A clean oven is safer and puts out better-tasting food than one caked with grime and burnt-on residue. Everyone who’s had to clean a truly dirty oven, however, knows that it can be quite an ordeal. Sometimes you can be hunched over scrubbing for hours with no avail. Luckily, there are steps you can take to prevent this from happening to you.

Prevention, Prevention, Prevention
The best way to clean your oven is to prevent it from getting dirty in the first place. By covering the items you are baking or roasting, you ensure that they don’t spill over onto your oven coils or walls and turn into a burnt-on mess. If the dish you are baking in doesn’t have a lid, make an aluminum foil tent, being sure to poke holes so the steam can vent, and secure it tightly to the edges. For the price of a yard or so of aluminum foil, you can prevent a lifetime of back pain. Many dishes, however, must be cooked uncovered. In these instances, try placing the dish you are cooking in inside a larger dish that will catch any food that boils over.

Taking Care Of Spills
No matter how careful you are, every now and then your oven will get messy, and you will have to clean it. The best step you can take is to clean it quickly before it has time to dry fully. When you finish cooking a dish and see that it has spilled over, leave the oven door ajar so that it cools down more quickly, and, once it reaches a temperature where you feel comfortable cleaning it, wipe away the residue with a damp sponge. If it’s caked on, try using a mild dish soap and steel wool.

Tackling Tough Messes
For many messes, soap and steel wool may not be enough. Try placing a pot of boiling water in the center of your oven and closing the door. Let it sit for about 20 minutes, so that the steam can loosen any burnt-on residue. Remove the pot, and then try cleaning the oven. For many messes, this will get the job done.

Your oven’s self cleaning cycle is another option. Most ovens sold have them, and essentially what they do is lock your oven so you can’t open it and crank up the heat as high as it goes. This, in theory, carbonizes any mess stuck to the oven walls, top, bottom and racks, so that it can be wiped away easily. While it is effective for many messes, it does not always get the job done.

Industrial-strength cleaners made specifically for ovens are available for purchase and, while they can be a little pricey, they might be your best bet for the worst oven messes.