Try new recipes, invite friends to dinner and cook together. That's all well and good, but when you look around the kitchen afterwards, it usually feels like you've been knocked out by the pan, the food is coated within minutes, but who's going to take care of the kitchen legacy? Finally, dirty dishes pile up in the sink like the leaning tower of Pisa, ingredients and cutlery are scattered wildly. Take a deep breath, help is on its way in collaboration with the cooking box supplier HelloFresh. Here's how to master the chaos of the kitchen in 7 steps.
Please wear an apron
Your own hygiene is essential for both cooking and cleaning. Therefore, before you start working, remember to wash your hands. During cooking, there is contact with different foods and germs. Wash your hands in between, especially if you are working with poultry, fish or raw, unpackaged food, otherwise bacteria already on your hands will be transferred to the food. However, the most important thing to protect yourself and your clothing, both for cooking and cleaning, is an apron. In order to continue to prepare the delicacies in the cleanest and most hygienic way possible, they should also be washed regularly. Wearing an apron also saves you the constant washing of your clothes, which are soiled with red wine, oil and grease stains. So become an apron wearer and start having fun cooking and cleaning.
All good things come in threes, these foods make you clean.
Filling your cleaning cabinet with innovative and expensive cleaning products to get the best cleaning results is a misconception. The most effective cleaning utensils are already available in your kitchen.
The lemon
Sure, when cleaning, lemons are particularly suitable for descaling kettles and coffee machines. The microwave is also made more lively by acid shock: put a glass of water and lemon juice in the microwave for five minutes at maximum power. The lemon water will evaporate and soak into the earth, then simply wipe it off with a damp cloth.
The coffee
A coffee in the morning dissipates sadness and smells. Pour some coffee grounds into a bowl and place it in the refrigerator or on the counter. In no time at all, all the smells are gone. This trick also helps to combat unpleasant hand odours, especially after cutting onions or garlic. Simply rub your hands with coffee grounds and wash them thoroughly.
Vinegar and salt
With a little salt and vinegar, you can clean your cutting board perfectly. Simply rub the wooden board with these two foods. Then rinse it with hot water, let it dry and rub it with a little olive oil to take care of it. Not only is lemon a miracle cure for lime, but vinegar can also follow it. The next time you're bothered by limescale stains adhering to pots and pans, put a little vinegar on your dish brush and rinse utensils with water as usual.
The battlefield in the kitchen : the hotplate
The water boils, the broth spills over and the sauce runs over the pan, it is rare that a cooking marathon takes place without the hot plate getting dirty. Stains on the stovetop can be easily removed with a dishwasher tab: simply dissolve them in hot water and apply them to the soiled area. Then it's time to stop cleaning, as the paste must soak in for a few hours. Then you can wipe off the dirt very easily. Take aluminum foil, form a ball and put a glass ceramic cleaner in it. Now carefully run it over the hotplate in a circular motion. Never rub, then you can wipe everything off with a damp cloth.
Keep a cool head
Keeping the refrigerator tidy is easier said than done. Stove problem number one: your refrigerator. The motto here is "clean". Clean everything up and throw out expired food. Then wipe all surfaces with a cloth soaked in vinegar cleaner before filling the fridge with fresh new food. The best way to do this is to use a sophisticated organizing system, this way you can find food faster and prevent it from decomposing.
Look in the clean tube : cleaning the oven
You don't necessarily need to reach the pan to prepare meat and fish, you can also make delicious dishes appear in the oven. To prevent the ingredients from drying out, you can put a pot of water in the oven. This makes meals particularly juicy and the oven is easier to clean because of the added moisture. Cleaning your oven is just as easy: mix a few tablespoons of baking powder with a little water and spread the dough on the dirty parts of your oven. Once it has soaked overnight, you can easily remove it and the dirt with a damp cloth. The mixed dough also allows you to see the oven glass clearly. A soaking time of 30 minutes is already sufficient and it is now time to put the furnace back in dry cloths: let it dry at 15 degrees and recover from the wet treatment.
Clean over the edge of your plate and clean the work surface.
The work surface is particularly affected by dirt during cooking. Thoroughly clean the surface once a week and clean it properly with detergent and water, a worn toothbrush is perfect for cleaning hard-to-reach areas. Keep an overview of all the ingredients you need, place them carefully on your work surface and provide a bowl for kitchen waste. This will prevent you from travelling unnecessary miles to the trash can. When cleaning the worktop, make sure that the tray material is as soft as possible. Plastic lids are particularly easy to clean: with a little warm water, washing-up liquid or window cleaner, you can make them shine and spread them very quickly and easily. Avoid scouring milk and scouring sponges, as scouring particles only cause unnecessary damage to the worktop. Particularly problematic with stainless steel worktops: limescale. A little vinegar water and the problem is solved in one wipe. Getting rid of grease, the extractor hood not only attracts odours, but also dirt and grease deposits. For this reason, regularly clean the metal filters in the dishwasher, leave the machine running on vacuum to prevent food residue from accumulating on the metal filters. If necessary, clean by hand, place the filters in the sink, filled with a solution of water and two drops of dishwashing detergent. Soak and scrub with a brush. Don't forget the outer and inner casing of the extractor hood: wipe it with a damp cloth and a little dishwashing liquid and the hood will shine again.