Cleaning Out the Refrigerator

I routinely clean out our refrigerator on a weekly basis but not the deep purging that sometimes becomes necessary.  When our kids were young we did a fair amount of camping, quite often every weekend possible as well as extended camping trips.  We had a large RV with good size refrigerator so I got into the habit of making a few things like salads and meals like lasagna or chili to take with us.  The day before I'd turn on the refrigerator then once cooled would pack it with any specially prepared camping dishes as well as things like eggs and condiments.  So basically food we would have used at home simply went right along with us.  This saved us a great deal of time and money because it really lessened what we had to buy when we got to our destination.  I do the same thing for any extended boating trips.  Now that we have the vacation home I had to change that game plan.  The main reason is logistics.  If we fly out we are restricted what we can bring and if we drive we are also restricted due to the length of the drive.  Furthermore, there are border (US Customs) restrictions on the way down and back (CDN Customs) as to what can enter into the country so mainly the beautiful local produce I am so used to has to be left at home.

About 10 days before leaving for the vacation home I start paring down the refrigerator contents.  If we run out of something, we simply go without.  This provides the perfect opportunity to clean the refrigerator from top to bottom as well a cull through any sauces, cheeses or leftover bits it jars and bottles.  Anything unopened with an expiry date after we plan on returning is returned to the refrigerator after it is cleaned.

Cleaning the refrigerator in this manner helps to control any of the clutter that just seems to happen.  I have a bad habit of wanting to try a sauce or gourmet type item that only uses a small amount for the dish but the bottles end up being left in the refrigerator just in case.  Here's my method for deep cleaning the refrigerator:

• remove everything from the refrigerator
• cull though items checking for expiry dates
• fill sink with hot, soapy water
• remove crispers, cheese and meat keepers
• wash the inside compartment from top to bottom
• wash crispers, cheese keeper, meat keepers
• drain sink and refill with hot water and about a half cup of baking soda
• wipe down the inside compartment from top to bottom
• rinse the crispers and keepers with the baking soda solution
• dry inside compartment, crispers and keepers
• replace crispers and keepers
• replace the food items that are being kept

The refrigerator is now ready for another round of abuse.  I say this with tongue in cheek but like anyone our refrigerator takes a fair amount of abuse especially during the heaviest of the canning season when things tend to get pushed to the back and accidently forgotten.  Other periods of heavy use like having all the kids home or entertaining also take a huge toll on the refrigerator.  I try to do this type of refrigerator cleaning at least once a month in addition to my normal weekly refrigerator cleaning.  

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Stove Cartridge Clean-up

I can on a Jenn-Air® customized slide-in range with cartridges so that I can change the stovetop features as desired.  I bought a special canning element to customize one of the coil cartridges.This time of year my stove takes a huge beating!  While I can year round usually at least once weekly this is the busiest of the canning season when I am canning oodles of tomato products.  That means the canners run two or three times a day. 

The problem with both boiling water bath (BWB) and pressure canner (PC) is both spew out water droplets over the stove surface.  The PC spits out water droplets but only until it comes to pressure whereas the BWB canner spits water droplets during the entire canning process.  These water droplets seem harmless but they turn into ugly black spots on the stove.  Compounding the problem is the splattering from various sauces cooking prior to being canned. 

As you can see the canning cartridge becomes quite unsightly.  Quite frankly I could leave it as is because the cartridge is only on the stove for canning so no one really sees it other than my husband or me but that's not the point.  I don't like it looking this grungy.  When I canned on a regular stovetop I had the same problem so I learned a few tricks to cleaning up after a canning session to keep the stovetop looking good.

One of the best stovetop cleaners I've found is Bar Keepers Friend.  This cleanser comes in both powder and liquid form.  I like the liquid but they both work well and it is one of the best commercial cleansers I've found for stainless steel.  It's one of the very few commercial cleansers I buy.  This cleanser contains citric acid so it is quite effective on most surfaces including smoothtop stove surfaces.  A 13 oz bottle costs $4 so is a fraction of the cost of other smoothtop stove cleansers.

