Cleaning the kitchen using natural cleaning products may feel a bit like walking a tightrope. On the one hand, as you are preparing food, it is extremely important that surfaces, etc. are kept scrupulously clean. On the other hand, you want to minimise the amount of toxins you use – after all, you don’t want to eat toxins, after all.
Actually, it’s not that hard. Many of the products you use in your cooking already are also good at keeping things clean and killing germs. And you don’t need to worry about toxins, as you are going to eat the “cleaners” anyway – well, the majority of them. The only one you won’t eat is good old soap.
* Spills, etc. on the top of the oven clean up very easily if you get onto them as soon as possible. A fresh spill will wipe away with no need for anything fancier than a dishcloth. The longer you leave a spill or stain, the harder it will be to get off, as it becomes baked on. Of course, use common sense. If a saucepan boils over onto a hot stove, don’t go poking around with a cotton cloth unless you want to start a fire and/or get burned. Wait until the oven is cool enough to touch and use a bit of water on the cloth.
* Keep a little dish of baking soda in the refrigerator to absorb smells. Replace fortnightly with fresh baking soda (hint: use the old baking soda to clean the refrigerator instead of just throwing it away).
* Boiling water is the easiest and most effective way to sterilize anything that needs it, such as items that have been used for cutting raw meat (especially chopping or cutting boards) and baby bottles. Baby bottles should be boiled for 10 minutes to make sure of all germs, but just pouring the boiling water over a chopping board or knife will be enough. Some doctors recommend that if a stomach bug is going around the family, pouring boiling water over the cutlery and leaving it to soak for a few minutes before doing the dishes is a good way to stop the bug from spreading.
* Baking soda mixed with water cuts through grease just as efficiently as any commercial chemical cleaner. In fact, some commercial cleaning products proudly state that they contain “added baking soda”. Save pennies and reduce the amount of toxins by just using baking soda. Baking soda is suitable for most surfaces. It will even clean the inside of the oven.
* If your microwave oven smells a bit stale, put a small bowl of water with half a lemon or a splash of vinegar (or a bowl of straight vinegar) inside it and microwave it on high for a few minutes until it boils. This will banish the smell of last night’s curry and will make burnt-on ick easier to get off.
* Baking soda and water left to sit inside teacups and teapots get rid of those ugly brown tea and coffee stains. Add a bit of vinegar for extra oomph to get rid of really tough stains.
Alternatively, buy coloured mugs and cups in dark colours that don’t show the stains. After all, the stain won’t hurt you, and you could save yourself a bit of time. Black chinaware looks particularly stunning.
* Save crushed eggshells to clean out those awkward glass decanters. Mix with warm water and a bit of baking soda and swirl around and around. Leave overnight, swirl again then tip the eggshells out (hint: pour them over the garden rather than down the sink – they keep slugs and snails at bay). Rinse out any residue by swirling vinegar in the decanter.
* Water is the universal solvent. Instead of scrubbing endlessly at stuck-on residues of mashed potato, porridge or white sauce, fill the saucepan with water and leave it to soak overnight. Most of the old gunk will have almost floated off the bottom and sides of the pan.
* Strong-smelling herbs stored in dry goods help to repel silverfish ants, etc. Bay leaves are best, as some of the smell will enter the products in question, and a bit of bay flavour won’t hurt your rice, flour or beans, whereas lavender or peppermint may be a bit of an odd flavour in, say, a stew… unless you want to experiment.