How to clean the inside of a microwave at home in 5 minutes?

A microwave is an integral piece of household appliances in almost any modern family. However, while it saves us time on cooking and heating, it more than takes it away when it’s time to wash it (after all, food particles inevitably remain on the walls, baking and drying out over time). But this is if you don’t know how to clean a microwave quickly and easily at home. And such methods exist.

General recommendations

Cleaning a microwave can be unsafe and even lead to damage to the device if you do not follow basic rules. They are really very simple, but they help avoid many problems.

Before you start cleaning the microwave oven, you must turn off the power: unplug it from the socket. Next, the fork needs to be protected from accidental contact with water: wrapped in polyethylene.
To remove old stains, you should not use metal sponges (let alone try to scrape them off with a knife), hard brushes, or cleaning products containing coarse abrasives. Otherwise, the oven coating may be damaged.
Many elements of microwave ovens are sensitive to moisture. This may cause the home assistant to break down. Therefore, it is necessary to handle water very carefully during cleaning.
To clean the device from frozen fat inside, it is strictly not recommended to use products containing chlorine, hydrochloric acid and other aggressive components.
You only need to clean the outer coating at home, without disassembling the stove, even if there is no doubt about the presence of dirt inside the housing. Such work should be carried out by a professional.
It's better to take a minute and wipe down the oven immediately after food touches it, without waiting for dirt to accumulate and dry out. After all, they can not only become a breeding ground for microorganisms and a source of unpleasant odors, but also end up in heated dishes.

Purchase a special protective plastic dome to cover your food while reheating. This will prevent food particles from splashing inside the microwave.

To clean microwave ovens you can use the following products:

lemon juice;
citric acid;
vinegar;
vinegar essence;
soda;
filtered water.

Note: clean with water - the softest and most gentle. It is suitable for ovens for which products with acids or soda are too aggressive.

Lemon against dirt

If a problem does arise, simple remedies available in the arsenal of almost any housewife will help you quickly and effectively deal with it. One way is to clean the microwave with lemon or citric acid. These substances help to defeat not only dirt, but also the unpleasant odor that may remain after some dishes.

You will need about 30 g of acid - the powder is diluted in 450 ml of boiling water. After the solution has cooled, place it in a container designed for microwave ovens, and turn on the device at maximum power for 5–15 minutes, depending on the scale of the “disaster.”

The oven should remain closed for the next 5 minutes so that the resulting vapors work with the dirt, softening it. You can then wash it with a sponge lightly dampened with a mild detergent and wipe with a dry kitchen cloth. Sometimes one wipe is enough. If stains remain, you can repeat the procedure or wipe the stains with a napkin moistened with the same lemon juice.

Natural lemon juice is diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio. At the same time, the peel remaining after squeezing the juice is placed in the water, and the oven is turned on not for 15, but for 20-25 minutes, since the acid concentration in the juice is slightly lower than in the granulate.

By the way, with the help of lemon you can rid the microwave oven of greasy contaminants not only from the inside, but also from the outside. To do this, wipe the outer surface of the door with a slice of lemon, and then with a sponge soaked in detergent.

Vinegar as an alternative

If you don’t have lemon on hand, regular table vinegar (9%) will help you wash your microwave in just 5 minutes. This method is as effective as the previous one, and in advanced cases it may even be more effective. The meaning of the procedure is the same: when heated, the vinegar begins to evaporate, and the acid contained in these vapors penetrates deep into the dirt, softening it.

The only drawback of this method is that vinegar has a rather pungent odor that remains in the microwave after processing. To get rid of it, you can put several lemon slices or activated carbon tablets inside the device for a while. Or simply leave the oven open until the sour fumes have completely evaporated.

To quickly wash the microwave oven in this way, you need to dilute 45 ml of vinegar in 450 ml of water.If you plan to use vinegar essence, then you will need no more than 10 ml for this volume of water.

The solution is poured into a special container, the maximum power is set and the time is set from 5 to 10 minutes (proportional to the volume of contaminants). Let it sit for a couple of minutes and wipe all surfaces - walls, grill, plate, door - with a kitchen sponge. You can repeat the action if not all contaminants have been washed off.

If necessary, pre-wipe all surfaces with a sponge or cloth with detergent.

Vinegar can also easily dissolve dirt on the outer surface of the microwave door.

How to use baking soda to clean a microwave oven?

There are two ways to clean a microwave using soda: a soda solution or a soda paste. Or you can use both methods alternately, “finishing off” with wet soda what did not come off after the solution.

To prepare the solution, dilute about 3 tablespoons of soda in a liter of water, place in the microwave at maximum power and boil for 10 to 20 minutes. Then wipe all surfaces with a damp cloth or kitchen napkin. If the dirt remains, you can repeat the procedure by adding 3 tablespoons of table vinegar to a bowl of soda solution.

You can try washing the microwave oven with soda slurry made from soda and water in a 2:1 ratio. This paste is applied to contaminated areas and left for several minutes, after which it is thoroughly wiped with a cloth or napkin.

Dried stains from food debris and grease can be easily removed using a soap and soda mixture. For 50 ml of water, take about 2 tablespoons of soda, add about the same amount of crushed and well-soaked laundry soap in water.The mixture must be thoroughly mixed until it becomes homogeneous. After this, it is applied to a sponge and the dirt is washed off in the microwave.

The delicate way

Microwave ovens have various internal coatings: bioceramics, stainless steel, heat-resistant enamel. The latter is very sensitive to external influences. This coating should not be rubbed with abrasives or treated with acids, as they can damage it. Therefore, it is not advisable to use lemon, soda and vinegar to clean them.

For such delicate models (as well as for light stains on other types of coating), there is a method that is as easy as possible: you can wash an enameled microwave using regular filtered water.

Since this method uses only water vapor as dirt solvents, the exposure must be long: at least 25 minutes. Then you need to wait another 10 minutes to allow the dirt to steam properly. After this, you can use a mild detergent that does not contain abrasives and wipe with a dry, clean cloth.

True, this method has one caveat: it is advisable to carry out cleaning as often as possible - at least 2 times a month, so that the dirt does not go into an “uncontrollable” phase: it does not dry out and become caked. Otherwise, you will have to steam them several times, and this is an unreasonable waste of electricity.

Of course, there are special industrial products for cleaning microwave ovens. But, firstly, they are quite expensive, and secondly, they are still chemicals. If its particles are not washed off completely (and this is not always possible to determine visually), its vapors will get into the food during further use of the oven.In addition, we cannot discount people prone to allergic reactions, for whom working with such substances may simply be contraindicated. This is why folk methods are so popular.

But, of course, the best way is not to pollute. By using protective caps and wiping the surface of the microwave after each cooking, the problem of removing stubborn dirt can be completely avoided.