I'm so greased out!!!

[Emmaline]

I need to vent a little...

I need to be on this WOE...but I'm so sick of the greasy clean up! I feel like a slave in my own kitchen. Everything has grease on it. My new stove already looks like my old one that was 20 yrs old. The clean up is constant, as soon as the kitchen is shiny clean again it's time to fix dinner, and it starts all over.

I don't have a dishwasher (except for me) so I do the dishes. The dishwater needs to be changed sometime 3x per sink full because of the grease. My dishpan has permanent grease in it that I can't get off...I became ill last December, and didn't have time to install the exhaust fan over the new stove. Each time I prepare something the house fills up with greasy air that should be exhausted out the side of my house. The self cleaning oven has NOT been self cleaned because there is no exhaust, so each time I turn it on to bake something the house fills with a burned smell from whatever is building up on the bottom...UGH!

My illness and surgery have made it impossible to complete my kitchen, so no dishwasher/exhaust coming anytime soon. I need to get back to work first...

I long for the days that I could throw a pizza in the oven and have to wash a plate...Thanks for letting me vent...

[Mrs S]

My MIL is on Atkins maintenance and her kitchen has a constant greasy film in it and always smells of stale meat grease. Her pots always feel greasy to me too. It's kinda gross. But she looks great! A paste of baking soda and water works well to degrease and deodorize. It takes a little elbow grease on long term build up though. Anytime we eat at MIL's house and I do dishes, everything gets scrubbed in baking soda. It helps but it's a constant battle and she doesn't keep it up because she doesn't notice the smell or the film. I guess she's just used to it now.

[avid]

Yeah, I hear ya.
I stopped with the bacon for just that reason.
All high fat foods are greasy, but bacon is just plain over the top.
It is delicious, but the grease swamp it leaves behind is a turn off.

[LiterateGriffin]

I've found a new way to cook bacon: I drape it over a raw chicken and toss it in the oven at 350 until the chicken is done.

(Seriously, dinner last night was roast chicken, wrapped in bacon, and I was sitting there stealing bacon as it came out of the oven.)


You can eat high-fat, without eating high-grease.

• When baking, put a sheet of foil with the edges turned up on a rack just below the one you're using, to act as a drip-catcher.
• Take your favorite uncured salami, spread it with cream cheese, and roll it up like a tube. Repeat. Then eat as snacks.
• Deviled eggs. Lots of fat: No grease.
• Tuna salad, avocados, etc. High-fat, low grease.
• Black olives stuffed with cream cheese -- a personal favorite, and no grease.
• Instead of frying, try steaming veggies and cooking up low-fat cuts of meat, then topping with a nice cream-sauce. (Heat a stick of butter with cream mozerella, and fresh parmasean). As a bonus, you can use the leftover sauce in your eggs, in the morning.

[Mazzie]

I know what you mean. I remember clean up being so simple with carby foods - especially because convenience foods were such a big part of eating that way for me. Now that I'm not the only one low carbing in my house, there are many days I have to do two giant loads of dishes by hand - sometimes with lots of grease, depending on what everyone cooks.

It's worth it, of course, but I feel you on the sometimes.

[Trigger828]

I really don't have trouble with the grease. I mean I now do bacon in the oven. I use so much of it I do a whole pack at once, on my drip pan, pour out grease when done into cup and immediately get it under hot water and clean.

Plus I use tin foil as grease catchers now. I bake chicken wings on foil. I sautee alot of food, like stir fry so that is a one dish cleanup.

To me in any cooking I ever did I would encounter grease so I guess it is just not too annoying to me and I just wipe up the stove etc when done. Doesn't seem like alot of clean up to me at all.

I don't know, I guess I am the only one who doesn't mind? LOL

And you can throw a pizza in the oven....just eat the toppings only. In fact I scrape off the tops of pizza all the time. delish. throw out the crust.

[Emmaline]

Originally Posted by LiterateGriffin

I've found a new way to cook bacon: I drape it over a raw chicken and toss it in the oven at 350 until the chicken is done.

(Seriously, dinner last night was roast chicken, wrapped in bacon, and I was sitting there stealing bacon as it came out of the oven.)


You can eat high-fat, without eating high-grease.

• When baking, put a sheet of foil with the edges turned up on a rack just below the one you're using, to act as a drip-catcher.
• Take your favorite uncured salami, spread it with cream cheese, and roll it up like a tube. Repeat. Then eat as snacks.
• Deviled eggs. Lots of fat: No grease.
• Tuna salad, avocados, etc. High-fat, low grease.
• Black olives stuffed with cream cheese -- a personal favorite, and no grease.
• Instead of frying, try steaming veggies and cooking up low-fat cuts of meat, then topping with a nice cream-sauce. (Heat a stick of butter with cream mozerella, and fresh parmasean). As a bonus, you can use the leftover sauce in your eggs, in the morning.

