by Eve Redstone

Created on: November 09, 2008

Cleaning my microwave used to be a problem. I used the standard cleansers and detergents and scrubbed away at baked on crud, grime and gunk. This usually involved becoming a contortionist to reach inside, and a lot of swearing as I tried to remove baked on microwave crud from corners and hinges with a knife and a bad attitude.

Cleaning the microwave made me uncomfortable physically, but also mentally. I reasoned that if I didn't wipe all the chemical residue out of the interior it would contaminate the next food cooked in there. Microwaves cook by creating steam, and I reasoned that any chemicals left in the microwave would be atomised and added to food that was cooked in there at a later date.

Personally, of course, I always cover the food in the microwave to cook it, but that doesn't remove all the mess that boil overs can produce. It is obvious when I open the microwave to be greeted by the smell of garlic bread and fish that my family do not always cover the food and my husband often heats left over curry in there, which leaves an aroma all of its own.

I did some research and came up with two very simple ways to solve my physical and mental stress over the microwave cleaning routine.

1. Take a glass jug or bowl and half fill it with water. Add the juice of half to one lemon. Heat the water in the microwave for a minute on full power. open the microwave and wipe. If any microwave crud remains repeat a minute at a time until it all wipes off easily. This method leaves the microwave smelling clean and fresh most of the time.

2. The same method but using bicarbonate of soda crystals in place of the lemon juice in the water.

Both these methods are environmentally friendly and inexpensive, particularly if you have a lemon tree in the back yard. If there are stubborn burnt on bits use a cut lemon and sugar or salt to rub over the residue. The granules of the sugar or salt act as a scourer. Very tough lumps should be left wet to soak for five or ten minutes before scrubbing off. Obviously you don't immerse the microwave, but you can make the crud wet by dropping water on it from your cloth and then leave it.

If you still have any aromatic residue after this routine then leave a small amount of bicarbonate of soda crystals in the microwave overnight. The bicarbonate of soda absorbs lingering smells very efficiently.

Done on a regular basis these methods keep your microwave clean and fresh smelling very effectively.

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