My microwave has been in a state of disgusting for like a month now, and I was finally a Grown Up and cleaned it today. Which made me realize, that I need to make sure I share my microwave cleaning hack, just in case there are any other Struggling Adults out there, or Lazy Adults, or Adults That Really Hate Cleaning (I am all of these things).
Seriously, this hack is amazing and makes cleaning out a microwave 10 times easier. First, you take a glass measuring cup. Something like this.
(Make sure your container/dish is MICROWAVE SAFE. Do not blow up your microwave. That will not be a good thing to do.) Fill it 2/3 with water, and 1/3 with vinegar (not like to the brim, but like to the 2 cup mark in the picture would be good). Stick it in your microwave, and cook it at full power for like 5-6 minutes. You’re going for a boil here, because boiling... makes steam...
AND STEAM WILL SOFTEN ALL THAT GROSS GUNK THAT’S STUCK TO THE WALLS, DOOR, AND BOTTOM OF YOUR DISGUSTING MICROWAVE!
Here’s the fun part, if you happen to forget about it after it goes off (cough, like I did, cough), you can either start it again, OR since you built up a good amount of steam in there, you don’t even have to worry about it even though it’s been like 2 hours...
Now that all that vomitious food detritus is soft and gooey (I’m sorry, that was too much), you get a few handfuls of paper towels... and just wipe it all out. That steam, that lovely nose-tingling vinegar-y steam that always smells like dyeing Easter eggs, has made it SO EASY to just wipe all that gunk out. Then you toss those wads of soggy paper towels... and you BASK in the cleanliness of your microwave. If you’ve got a removable plate that goes around on a track in your microwave, like I do, just pop it out and give it a quick go with a sponge in the sink, it won’t take long since all the grody stuff is already soft from the steam.
Now, if you want to, you can certainly ramp this up and either get all deep-cleany and stuff in the corners or really disinfect that puppy with a little bleach spray and a rag (make sure to do a quick wipe-down with plain water after you’re done if you do the bleach). If you do this, you get a gold Adulting star for going above and beyond. But if you don’t... you’re like me and you’re just happy your microwave doesn’t look like a food warzone anymore.
BONUS! That vinegar you put in the water? It will neutralize lingering odors in your microwave! That fish you microwaved last week that your roommate/significant other/children/housemates hate you for because it makes the microwave REEK every time they try to make Spaghetti-O’s? Say goodbye to lingering fish odors!
WARNING! If you did NOT forget about your steamy microwave for two hours after it stopped boiling that water (*avoids judgmental gazes*) BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU TAKE THE GLASS CONTAINER OUT OF THE MICROWAVE. IT WILL BE EXTREMELY HOT. Use hot pads. Or just... leave it in there for a few hours.... to... soak? Like pans in the sink? Right? Ahem...
Anyway... this has been a lifehack brought to you by professional Tired Adult Rebelmeg. Peace out!
tl;dr: stick a glass dish full of vinegar water in your microwave and boil it to soften up the old food junk and make your gross microwave easier to clean.