Pictured is the cleaned stove cartridge.  It's not perfect but it looks a lot better than after the canning session.  The majority of the cleaning was done simply by wiping on Bar Keepers Friend, letting it sit for a minute then rubbing.  Some small spots that remained were easily flicked off with the side of a paring knife tip.  Once the busiest of the canning is over I will take the canning element out, clean the drip pan well and clean up the rest of the cartridge.  Then I will be able to give the entire cartridge a good cleaning that will remove all of the spotting but for now it at least looks presentable.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Cleaning a Dishwasher

The average home cook will run the dishwasher at least 5 times per week.  If you think about it most dishwashers use water, detergent and rinse agent so why would they need to be cleaned?  Most dishwashers have some type of filtering system.  These filters need to be cleaned from time to time.  Water deposits can build up in dishwashers reducing their cleaning potential.  This is especially problematic for those with hard water.  If the inside of the dishwasher is not stainless steel there may be staining from some foods as well.  All in all the inside of the dishwasher does require regular cleaning.  What is the best way to clean the inside of a dishwasher?

• filters - Remove all filters and clean them under a spray nozzle or running water until they are clean.  Check where the filters go to be sure the area is clean before replacing the filters.
• blockages -  Certain things like labels on jars will gum up and blog the holes of the dishwasher sprayer arms.  Manually remove any blockages.  In future do not put any jars with labels still on them into the dishwasher.  Don't put thing in your dishwasher that don't belong there and that includes things like ball caps and aluminum foil products as fiber from cloth as well as aluminum breaking down can cause blockages and/or discolourations. 
• deposits - Hard water deposits can clog water lines, sprayer arms and leave spotting in the dishwasher.  Clear the deposits by using a package of lemon Kool-Aid or 2 tbsp citric acid or 1 c white vinegar in the dishwasher then run a full cycle to clean out the deposits.  If your water is hard and you don't have a water softener then do this cleaning at least once a month.
• stains - Certain foods especially tomato based foods will stain the interior of plastic lined dishwashers.  The immediate reaction is to use bleach to get rid of the stains.  Do not use chlorine bleach in your dishwasher!  Bleach will damage rubber valves in the dishwasher causing more problems and repairs.  Bleach can cause the gasket around the door that prevents water from leaking out to deteriorate.  Stains can be removed using citric acid and they will naturally diminish over a few dishwasher cycles so just leave them alone.  A Mr. Clean Magic eraser will help manually remove stains from the dishwasher as well.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

The Dishwasher Detergent Dilemna

Shortly after moving here we installed a Bosch dishwasher.  The drying action of this dishwasher demands a rinse agent so for awhile that had me scrambling to find a low cost rinse agent but I finally found one.  Finding a good dishwasher detergent has been a horse of another colour.  We live in a an area where high humidity is common during the summer months.  Powdered detergent has the problem of clumping under humid conditions.  The dishwasher tabs have the ecological problem of being the highest in phosphate concentration and while they do an excellent job of cleaning the dishes, they leave a stringy plastic residue in the dishwasher.  The eco-friendly dishwasher tabs did not clean the dishes as well and they still left that residue.  The off brand gel dishwasher detergent was cheaper but ended up leaving some of the dishes dirty on a fairly regular basis.  So I'm back to looking for a dishwasher detergent that works.

I decided to pick up a bottle of Finish® dishwasher detergent when doing our recent grocery shopping.  A 1.6L bottle cost $3.49 so as dishwasher detergent goes the price was quite good.  What I did not notice when I bought this dishwasher detergent is it is phosphate free!  Now this is excellent and how I missed that little detail is beyond me because that is the kind of thing I always look for.  So here is a product that is not only inexpensive but also eco-friendly.  This dishwasher detergent is alco recommended by the leading dishwasher brands including Bosch.  I've used it twice now and so far I really like the performance but I've learned from past experience that a dishwasher detergent can perform nicely for a few washes then for some reason fails to perform properly.  I'm not sure why this happens only that it does happen.  At any rate so far this dishwasher detergent does look promising so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  Once I've gone through the entire bottle I'll report back as to the overall performance.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Appliance Chip Repair

Accidents happen around the house in the best of circumstances but when moving or settling in they are even more prone.  This is the time that little nicks and dings often happen.  While the nicks or dings don't affect the overall function they can make the appliance or piece of furniture look less than appealing.  There are a wealth of repair kits available for doing quick touch-ups for most furniture and appliances.  Most of these kits will cost less than $5 and with carefully following the instructions you can get a good, barely noticeable DIY repair.

