When it comes to cleaning kitchen appliances, it is always best to start by looking at homemade ingredients. Think about it. Your toaster oven tray is where all the food goes. You can use chemicals but if there are good cleaning agents that are affordable, not toxic and effective, why would you not go for that? If you are not sure where to start, we’ve got some ideas. Let’s get cracking.
Baking Soda
This is one of the most effective items when it comes to cleaning kitchen appliances. That’s also because it does a very good job with some seriously deep and tough to clean stains. Baking soda does such a good job because it is the master of breaking up particles of dirt that are so often stuck to the tray.
But you don’t need to go all nuclear with this approach. You need to tone it down by adding a little water to the baking soda and make a paste of sorts which should be applied on the tray. Here’s how you do that.
- Step 1: Mix two parts of baking soda for one part of water.
- Step 2: Stir the concoction in a bowl till you see an evenly consistent paste.
- Step 3: Apply the paste to the surface with a clean brush.
- Step 4: Leave it overnight.
- Step 5: Wipe it down in the morning.
Salt
Sometimes, you don’t even need to go as far as baking soda. Every household has salt which also does a great job cleaning the tray. All you need to do is this.
- Step 1: Sprinkle a little salt on any spills and splatters before they get dry and stubborn. This is kind of like soaking a pasta bowl in time.
- Step 2: Let the oven tray cool off.
- Step 3: Wipe and rinse it like any other dish.
As a bonus, you also get rid of the smell of food when you treat the tray with salt.
Vinegar + Sugar
Now, vinegar is also a popular choice when it comes to homemade cleaning jobs. This is because it is acidic and kills bacteria while getting rid of dirt efficiently. Mix it with sugar and you really got something to work with. Here’s how you use it to clean a toaster oven tray.
- Step 1: Take white vinegar (1 cup) and mix it with sugar (2 tablespoons).
- Step 2: Apply the mixture to the tray before it cools down.
- Step 3: Leave it for an hour.
- Step 4: Rinse it while gently scrubbing the tray.
Wrapping Up
Cleaning your toaster oven tray can be quite the task if you don’t use the right tools. But more than that, it is important to remember that you must clean it enough after you finish using it each time. By enough we mean that it should not have any food particles near the heating element because that’s how fires start.
Depending on what cleaning agent you are using, you must wait till the oven cools off. You can do this just by looking at the device because some of them have LED lights that tell you when it is cool. And if you don’t, deep cleaning – a weekly activity – becomes a necessity more often than that.
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