If you were thinking of throwing away your burnt saucepan – try this hack instead.
We’ve all been there – you’ve left something cooking for longer than you were supposed to, and it’s completely ruined your saucepan. The most common culprit is making hard-boiled eggs and accidentally letting them boil dry, or overcooking rice, but it can happen with almost any food that you might cook on the stove.
Not only does it ruin your food, but the heat from the stove then proceeds to burn your pan, and no amount of scrubbing with washing up liquid and a sponge is ever going to shift the black marks.
You might think that the only option left is to throw the whole saucepan in the bin and get a new one, but it turns out there’s actually a way you can salvage the kitchenware. In fact, you only need two items to get your pans sparkling again – and you won’t spend more than 40p.
In a post on Reddit, one person asked if there was “any way to fix” a saucepan with a burnt bottom, after they confessed their roommate accidentally ruined one of their pans and wanted to throw it out.
And commenters were quick to flood the post with helpful tips. One of which involved boiling a mixture of white vinegar and water in the saucepan and leaving it to sit, which they claimed would lift the stain “right off”.
They said: “White vinegar, some water, bring to boil, turn off the heat and let sit until it cools. Will literally lift right off.”
Another commenter helpfully supplied the correct ratios for the mixture, which should be 1:1 water to vinegar, and should just be enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
They explained: “1:1 water to vinegar to cover the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil for a minute and let cool. The gunk should pretty much wipe off after that if it isn’t already gone. Be careful, these fumes are intense, avoid breathing them in or getting too close/ open the kitchen window and turn on the fan.”
And someone else said they’d used this hack recently and sung its praises. They said: “Yeah we literally did this today as well. My sister was cooking rice in a pot not intended for it. She turned the stove off and left it on the still-hot stove. Caught on fire pretty much. Managed to save the pot.”
With the only ingredients for the hack being white vinegar and tap water, you can rescue your pan for mere pennies. Tesco sells white vinegar for 35p for a 568ml bottle, and since you won’t need much to mix with water to cover the base of your pan, the bottle will last you several uses.
Other commenters on the post recommended alternative cleaning solutions including Bar Keeper’s Friend, baking soda, and even oven cleaner. There were also several people who suggested just using washing up liquid but scrubbing at the stain with a steel wool pad instead of a traditional sponge scourer.