Love me some new snack ideas! Thanks! But snacking is not the problem...it's the main dish meal, whether I'm doing a batch of bacon, or baking some chicken thighs, or making a burger on the stove. That's where the grease fest commences...

I like the baking soda trick, I'll try that. I'm afraid it may be too late for the drip tray..but maybe if I start to use one it will eliminate new build up...

Now excuse me while I rustle up some lunch...thanks everyone!

[Buffy45]

Thanks for the baking soda hint and I too, use a lot of foil, helps with the clean up.

[SugarFreeSheila]

What about using a spatter guard/screen? Also, make sure you switch on the vents when you cook. Oh! You might consider grilling as an option, too - the George Foreman is really terrific.

[Rhubarb]

I hate this grease aspect of low carbing too. (And so does my dear husband who is a vegetarian and does most of the dishes!)

I bought a nice George Foreman grill and it's alleviated a lot of it. It's very easy to clean and the meat grease just drips into a pan and doesn't splatter anywhere. When I cook meat in the oven I always use foil to help with the clean up.

There's not much you can do about the dishes, but I do try to be kind to my hubbie and rinse mine off with hot water and soap before he has to deal with it.

[Beezer Louisiana]

My dh is particular about the way we wash our greasy pots. They get washed LAST, after the sink has been drained.

We wash the inside (he doesn't let me run water in the pot until it runs over the edges, washing grease on the OUTSIDE of the pot, that now needs to be scrubbed too.) He washes from the inside out, pouring the soapy water out, doing it again, scrubbing with one of those blue and white thingys and using Dawn (WalMart brand) to cut the grease.

I do bake my bacon, which helps. Frying bacon is a mess.

I use alcohol in a spray bottle (70%) and clean my counters with that. I also clean my stovetop (after everything is cool!) with it and it cuts the grease really well (and is much cheaper than kitchen cleaner.)

If I am going to do something 'grease poppy' like steaks, I will put a big bath towel down on the floor in front of the stove. I also put a platter up, behind the last burner and against my counter backs, so grease doesn't get on the backsplash.

It is our 'standard operating procedure' to have a large folded towel on the side of the counter, right next to the stove, covering up all of the granite about 8" out on the side that we're cooking on. The counters don't get greasy that way, I use it to set my spoons on, and just throw it in the wash and put down a fresh one. I am NEVER without that towel covering up the granite next to the stove. At our other house the granite got grease stained and always looked 'wet' and I couldn't fix it. (My MIL doesn't understand our procedure and when she cooks at our house, which I hate, she puts greasy/dirty spoons down on the granite to the right of the towel. I explain to her what the towel is there for, even put a plate down for her to set her spoons. But she always manages to get grease on our granite counter tops, despite the towel and the plate . . . I think she does it on purpose. )

I hope you can figure out some ways to cook LC that are 'cleaner' for your kitchen. (((hugs)))

[Beezer Louisiana]

Oh - also: I love my non-stick pans! I cook eggs with butter in them and can either just wet a paper towel and wipe them out while still hot or run under the faucet and dry off.

Maybe non-stick will help you with your cleanup?

I definitely wouldn't put greasy things in a full sink of water, it's just going to spread the grease on EVERYTHING. I'd wash really greasy things on their own, with running water and the sink drain open.

[Emmaline]

Beezer...it sound like you have it down to a science! Great to hear everyone's tips...

[LiterateGriffin]

I wasn't suggesting snacks, so much as high-fat things to add to otherwise low-fat (ie: grease free) meals! lol

[jem51]

If you value your plumbing, use a spatula to remove grease then wipe thoroughly w a paper towel before washing.

When you end up w a grease plug at the main drain, it is an expensive repair.

[Beezer Louisiana]

Originally Posted by Emmaline

Beezer...it sound like you have it down to a science! Great to hear everyone's tips...

I'm married to an engineer. There's a procedure for everything! Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes NOT. (When he tells me the proper way to lay out my damp bath towel to dry, it gets on my nerves.)

[ETtoo]

I hate cleaning the greasy film off counters and walls. Here is a tip that cuts down on my cleaning: When frying bacon, I take newspaper and tape them to the walls and stove vent and lay them on the counters. Then I use a splatter screen over the pan. There is still some splatter on the stove, but the counters stay clean.

I also wipe out my oily pans with papertowels before I wash them.

[Emmaline]

I paper towel all pans first. When I take the meat out, paper towels go in to soak up juices and fat. Liquid grease does not go down the drain...

In the summer, I keep a grocery bag in the freezer to put all discards in, fat soaked paper towels, bones, so the trash doesn't get smelly. I have quite the bag by the time trash day arrives. Meat containers go in as well.

