Don’t let bacon smells linger in your home
Bacon smells tantalizingly delicious when your stomach’s growling for breakfast, but its lingering odor is a smelly reminder long after the meal is over. If you’re over your bacon craving, use one of the eight tips below to quickly get rid of the bacon smell in your house.
Turn on your stove’s exhaust fan, open your windows, and crank up your ceiling fans before your bacon starts sizzling. This lets fresh air in and allows the bacon smell to waft out of the house. Good ventilation stops cooking odors from getting trapped inside your kitchen, preventing the whole place from smelling like a greasy spoon.
If you own an air purifier, set it to high while you’re cooking bacon. Purifiers contain activated carbon filters that work as odor neutralizers. Leave it running through your meal and during cleanup. A good air purifier helps take the grease smell out of the air so the unpleasant cooking smell doesn’t settle on your furniture and stay all day.
One of the smartest things to do when you cook bacon is to clean your kitchen immediately after your meal. Otherwise, the smell seeps into every kitchen crevice and becomes much more difficult to remove.
Put any leftover bacon in an airtight container and store it in the fridge
Wash the skillet you fried it in with hot water and dish soap.
Mix up a cleaning solution of 1 cup of white vinegar and 2 cups of water.
Spray the vinegar and water mixture on your stove and countertops, and wipe them down to neutralize the bacon odor.
Run and clean the garbage disposal.
Take out the trash.
When it comes to neutralizing cooking odor, lemons are our friends. Cut up half a lemon (or use lemon juice) and add it, peel and all, to a pot of boiling water. Toss in a spoonful of baking soda for even more smell-fighting power.
Let the lemon mixture boil for 15 minutes, then turn it off and leave it on the stove until the water cools down.
DIYing an air freshener is a quick answer for getting rid of stubborn odor like bacon grease. You probably have items in your pantry you can use.
Soak some cotton balls with vanilla extract and place them around your kitchen. If you have any essential oil, put a few drops on some cotton balls for a fresh, odor-free kitchen.
If you drink coffee with your bacon, you already have one of the best ways to fight odors at your fingertips. While the strong, pleasing smell of freshly brewed coffee will help mask the lingering smell of bacon, the leftover coffee grounds are even better at getting rid of unwanted odors.
Spread them out on a piece of aluminum foil and let them dry overnight. Coffee grounds contain nitrogen, which is a powerful odor neutralizer. You can keep your fridge free of smells by using coffee grounds there too.
Combat cooking smells with homemade potpourri.
Simmer a pot of water.
Throw in odor-fighting items like a cinnamon stick or orange and lemon peels.
Add fragrant spices like clove, nutmeg, and pumpkin spice.
Add a couple of drops of an essential oil like lavender, peppermint, or lemongrass.
Let the water simmer for a few minutes, and your house will smell delicious, without a hint of bacon anywhere.
If you’re cooking bacon, have a scented candle close at hand. Light it as soon as the bacon is finished cooking to help neutralize the grease smell. Leave it burning for a couple of hours, or until the fried food odor of bacon is gone.
If you’ve tried these tricks and still can’t get rid of bacon smells or would rather have a pro tackle this job for you, look into hiring a house cleaning company in your area. Your house cleaner can do a deeper cleaning of your stovetop, countertops, and appliances to get every bit of bacon grease removed. Make sure to clearly outline what you need done in your kitchen cleaning, including any pots and pans, as this could cost more than a standard service.
