How to clean oven without chemicals?

[mingfudge]

Is it possible to give the oven a really good spring clean without using anything toxic? I am pregnant and would rather do it myself today as having a bit of a spring clean in the kitchen. For Christmas I smeared it in foamed up washing up liquid and that took a lot of elbow grease and didn't leave the oven as clean as I would like.

Any suggestions gratefully received :-)

there is nothing without chemicals.

Dihydrogen Monoxide is the most commonly used cleaning chemical, but will not be very effective on an oven. NaHCO3 Sodium bicarbonate will help break down fat, especially if you apply it before you start, but it is not very strong.

Stonger alkalines will be more effective, but they are all chemicals.

If you don't want to use any chemicals at all, I suppose you could scrub it with a green nylon pan-scourer, but it will still be greasy.

IIRC the president of the Chemical Society offers a million-pound prize for anyone who can show him a material that contains no chemicals.

you could use neat washing-up liquid, I suppose, scrub it on undiluted and damp-sponge it off.

I use my steam cleaner .

Whatever path you go down, I'd definitely recommend getting some of Lakeland's magic oven liner for next time. It doesn't take all of the graft out of cleaning an oven as somehow, gunge gets underneath it , but it certainly means you need a lot less effort! And if you do it regularly, then just taking the sheet out of the oven base and washing it down in the sink with washing-up liquid works a treat in between major cleans.

I loathe oven cleaning and this stuff has saved my sanity on a number of occasions. Bit dear, but I guess you save the cost on noxious chemicals after a few months.

steam cleaner is a good idea

some people put a pan of boiling water into the oven to help soften the dirt.

Make ye-self a bread and butter pudding, cooked in a bain-maire. While the pudding is cooling to warm perfection, have a scrub at the oven - the steam loosens a lot of the burnt on grease, but it isn't perfect.

Most of the racks etc that can come out can go in the dishwasher.

Aldi of all places sell pots of this white abrasive stuff called scrubstone - I've just done my whole oven and it got rid of the crap fantastically.

Mine has a self clean setting, it is unbelievably good.

I do use the Oven pride bag for the shelves though but it's a sealed bag and let them stew either outside or in the utility room with the door shut.

If I did not have that, I think it would be the steaming pot option here for the main oven as I would not want the chemicals in the kitchen itself, fumes, dripping on my beautiful floor etc etc.....

I put a sheet of foil at the bottom of my oven to minimise the cleaning that is needed.

Recently, my oven door was really greasy and I covered it with a paste of sodium bicarbonate, and then poured some white vinegar on it. It removed most of the grease very easily. I think you could use the same approach on your oven. You could also use soda crystals as they are good at shifting grease.

Steam cleaner with the wire brush attachment.