I do use a splatter screen if I'm cooking on the stove top. But it still seems to go everywhere. You have to take the screen off to check on things. I keep my burgers frozen and take them out as needed. There is almost more grease on the lid of my pan! But your right, my burger pan is not non stick, so I need to invest in another smaller skillet that is.

Beezer, being married to an engineer explains it...

Thanks again everyone!

[Demonica]

I can totally relate to the grease mess! Even the spray cleaner that I use wasn't totally cutting it. So I made my own spray cleaner out of orange peels and vinegar. It works better than anything I've ever tried before!! I invested in some of those splatter screens that keep grease from splattering all over the walls and stove. Those are a god send!! And I switched from using nonstick cookware to a cast iron skillet. May not sound like a big deal, but the fattier and greasier the food I cook in it is, the more nonsticky it' surface becomes. And all I have to do is rinse it out with hot water and wipe it out. Plus Dawn dish soap is a big help too.

[Emmaline]

I just recently started making my own cleaner with vinegar! I love it! A tsp of dishwashing liquid, 1/4 cup white vinegar, and the rest water in a 16oz spray bottle, it works great!

We have very hard water here so it doubles as a lime remover!

[Kateee]

[QUOTE=Demonica;16149453]I made my own spray cleaner out of orange peels and vinegar. It works better than anything I've ever tried before!! I invested in some of those splatter screens that keep grease from splattering all over the walls and stove. QUOTE]

How do make this?

I use BarKeeper's Friend.

[Emmaline]

Yes...Barkeepers Friend is great! And Bon Ami...

[GME]

I grill outside whenever I can. We are in CA, but I have grilled in the rain and pretty chilly (for here anyway) temps. We were out of propane last night so I used the Geroge Foreman grill for frozen burgers and it wasn't bad. The grease collects in the little tray, I put it in a can or container out of the recycling and throw it away when it cools to solid.

I don't notice more greasy messes now more than when we ate the SAD though. I do clean the kitchen more often because I cook more and have fewer fast food or convenience meals, but each time doesn't seem greasier. To me anyway.

I think the secret is a good dish soap and VERY hot water on the pans. For the counters, I wipe them as normal with a dishcloth every time I clean, then spray Windex (but I like the sound of your homemade cleaners) and wipe that all down once a day.

[Kateee]

[quote=Kateee;16149938]

Originally Posted by Demonica

I made my own spray cleaner out of orange peels and vinegar. It works better than anything I've ever tried before!! QUOTE]

How do you make this?

I use BarKeeper's Friend.

[Demonica]

everytime I or a family member ate an orange, I put the peels in a glass jar. After about a week, I had a full jar of them. I poured white vinegar over them, put the lid on the jar under my sink for about 2 weeks to let it all sit. Then I poured the vinegar and orange mix into a spray bottle. Just like that Orange Magic stuff they sell in stores.

[CurlyGirly]

I get tired of the cleanup too. I have started cooking bacon in the oven in a pan lined with foil. You just throw away the foil. 350 for about 20 minutes. I have a little George Foreman grill that I use to cook sausage on. Much easier cleanup!

[Sunny7]

yup, know what you mean, i use good ol'Dawn dishwahing liquid and some good hot water---our house always smells of some kind of fried meat, and so does my hair, i forbid hubby to fry bacon on sunday morning before church, i smell it on my hair, he said don't you think anybody there frys bacon, i said yes, but don't like my hair to smell like eggs and bacon before i go----and i sometimes puppy sit for the grands puppy, and my little GD said she smells like grandmas house, i said whats that bacon----she said yup

[Emmaline]

I know!

I so need to have a vent installed...maybe the lottery ticket I just bought will be my ticket for that! And a dishwasher....and a second bathroom....

[wastednuffime]

OK, so I must be the Weirdo in the group, cause I been doing LC for a LONG time ( not fanatically so, any-more, but certainly still LC) Anyway, I'm sitting here thinking,...

WHAT grease..

Other than bacon ( which I don't eat that often and when so, I cook it in the microwave) What is causing all the grease many of you speak about?

Thanks..

[Emmaline]

Ummm...any and everything! Bacon in the oven, splatters everywhere. Baking chicken in the oven splatters and leaves a lot of greasy liquid in the bottom of the dish. Frying a burger on the stove with a splatter screen still gets all over the stove. You have to lift the screen to out on cheese or to flip over...
I've been roasting a lot of veggies in the oven as well. I put them in a baggie to coat with EVOO and salt pepper and roast away. That leaves a mess on the cookie sheets. Even if I nuke a veggie, I put some butter on it, that leaves a greasy dish. On this WOE, I don't know what wouldn't be greasy!

On a more serious note, the lottery ticket was a loser, so I'll have this going on for a while...