The kitchen appliances in the vacation house are Maytag.  Quite frankly for this repair brand did not matter because each appliance manufacturer uses a slightly different colour if white to the point that a matching washer and dryer may not exactly match.  We are avid DIYers so that means even at the vacation house we will do it ourselves if at all possible.  My husband was removing the filter from the overhead built-in dishwasher when the screwdriver he was using slipped out of his hand crashing down onto the stove.  This left a rather nasty looking chip.  The chip could have been left as is but would be unsightly.  It would get worse over time with likely a bit of rusting.  We stopped at Home Depot to buy Porca-fix to fix the chip immediately.

Porca-Fix is one brand of appliance chip repair products.  There are others but this formula will only need one application.  It is about $5 for the small bottle but most repairs you will only need  a drop or two from the built-in applicator.   It is rather easy to use with no special skills required. 

To use simple clean the chipped area good and be sure it is dry.  Then using the applicator dab on a drop or two.  If it runs a little wipe the drip with a paper towel.  The patch will be raised which is normal.  Let the patch dry fully.  Once the patch is fully dry it can be fine sanded using the provided sandpaper to give a smooth, barely noticeable repair.

I let the patch dry for about 8 hours then sanded it.  The sanding brought the patch down to the same level as the original stove finish.  To the touch the patch is not noticeable at all.  If you look very close and know what you are looking for you might just barely notice the slight colour difference of the patch depending on the lighting.  This is something that cannot be helped given the colour variances in appliance manufacturers.  Your best results will be with black or white.  There is ivory but what is now called ivory is a lighter version of almond so if your appliance is actually almond then the repair will show a bit more but if done properly should still give good results.  At any rate this is an easy way to keep your appliances looking nice if a chip should happen.

Hooking Up the Down Draft

We moved here in the spring of 2007. I have a down draft Jenn-Air® slide-in range with down draft system (more here). Hooking up the down draft in our previous house was as simple as attaching the down draft to the floor the going through the outside vinyl sided wall. It took minimal effort and about an hours worth of time. Here it was a different story. The house is earth bermed with the lower, main living level mainly below ground. That meant the vent had to go through a cement foundation wall that was about 12" thick and on the only on ground level. So the vent would span from the lowest level exiting on the ground level. This past weekend we decided to hook-up the down draft after securing the necessary equipment to do so. It was a DIY project.

Our first step was work in the walk-in pantry that is below the only room on the ground level which is a large entrance. We marked out the area in the pantry where the vent would be going through then carefully dug around to make sure there were no wires (1). Next we used a 4" cement drill bit (2) and marked on the outside (3) where we would be drilling. We decided drilling from the outside in would be a lot less mess indoors and it would keep the noise for the most part out of the house.

The drill bit was attached (4) to the heavy duty drill then we started drilling. I'm telling you drilling through cement is very loud, dusty work and slow going work. You definitely need ear plugs and don't push the drill. Let the drill do the work for you without forcing it.

The drill went through the cement foundation wall (5) in about 4 inch segments. This actually took a lot more time than expected as you just can't rush the drill. Once the drill hit that mark my husband wacked out the plug (7) with a hammer and huge screwdriver. We ended up with 3 full sections of plugs plus a small one. They looked like the big beads the Flinstones might have worn! Then he drilled further until he finally broke through (6). Breaking through really meant we were able to free the hole of any debris and not actually drilling completely through. Had we drilled completely through we would have had quite the mess in the pantry! At the end of Thursday night we were left with a nice hole in our foundation that spanned from the outside into the pantry. We stuffed the hole with an old towel and called it a night. My husband was sore and achy from running the drill and it was getting hot an humid out so we figured on finishing the hook-up over the weekend.

We had all the materials ready for the hook-up that included rigid ducting, flexible ducting, elbows, a reducer, eco-friendly vent cover and metal duct tape (9). The first step was to install the eco-friendly vent cover on the exteriour (10) in the duct lined hole (11). This is a special Canadian made vent cover that is heavily insulated and saves energy (more here). I should mention when doing this type of DIY project go as energy efficient and eco-friendly as possible even if it costs a bit more. The vent cover is not only heavily insulated but during insulation a heavy application of caulking is applied assuring no air leaks later. The insulation and automatic valve closure via a specialized floating ball means there will be no transfer of cold air into the interiour of the house during the cold weather. The automatic valve also ensures that rodents and insects even if they somehow got through the vent grate system would not be able to get into the vent pipe itself.

