There are certain chores that we all hate doing, and cleaning is often pretty high up the list; it can be even worse if you have recently refurbished a room however. If you never have completely gutted a room and started from scratch, imagine that you have decided to completely rip your kitchen out, return the room to just bare brick walls and start again. You spend ages agonising over design decisions, you select a reliable new kitchen builder and watch your dream kitchen come to life before your eyes. Then a week or so after it has been completed you realise that it’s not looking so clean and you’re going to have to really work to recapture that minty fresh gleen you’ve been enjoying. Kitchen cleaning doesn’t need to be full or backbreaking scrubbing and harsh chemicals, there are some quite amazing alternatives. These methods are pretty much guaranteed to remove dirt, grime and just about anything else from surfaces, pots, pans, sinks and whatever you decide to try them out on.
Cleaning burnt pans and dirty baking trays
Soap and water really won’t get you very far with this one, so once you have used them to get the worst of the grease and residue off of the pan or tray, then you should reach for the salt. Put a good pile of humble table salt in your pan or tray and add a little bit of water so that it is almost like a grainy paste and then use some paper towels to work it around the pan or tray. The salt is abrasive enough to grind the burnt on mess off of the pan or tray and will leave it looking almost new. If you have really stubborn stains that the salt is struggling to move, then you should step up your attack to baking soda and vinegar; one cup of each will annihilate pretty much any stain anywhere.
Deep cleaning wooden chopping boards
Wooden chopping boards are brilliant as they absorb the punishment from the knives with ease, however over time they will develop surface scratches and these scratches can quickly become home to tens of thousands of bacteria. Conventional cleaners struggle to get into the scratches due to them being so small that the fluids don’t have time to penetrate before we wipe them off. Instead try using salt and half a lemon; yes, seriously. Simply sprinkle the salt across the chopping board and the use the wet side of your lemon half to scour the surface of the board. Use small circular motions to thoroughly rub the salt into the board and squeeze the lemon gently to gradually release the juice inside. Not only will this rip through anything living on the chopping board, it will also leave you with a lemony fresh finish.
