How Do You Get That Greasy Smell Out Of The House, After Cooking With Grease?

Canada
March 19, 2009 10:10am CST
My husband made homemade onion rings for lunch, and sloppy joes for dinner. By the time we were done dinner, the apartment started to smell awful with grease....I mean IT STUNK!!! First he sprayed some nasty air stuff around that didn't work (I had bought it when the toilet barfed all over the place and it smelled like you-know-what in here, and it didn't work then...so why would it work NOW?) then I lit a scented candle, and blew it out when we went to sleep. In the morning it was still stinking in here, so we re-lit the candle. We live in the basement with not a lot of ventilation, and it's still a bit too cold to open windows... anyone have any ideas how to de-stink a 500 Square Foot Apartment?
5 people like this
18 responses
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
20 Mar 09
Lysol and Oust are good odor eliminators. Also, striking a match and letting it burn a little can get rid of some pretty bad smells. I personally like Febreeze air freshener the best. My nose is too sensitive for the cheap stuff.
1 person likes this
@megumiart (3771)
• United States
19 Mar 09
Maybe get a plug in fan and fan the kitchen for a while. Or maybe try leaving the windows, just a little if it's cold. :o
1 person likes this
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
1 May 10
Hmm that is very hard to do when you don't have enough ventilation. Opening windows would have sorted out the problem in a few minutes. I am curious to know how did you sort out the problem. Maybe spraying an air freshener helps a bit but ventilation is very important.
@Mirita (2668)
• United States
19 Mar 09
The only solution is to clean the kitchen from top to bottom and use a good cleaning solution with a strong smell.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (177797)
• United States
19 Mar 09
I think lysol would probably be your best bet. It tends to work pretty well on an apartment. I spray that sometimes if my trash can starts to smell. Other than that I'm not sure what you can do. I think if you just keep working on it you should be able to get the smell out. I would try opening the windows just for a brief period to see if that makes any difference whatsoever.
1 person likes this
@fasttalker (2796)
• United States
19 Mar 09
Try sprinkling Baking soda lightly on your carpet and lt it set for a couple of hours befroe vaccuming i up. Also you can take a glass dish or cup and set it out of access and out a couple of tablespoons of bleach in it. Either one should absorb the odor of the grease. Word of caution...If you have pets or children in the house be careful where you sit the bleach. I set mine on top of the fridge.
• Philippines
19 Mar 09
I have the same problem. I love to cook a lot and we have not much ventilation in our very small apartmetnt that the smell of the food sticks & lingers...I hate spraying anything coz the scent just mixes with the odor of the food and it makes things ever worse! I tried scented candles, didnt work though! Thank you so much for the baking soda & bleach idea!!! I hope it works. Have a great day!
• United States
19 Mar 09
Oh yeah there is nothing worse than a bad smell mixed with cinnamon apple or some other scent! You have to eliminate the odor first then you can freshen the air but not until the original odor is gone
@Darkwing (21583)
24 Mar 09
I suppose you can buy them there as well as in Britain, so I would suggest a spray air-freshener, or a plug-in freshener. A spray you could direct into the worst areas, and the plug-in should refresh the whole of the apartment. You can buy some very pleasant scents in them... the floral ones and musky ones are nice and quite strong. One of those should clear the smell quite quickly. Brightest Blessings my friend.
• United States
22 Mar 09
i would ask a company that rents the fancy models like steam cleaners if they have "smoke eaters" for rental. we had those where i worked for housekeeping and it took a lot of stinks out of the air,not just smoke.it's an option if it's really bad.
• China
20 Mar 09
Frist of all,want to maintain good ventilation.Kitchen exhaust fan should be installed.Sometimes I will use Freshener Spray.I used the most are sandalwood.Spaces are put in each one.Can burn four hours or longer. Of course,I also planted a lot of indoor green plants.They can purify the air.
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Hi, danishcanadian! If I was you, I would try blowing out my air fan on the stove. Maybe that might help some.. Do you have a light fan, that does not blow out too much cool air? Try this and see how this works. You can go into another room and let the kitchen and front room air out for at least an hour. Try Oust and Febreeze spray. I hope that you can get this smell out of your house. With smells like this, I will usually let it air out all by itself. But, this may not be the case for you. I hope that you can get your right smell back soon.
• United States
20 Mar 09
I take a small pan of water and put it on the stove and sprinkle some cinnamon in it, and let it simmer for a while it smells really good!
@LCHBheart (167)
• Singapore
20 Mar 09
I know what you mean! Once my brother microwaved some instant noodles without adding any water in it and before you know it, smoke was coming out of the microwave. The house smelled like charcoal for at least 3 days. We didn't get rid of the smell but just waited it out.
• Philippines
20 Mar 09
Hello danishcanadian! Have you tried leaving a bowl of vinegar on the countertop? I use it to get rid of the smell of new paint. Or lay some charcoal around -- it's my effective odor absorber in the refrigerator. Or try to light some matchsticks briefly, the smoke takes away the bad smell from the toilet.
• United States
20 Mar 09
Greasy smell needs to be just aired out. That is why I dont fry anything. My kids love fried chicken, but I dont often make it because of the greasy smell. It is worse if you fry fish. That gets into all the clothes and furniture. You may have to chill out with frying stuff for a fer days and bake stuff. Let your place air out and keep using your candles and spray. good luck with that.
@GardenGerty (159956)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Boil vinegar and water in a pan on the stove. Get some houseplants. That is about all I can think of right now.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
20 Mar 09
maybe you can try lysol spray it is an outer eating product, of fabreeze that is as well. Candles just mask the odors it does not take them away. Let me know how it works for you.
@Angel3yes (455)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Three suggestions: 1.) I usually will open the window for about 1/2 hour even if it's cold just to get the stagnant nasty smell out so that the new smell has room to breathe!! lol. 2.) Use the vent on top of the stove, it's noisy but after a while it generally helps to clear out some of the odor. 3.) Someone told me if you put some cinnamon, cloves and allspice in a dish and bake it for 1/2 hour and then open the oven door after the oven is off, it will fill your whole house with baked apple pie scent.
@iamsolucky (1241)
• Philippines
20 Mar 09
I know putting vinegar in teh stove will make the bad smell go away. I use it especially when the room is newly painted and yes it is so effective. Try it, wont cost you more when you do. Happy mylotting!