The down draft system of a Jenn-Air® is an extremely powerful venting system. The main blower that moves the air to the outdoors is attached to the floor (12) which means moving these types of stoves is not quite all that easy. The back of the down draft (13) is the main area of interest. A short flexible metal hose runs from the air intake to the down draft exhaust (not shown but basically in line with the plug in 12). A rigid duct pipe runs from the outside vent (14) to the down draft exhaust (15). Each bend is carefully sealed with metal duct tape to keep the velocity in the duct.

The actual opening of the Jenn-Air® down draft (13) is 5" but we used an adaptor to reduce that to 4" for two reasons. First we wanted to us the high efficiency vent cover by Braun which in our climate saves a lot of money and second by reducing the duct size we increased the velocity of air being expelled so increased the efficiency. Unlike a dryer vent there is no concern over lint build-up either so the ducting should stay relatively clean.

Once everything was hooked up we gave the down draft a test run. Oh my, it was wonderful! Surprisingly it was a lot quieter than the last installation and in fact is barely noticeable when turned on. The stove is now 100% fully functional. I am a very happy camper!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Saving on Dishwasher Rinse Agent

If you have been following this blog you will know we installed a high efficiency Bosch SHE44C02UC (more here) dishwasher shortly after moving here. You will also know that energy conservation and energy efficiency is a huge concern to us. I vary between using dissolvable dishwasher tabs (not the individual wrapped kind) and am currently in the process of switching over to using phosphate free Green Earth tabs for use during the hotter, humid months. During the dryer winter months I use a non-phosphate powdered dishwasher detergent. In terms of detergent, the cost is ranging from 9¢ to 29¢ per load. Electricity costs 13¢ per load and that includes the cost of the flow through water heater in the dishwasher. The water is pre-heated by natural gas comes in at about 6¢ per load and water less than 5¢. Total cost to operate the dishwasher per load come out to 33¢ to 53¢ without adding in the cost of the rinse agent. The manufacturer is very specific that a separate rinse agent must be used even if the detergent has a rinse agent included. The reason for this is the dishwasher dries by convection rather than using a heating element. A separate rinse agent ensures proper drying.

Brand Name Rinse Agent

I started off using a brand name rinse agent (JetDry®) at 7¢ per load then switched to their new TurboDry® formula. A 200 ml bottle cost me $4.99 for 64 loads or 8¢ per load. This brought my total costs to run the dishwasher per load up to 41¢ to 61¢. In the big picture the total cost for the brand name rinse agent worked out to be $16.64 so saving on rinse agent was not going to be a big cost savings but it would still be a savings. Part of being frugal is to never pay more for a product if you can find a less expensive product that gives you the same results.

The biggest problem I had with buying brand name rinse agents aside of the cost was availability. The regular JetDry® was usually available but the TurboDry® was not. Another problem I had was rinse agent is not something I could find on sale.

Store Brand Rinse Agents

On day I was in NoFrills® and rinse agent was on my grocery list. There wasn't a bottle of JetDry® to be found so I tossed a bottle of their no name® brand into the cart. It was $2.99 for 250 ml. I immediately thought I'm getting 50 ml more for $2 less so as long as it worked the same as JetDry® I knew I would be switching. This would reduce my cost to 4¢ per load, not bad! I filled the rinse agent reservoir then waited to see the results. There was no noticeable difference between JetDry® and the no name brand®! It worked just as the same and it was a made in Canada product.

A few weeks later I discovered rinse agent at our local dollar store. It was 250 ml for $1, made in Canada and phosphate free! So I bought a bottle to try. This brought my rinse agent cost down to 1.3¢ per load so a savings of 6.7¢ per load. The key thing that I liked was the product was phosphate free. Eliminating any phosphates in the products we use is also important. Once again I did a few test runs over the period of one full loading of the rinse agent reservoir. This product performed just as good as the brand name without the phosphates so I went back to do a stock up. There is no expiry date on the rinse agent and unlike powdered detergent it does not lose its effectiveness.

