Cooking Tips and Articles

Cleaning Grease Stains and Splatters

If you are going to cook, it's bound to happen: you are going to have splatters and spills to clean up. Usually, if you don't let them sit too long, the mess can be cleaned up quickly and easily. But there's always those tough to clean grease spots that put you to the challenge. These don't have to ruin your day. There are effective methods of cleaning grease and the surface you are working with will determine the approach you take.

Bacon and burgers always manage to splatter grease out of the pan. I don't know how many shirts I've ruined when cooking. Most of the time, any of the stain removers found at your grocer will do a good job of cleaning grease off clothing. You could also try pouring liquid laundry detergent directly on the spot shortly before you throw it in the washer. Just make sure that the stain has been removed before you toss the item in the dryer. The heat will seal the stain in permanently if not.

Cleaning splattered grease off cabinets is a different story. Eventually the grease will harden and if you have wood cabinets you need to be cautious about using anything abrasive so you don’t damage the wood's surface. Lemon oil is a miracle worker for cleaning grease and it doesn't remove the finish from the wood.

The stove isn't the only place responsible for making a grease mess. Your oven has a bad habit of leaving a layer of grease on its walls. Most of us don't take the time to wipe it out when we are cleaning the rest of the kitchen, and it can really get a nasty build up. Fortunately, a can of oven cleaner works well for cleaning grease in an oven. With most of them it's just a matter of spraying it on, waiting a little while then wiping it clean. They do a good job.

If you like to eat in front of the TV like me and my kids, sooner or later there's going to be greasy food spilled on the carpet. This can result in a really ugly stain, and the lighter the carpet's color is, the uglier the stain is. There are several ways to go about cleaning grease from carpet. Probably the neatest one is to use an iron and a brown paper bag. Tear the bag open and place it on top of the grease stain. Use the hot iron as if you were ironing the bag. This will liquefy the stain and it will get absorbed into the paper. It might require some touch up with a good spot cleaner.

Now that you know how to go about cleaning grease, the next thing you need to figure out is why you are eating so much grease anyway. Just some food for thought.

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Written by Stephen Ayer. Get more
health tips at HealthTipsRoundup.com
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