We have been looking through our e-mails again this week. One regular reader wrote to us after reading about sunburn remedies last week to tell us that their best remedy for easing sunburn was to use lavender oil. Simply add a few drops to some tap water and apply directly onto the burn. This is apparently very soothing. One drop of the oil put onto a mosquito bite also stops the itching instantly she goes on to tell me. There are a couple of good tips for you.
We have had a few people asking us what are the best methods for cleaning ovens and fridges, so we thought we would look into some effective ideas for getting the grime off ovens and the smells out of fridges this week.
FRIDGES
If a fridge is left switched off for any length of time they can get very smelly indeed. I remember I opened one that was full of food and had been turned off for at least three months. That was twenty years ago and I can still smell it! So first thing is to empty all the contents out. The fridge should then be left with the doors open so the air can circulate. One of the problems with buying a fridge second hand is that the doors will usually have been closed for a long period.
GETTING RID OF THE SMELLS
If your fridge has a bad odour then clean the inside with 2-3 heaped teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda mixed with a pint of water (500ml). Wash all the surfaces thoroughly and wipe dry. This should get the inside smelling as fresh as a summers day. Another idea for if you are leaving the fridge unopened for a few days is to put a lump of charcoal inside the fridge. This will absorb the stale smells that form when there isn’t fresh air circulating. The good thing about this idea is that you can throw the charcoal on the barbeque when you have finished with it.
TIPS
Rub glycerine on the sides of the freezer the next time you defrost it and you will find the ice drops off really easily and speeds up the defrosting process.
We have had a few people asking us what are the best methods for cleaning ovens and fridges, so we thought we would look into some effective ideas for getting the grime off ovens and the smells out of fridges this week.
FRIDGES
If a fridge is left switched off for any length of time they can get very smelly indeed. I remember I opened one that was full of food and had been turned off for at least three months. That was twenty years ago and I can still smell it! So first thing is to empty all the contents out. The fridge should then be left with the doors open so the air can circulate. One of the problems with buying a fridge second hand is that the doors will usually have been closed for a long period.
GETTING RID OF THE SMELLS
If your fridge has a bad odour then clean the inside with 2-3 heaped teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda mixed with a pint of water (500ml). Wash all the surfaces thoroughly and wipe dry. This should get the inside smelling as fresh as a summers day. Another idea for if you are leaving the fridge unopened for a few days is to put a lump of charcoal inside the fridge. This will absorb the stale smells that form when there isn’t fresh air circulating. The good thing about this idea is that you can throw the charcoal on the barbeque when you have finished with it.
TIPS
Rub glycerine on the sides of the freezer the next time you defrost it and you will find the ice drops off really easily and speeds up the defrosting process.
If you should ever need distilled water, simply collect the ice in the freezer, strain it and there you have it, perfect distilled water.
COOKERS
I can’t remember the last time I cleaned the inside of our cooker. I think it might be a self-cleaning one, but I have my doubts. A cocktail sausage and an old potato have been on the bottom of the cooker now for a few months and they haven’t been cleaned away!
If you buy a new cooker try rinsing the inside with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, the dirt comes off more easily. Re-apply every time you clean the inside of the oven.
CAUSTIC SODA
You can get specialised products to clean the cooker. These tend to be very expensive. If the oven is really filthy then try using caustic soda. I personally don’t like this product as it is a very powerful cleaning agent, but it does the job very effectively. The cost of it is a fraction of the price of the oven cleaning products.
Mix one tablespoon of the soda to a pint (500ml) of water. Swab the inside of the cooker and leave overnight. The muck and grime should just wipe off. Follow the instructions on the packet, don’t splash on the skin and wear thick rubber gloves.
A SOFTER OPTION
If caustic soda sounds too risky you could resort to the old favourite of mixing baking soda with vinegar. Leave overnight and the grime should come off. You may have to do it a few times to get it really clean.
The shelves are starting to fill up in the supermarkets with the products that say they are cleaning with the power of oxygen. That’s what you get when you mix baking powder and vinegar, again at a fraction of the cost.
A reader recommends soaking grimy oven shelving in washing crystals mixed with any household soap, for example washing powder for an hour. The grime comes off much more easily.
Household.
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