Keeping your kitchen clean is more than just a case of keeping up appearances. A clean kitchen is far less likely to harbour harmful germs. But our kitchens are used for all kinds of different activities, and keeping them clean can feel like a never-ending chore.
Fortunately, we’ve got some kitchen cleaning hacks to make an unpleasant job much easier.
Washing Up Liquid is Your Friend
In the kitchen, few products can rival simple dish detergent for both economy and cleaning power. It can cut through hard, baked-on grease with ease when paired with hot water.
For example, you can use washing up liquid to get gunk off your hob; just pour hot water on and use a microfibre cloth to apply washing up liquid. Leave for around 20 minutes to soak, and you should find that the detergent lifts the grime away without the need to scrub.
Baking Soda Boosts Cleaning Power
Baking soda is a handy additive that makes cleaning cheap and simple. Try it when you next clean your oven trays. Just work a generous amount in with some water until you get a gloopy paste, then smear it onto your oven trays and leave it for an hour.
You can use the same simple mixture on your oven glass and metal racks. For the glass, just open the door and smear it on, then leave it to dissolve the brown marks for half an hour. You may be left with a soft sludge; if so, a ‘magic eraser’ sponge will wipe off the remaining marks.
Once you start using baking soda to clean, you’ll find dozens of uses for it. We recommend buying bulk bags of baking soda online, rather than using the small catering packs -- they can be expensive.
Lemon Juice - a Natural Cleaner
Lemon juice is a great cleaner that adds zingy freshness to stale areas of the kitchen. You can use lemon juice to soften and remove cooked-on microwave stains; just add fresh lemons to a bowl of water and microwave until just before the water boils over.
Lemon is also great for cleaning surfaces that you don’t want to saturate with soap. If you use wooden chopping boards, a slice of lemon will freshen them nicely. Add baking soda if you need to remove tough marks.
Do Away With Packaging for Hygienic Storage
Storing food can be tricky in cramped kitchens, or small freezers. But if you remove packaging, you could fit in much more while making it easier to organise and clean. For example, meat, fish, or frozen foods can be organised much more neatly when wrapped in labelled bags rather than the oversized boxes they are delivered in. Just be sure to mark each one with the use by date.
The same trick works well with breakfast cereals that tend to take up a lot more space than they really should. For items that require a seal, an inexpensive vacuum sealer machine will allow you to shrink your food down to the minimum size for clean, hygienic storage.
Invest in Stacking Boxes for a Cleaner Fridge
When did you last clean your fridge? Removing shelves and washing trays is a chore none of us enjoy. So consider investing in stacking fridge boxes instead. Keeping food contained is the best way to prevent contamination and spillages. As a bonus, it also ensures that everything in the fridge is easy to find when you need it.
*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.