When shopping at a dollar store think of it as a liquidation store. If you find a product that you like that works to your expectations, stock up then. Their stock is determined based on availability and don't forget some of this availability is due to buying up stock from other stores that went under. Once they are sold out a different product will replace that product. So do keep that in mind.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

The Changing Faces of My Stove

I do a lot of cooking and canning so it comes as a surprise to some that I don't have professional style gas burner range. There's really a couple of reasons that boiled down to space limitations and wanting something different. In late 2005 we bought a new but almost stripped Jenn-Air JES9860AC downdraft slide-in range that needed several additional parts including grill cartridge, burner cartridges and the downdraft system. We did a bit of research after seeing it to find out what the parts would cost and went back the next day buy it. What I really like about this stove is parts are easily available for DIY repairs. Despite having to buy parts we ended up with an excellent customized kitchen stove considerably cheaper than if we had bought it fully ready-to-use. We bought most of the replacement parts online through RepairClinic. We ordered the cartridges and big burner element through a local appliance store. The stove was not fully installed until January 2006. A little over a year later we moved here and brought our range with us.

Energy efficiency is a high priority for us so one selling feature of this stove was the large capacity convection, self cleaning oven with 3 adjustable racks. The annual cost to run the self clean cycle is less expensive than oven cleaners. The self clean function does not use toxic chemicals or contribute to land fills so it is an eco-friendly choice. An optional half oven rack is available that I will add at some point. Another selling feature was the downdraft system (centre vent) that is capable of moving a lot of air allowing even smokeless indoor grilling. The downdraft system is attached to the floor and vented to the outside via flexible metal vent pipe. This means the range cannot simply be pulled out and makes installation a bit trickier because the stove has to be lifted up and over the downdraft system then attached to it. There is no storage drawer under the stove but the cover can be removed to empty the grease cup for the grill as well as accessing the downdraft system. If you decide to sell your house and want to bring your range with you, you will have to have that included as an exemption in the listing because it is attached.

Pictured to the left is the 1427 W grill cartridge with a custom made wood cutting board one of our kids made for me. The cutting board gives me a bit of extra horizontal space when needed. The two burner cartridge to the right has an optional specialty 2100 W big pot element (A145A) that is interchangeable with the regular 2100 W large coil element and a small 1250 W element. Already you can see how I can do a bit of plug and play.

The big pot element is used when I'm canning or using similarly large sized pots and pans (1). This element is reinforced to handle the extra weight and it is raised to prevent radiating heat build-up under the larger pots that could damage the surface area and cause premature failure of the cartridge. The grill cartridge is normally covered unless in use (2). If I am doing a larger dinner where all four elements may be needed I can put in the other coil cartridge (3). Just recently I decided to buy the glass-ceramic cooktop radiant cartridges (A122). They are rather expensive but I was able to find two for almost the price of one online at Appliance Zone. Compared to the coil cartridges, the radiant cartridges (4) are quite impressive looking! The ability to plug and play with the cartridges allows me to have a customizable cooking experience with very little effort.

I wanted the radiant cartridges for ulterior motives as smoothtop ranges always look so sleek and clean. The whole issue of dirty or stained drip trays is totally eliminated! We couldn't use a smoothtop because of the canning I do. The radiant cartridges are a way to get the look for those times I want it.

I love the look of the new radiant cartridges! Aren't they gorgeous? The large element is 1800 W while the smaller element is 1200 W so both less wattage than the coil elements. This means a bit of kW savings right there. I quickly found I had to change my cooking style using the radiant cartridges as they are instant heat and they take awhile to cool down. This means the burner can be turned off sooner while the food continues to cook on the residual element heat. Another energy saving feature is the elements cycle on and off on all but the high setting. So for normal daily cooking I will be using less kW!

If I ever had to buy another stove which I hope I never do, this is exactly the way I would do it again. Simply being able to customize the stove as I choose according to what I am cooking at the time is a hugh plus. Knowing that parts are easily available for DIY repairs is nice too. This eliminates worrying about after warranty repairs. It also allows you to buy a few spare parts to keep on hand for emergency repairs.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009