People often say to me, “You’re SO lucky your kids can cook!”
They seem to think it was a genetic predisposition that brought my kids into the kitchen to cook and create, dream and destroy.
I’m not always given credit for teaching them, wiping up after them, forfeiting my right to have any set of glasses longer than two years, and committing to about one half hour of cleaning for each 15 minutes they spend cooking.
“LUCK” had nothing to do with it. It was patience, mixed in with a lot of tongue-biting, stirred in with a little eye rolling, and folded together with love.
Maybe I should have kept these drip pans to give to the next person who wants to tell me how “lucky” I am.
They looked this bad in October, when they were only a few months old. I tried scrubbing them. It was a waste of time.
I didn’t want to spend the money to replace them after only a few months,
so, I looked at this for months.
EEEWWWW!!
I was SO excited to discover enamel drip pans in Target last month. They were more expensive, but I thought they would be worth it.
They’re still dirty, but not rusty, and are not impossible to clean.
The enamel is slightly damaged in this one already, but it doesn’t show up very much.
Why do I take this abuse?
Because I don’t have to cook the Thanksgiving meal, or buy Krispy Kreme Donuts, or make breakfast anymore.
We like to challenge people to “count the cost.”
So, I can cook less, but buy new drip pans more?
Sounds like a bargain to me!
Liba, another great idea, thanks. It never occurred to me to stick them in the oven when I use my automatic clean cycle.Can you believe I have been in the kitchen for nearly 40 years and didn't know these tricks?
I agree that kids in the kitchen does come at a cost. However, a cost that is well worth it! I still need to remind myself of this one when it is taking me longer to clean than it took for them to cook. It is all about future training. Yes, I agree that the enamel drip pans were well worth the pay off!
But when they are spilled on they are hot! We use oven cleaner or put them in the self cleaning oven when we are running a cleaning cycle.
You know what, after buying the ones that rusted so easily, and were impossible to clean, I totally forgot about oven cleaner. You're right, that would work SO well on these new ones. Thanks for the tip! Although we all know if they were wiped off as soon as they were spilled on, it would never get to this condition…. 🙂
Did you try spraying the old drip pans with oven cleaner? (Easy-off) That usually works quite well with very little scrubbing needed, although buying new ones is even easier & more fun.