Simple household hacks to clean stubborn pan grime

Burnt residue and dried fat are tough to remove from the surface of a pan. Many such pans are not suitable for dishwasher cleaning, and in many cases, using only dish soap proves too weak to remove all the grime. That's when products, whose cleaning properties we might not have known about, come to the rescue.

If you're struggling with especially stubborn fat dried onto a pan, wait until the pan cools down, then sprinkle a teaspoon of baking soda and a small amount of water into it. You will immediately see how the product works. Thoroughly scrub the dirty pan—everything should come off without any problems. The baking soda will dissolve the grimy residue.

However, this is not the only method. If you don't have baking soda on hand and the pan smells of burnt food, use vinegar. Soak paper towels in the vinegar and apply them to the dirty areas. Leave the pan for several minutes. After the specified time, wash it thoroughly under running water. Vinegar should dissolve the dirt and make it easy to remove. Moreover, this liquid will work not only on internal but also on external stains.

There is yet another way to tackle stubborn grime clinging to the pan, and it's environmentally friendly too. All you need are eggshells, dishwashing liquid, and a little water.

Crush the eggshells into a fine powder, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid and a bit of water. Mix the ingredients and rub the resulting paste into the pan with a sponge. Then thoroughly clean the pan—the grime will come off its surface along with the eggshell "paste." This method is not only ecological but also economical, as it saves us from spending on expensive store-bought cleaning agents for dirty surfaces.