Soup casualty

I made the potato soup on my list of options for dinner which was a GREAT decision - it's delicious!  The not so great decision was deciding to heat it up in the microwave uncovered.  The microwave suffered casualties.

There was soup was already a dried on mess and was EVERYWHERE.

To the point I didn't want to heat anything else up in the microwave it was that bad.  So I combined some water with some lemon juice (the reason the water looks a little off), set the microwave to 4 minutes and let the steam do the work. You need a decent amount of water in the bowl so that all of the water doesn't evaporate and cause more problems, but not so much you are running your microwave forever to get it warmed up.

When the time is up, the microwave is a steamy lemony smelling mess, which is EXACTLY what you want!  I used a Magic Eraser while wearing gloves (because the lemon-water mixture is HOT) and dipped the Magic Eraser in the hot water prior to wiping down the side of the microwave.

I started with the door, then the ceiling, then the back of the microwave before the effects of the steam had worn off.  So I added some cool water to the bowl and restarted the microwave for another couple of minutes, then attacked the sides.  I washed the tray in the sink and finally cleaned up the floor of the microwave.

Total time? About ten minutes.

Outcome? I can use my microwave again!

What tricks do you use to clean your microwave?