/walls, using the cloth to ensure an even distribution.
- Leave for at least 30 minutes. Those tacky brown stains will begin to soften and melt.
- Remove stains, using the wallpaper scraper. Afterwards you can rinse the scraper under the tap – the bicarbonated brown/black gloop will simply fall off – and return it to its rightful place in the garden shed.
Your oven will be clean and sparkling within minutes! Also, you can avoid the breathing difficulties and expenses associated with the powerful chemicals that purport to do the same job. I always used to feel a little uncomfortable about cooking food in an oven that I had daubed with stinking chemical nasties. But the bicarb doesn’t pong, and rinses off easily.
Update: This post was featured in the 187th Festival of Frugality.
Image credit: kennymatic.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Thank you so much for this post!! I’ve been getting into cleaning with bicarb and I’m using up my baking supplies pretty quickly. Always wondered where you could buy it in bulk as I’ve never seen it in the supermarket. Definitely getting some now!
July 16th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
thank you for this – my usual supplier of large quantities of bicarb just stopped selling it!
when you say wallpaper scraper – made of what? the only one i have is made of metal and i think it would damage the oven
July 18th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Thanks for the comments, ladies!
Mhairi: Yep, a metal one. I guess it depends on what kind of oven you have. Mine was fine though.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
[...] Thrifty presents How to clean a REALLY dirty oven posted at Miss Thrifty. I may try this one myself because we just ran the oven self-cleaner and [...]
August 5th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Hi, If you need large boxes of Bi-Carb, try Boots. However you could try Quint from Ovenaid he’s excellent value and always leaves your cooker with the ‘wow Factor’! Once he has cleaned it its like new, then its easy to keep on top of.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:01 am
Miss thirfty, what quantites should i use the first try wasn’t very successful, at least i didn’t think bits on the roof were still there – THANKS
February 5th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Don’t worry Eimear – this WILL work. Perhaps your paste was too thin? You don’t need much water. Aim for cream consistency, as opposed to milk consistency. Let us know if it works the second time around!