What Is Lurking In Your Dirty Oven?

Posted on 05/05/2023

The Importance of Oven Cleaning

Cooking is generally associated with good things: tasting delicious meals, spending time doing your favourite hobby, learning a new trick that will help you prepare food faster. However, for those who have had to deal with oven cleaning, cooking is associated with dirty ovens and a bothersome chore of removing the grime and grease.
It is important to understand that not cleaning your oven holds certain risks:

-    A few of them are health-related - yes, built-on grease and food particles can actually lead to airborne particles and mould spores infiltrating the air you are breathing inside your home. That is a big problem for people with bad lungs. It is this risk alone that leads to such strict control from health inspectors.

-    There is risk of fire - grease and food particles burnt on the side and grilles of the oven may in fact lead to fire. If this sounds too farfetched to you, ask a fire fighter and you will know that the danger is real.

-    The oven becomes less efficient - too much burnt on food may lead to uneven roasting. That in turn means difficulty cooking and failed dishes. It is not uncommon for ovens left too long without cleaning service to become nearly unusable when too much stains are present on the oven parts responsible for cooking.

-    It will smell bad - not just the oven itself, but the entire kitchen and soon enough other parts of the home will be filled with unpleasant odour, which can be quite bad. It can endanger your other home cleaning efforts, in that you won’t feel the place is fresh like usual, unless you treat the problem at its source.

If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is that oven cleaning should not be neglected. Speaking of this chore, part of the reason why you probably hate it so much is because you have not found an efficient solution. Here are few important tips to help you in that regard:

-    Don’t ignore this chore - if there is one thing that guarantees an easier time cleaning the oven, it is addressing the issue more often. You should overcome the fear of the task and include it in your routine to ensure that it doesn’t grow into a problem.

-    Don’t use strong cleaners - the main issue with picking such a solution is that it contains strong chemicals. Skin irritation is the least of your worries, when any of that stuff ends up on your body. You also need to consider the nasty chemicals released into the air. Do know that cleaning the oven is by default done in a confined space with limited ventilation.

-    You can hire professional cleaners - probably one of the best solutions to dirty ovens is to leave the pros to handle the issue. They will come equipped with all of the necessary tools and experience needed to guarantee quick and efficient work. However, you will have to pay money for this, which might not be a problem, given that otherwise it will be you doing the cleaning.

-    Resort to eco-friendly solutions - there is a simple enough trick you can use to clean your oven. It involves baking soda, which has been proven an effective tool in oven cleaning. Mix it with water till you get a nice paste-like consistency. Now comes the icky part - spread it all over the oven interior and let it sit overnight. The baking soda should do its magic and loose the accumulated grease and food, making it very easy to wipe clean.

Oven cleaning sure is a drag, but it is a necessary chore you should include in your routine. Understand that it is an important task and the only way to avoid the risks is with some elbow grease. At least then you will be able to resume your cooking efforts!