Because we are dreadfully lazy and slothful, it had been a very long while since our oven had been cleaned. The last time was when we had the cleaners around to give ThePalace(OfLove) a thorough going-over before we moved in.

And, by golly, it was time.

We were all set to call the oven fairies, but then I recalled our Austerity Measures and thought I’d had have a bash at toxin-free cleaning.

First I removed the racks and put them in the dishwasher on “heavy”. While that was happening, I made a paste of bicarb soda and attempted to make it stick to the insides (attempted being the operative word). This I left to rest overnight.

The racks came out of the dishwasher and were disappointingly still gunge-y. But all they needed was a wipe with a microfibre cloth and a bit of steel wool and they were sparkly as new! This was amazing to me – previously I’d scrubbed for hours and hours with steel wool to get something even remotely as sparkly.

Next day Bessie and I sat on the floor for a couple of hours with some vinegar and more bicarb soda and chattered away while we scrubbed the oven interior.

And the results …

Staggering! And no stinky toxins to mess with the biscuits and pie we cooked afterward.

The only downside. The bicarb and vinegar mixture managed to scrub off half of the temperature markings. Oops.