Green Clean Your Oven

In my house, the worst cleaning job is the oven.  Not the top of the stove, it is inside the oven.  I am a baker and my oven gets messy.  The pies spill their juices over the bottom of the oven.  Grease splatters on the window that I have never once looked thru.  My oven is a mess.
 

I love a clean oven, I can use the self-cleaning option on my oven, and I have.  It is not a perfect system; it is for the bottom on the oven not for the sides or that door with the unused window.  Also when reading about the demise of an oven it usually starts with “after using the self cleaning option…”  The self-cleaning option heats the oven to a much higher temperature than my normal cooking.  You will remember, I am a frugal person using that energy for cleaning versus for cooking does not appeal to my cheap side.

 

So how do I clean my oven and stay green?  Let us start with what I do not do – I do not use commercial oven cleaners.  I despise oven cleaners.  I did not use them when I was pregnant nor did I use them with my children in the house.  Those cleaners are toxic! The smell from those cans makes me sick literally, since I have asthma.  I use a mixture of baking soda and water. 

 

My not so secret solution is a runny paste consisting of about a cup of baking soda to about a ¼ cup of water adding more water or baking soda to spread it on the oven surfaces.  If you look at the photo, you will see the consistency I use.  I wipe it onto the bottom, sides, door, and that useless window.   Wait approximately 30 minutes and wipe off.  I rub with a soft scrubby sponge. 

 

 

It is not perfect there is some grunge that remains.  Some grunge remained when I used the caustic oven cleaners too.  I can repeat if it is bothersome and I do sometimes.  I can also wait until next time when I clean the oven and I choose that option more times than repeating. 

 

I no longer dread cleaning my oven as I once did.  It is relatively easy and painless.  Happy messy baking my friends.