Lemons in the oven – and five other cleaning tricks for the home

Lemons in the oven – and five other cleaning tricks

Lemons are not only a healthy and tasty ingredient in food and drink – they are also little yellow miracles when it comes to household fixes! Always having a few lemons at home can make life both easier and fresher.

Lemons can do wonders in your kitchen, even when it comes to cleaning. They contain natural acids that are antibacterial and can dissolve grease and dried dirt. At the same time, they leave a fresh scent, which can quickly remove unpleasant odors arising from food residues or the like.

By using lemons, you also avoid strong chemicals that can be both dangerous to work with and harmful to the environment.

Here are some smart reasons why the lemon deserves a permanent place in your fruit bowl:

Clean the oven with lemons

Cleaning the oven is often a task that is put off until the last minute. You often have to scrub away old, burned-on food residues and it’s quite a sweaty activity.

But if you put a little work into it and use a lemon, you can get a great result without shedding too many drops of sweat.

This is how you do it:

  • Heat the oven to 150 degrees.
  • Cut three lemons in half and squeeze out the juice.
  • Pour some water into an ovenproof dish, add the lemon juice and then place the squeezed lemon halves in the dish.
  • Put the mold in the oven for about an hour. The vapors from the lemons help to loosen grease, dirt and stuck-on food residues.
  • After an hour, open the oven door ajar and let the oven cool for about 10 minutes.
  • Then take out the mold and run a cloth over the inside of the oven. You will immediately see how easily the dirt comes off.
  • You can also clean the microwave in much the same way: Place half a lemon in a bowl of water, run on full power for about 2-4 minutes and then you can easily clean with a wet cloth.

    Use lemons to clean. Photo: Envato Eliminate bad odors in the refrigerator

    Are you greeted by a bad smell when you open the refrigerator? It could be anything from last night’s sausage stroganoff to half an onion you didn’t use for the salad, contributing to the stink of the entire fridge. But there is a simple trick to counteract this.

    Put half a lemon in the fridge and all your problems are solved! Legend has it that the lemon removes the bad smell.

    Clean the cutting board with lemon

    Are you also tired of all your cutting boards having discoloration after several rounds of various fruits and vegetables. Here, too, the lemon comes to your rescue.

    Do this:

  • Cover the cutting board with salt and drizzle with lemon.
  • Rub in thoroughly and leave the mixture on for a few minutes.
  • Wipe off with a damp cloth and you’ve got a sparkling clean cutting board!
  • Remove limescale

    Limescale isn’t so fun, but it’s easy as pie to remove – luckily. Rub lemon on the limescale deposits, leave it on for about 15 minutes and then simply wipe off with a cloth.

    Read more: When was the last time you descaled your kettle? So you do

    Photo: JESSICA GOW / TT Polish brass with lemon

    As good as lemon is at removing limescale, it’s also a savior for anyone who has a lot of brass fittings at home. Rub the brass with salt and lemon juice and after an hour wipe with a damp cloth and the brass will shine.

    Remove blueberry stains

    Fruit stains are one of the hardest things to remove in the laundry – especially if you want to avoid strong chemicals. If you or someone in the family got blueberries on your clothes, or on some furniture, lemon can help remove the stain.

    Drop lemon juice on the stains and wash as usual in the washing machine, then the stains should disappear in a flash.

    Lemons have several uses in the home! Photo: Envato

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