Dear Readers: Do you ever need to get rid of unpleasant cooking smells like those from cooking cabbage, frying fish, sauteing onions, etc.? When cooking strong-smelling foods, your kitchen and home can fill with those unpleasant cooking and baking odors! Here are some easy and cheap odor-eliminating hints to help you "freshen" the air in your kitchen:
When frying food, put a small bowl of white or apple-cider vinegar next to the stove to help prevent that nasty "fat is cooking" smell.
If you have burned food, place several lemon, orange or grapefruit slices in a pan filled with water and bring to a boil.
If your home smells like smoke, dip a towel in vinegar and wring until lightly damp. Wave it through the air to help eliminate the smell. My mother, the original Heloise, used this hint in the '60s when more people smoked indoors.
If something has dripped onto the bottom of the oven during baking, cover the burned gunk with table salt and clean up when the oven is cool.
If the garbage disposal smells rotten, grind a bunch of citrus peels (lemon, lime, orange, etc.) inside. Then flush with lots of cold water. Several drops of peppermint or other extracts added with water will also help deodorize it. — Heloise
Dear Heloise:Although I contribute financially to our local food bank once a year, I buy one item for it each time I grocery-shop. When the bag in my kitchen is full, I deliver it. I also keep a running list of prices of donated food for tax purposes. — Diana T., via e-mail
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