When you’re preparing a delicious home-cooked meal, the aroma of cooking food is tantalizing, but once dinner comes to an end, lingering cooking odors can be a nuisance. The smell doesn’t just linger in the kitchen; it usually travels throughout your home, filling the air in every room. Fortunately, you can learn how to get rid of cooking smells to keep the kitchen and the rest of your home smelling fresh no matter what’s on the menu. This guide introduces common cooking odors and reviews what to do when your house smells like onions, fish and other foods.
Most Common Cooking Smells
The following are some of the most common cooking smells:
- Fish: Fish is full of healthy nutrients, but many people avoid cooking it at home due to the odor it leaves behind. That fishy smell comes from a natural chemical called trimethylamine oxide. While it’s present in all fish, cold-water surface dwellers like cod contain the highest amount and therefore has the most noticeable odor.
- Cumin: Cumin brings earthy flavor to foods. It has a powerful aroma due to its primary essential oil cumiunaldehyde. The scent of this oil is so strong and long lasting that it’s commonly used as a base note in perfumes.
- Curry: Spicy, savory curry makes a delicious sauce for vegetables and meats. Although you’ll find it in the spice aisle, curry is a blend of several herbs and spices. One of the key ingredients is cumin, and its presence in the blend is the main cause of curry cooking odors.
- Broccoli: When you cut or cook broccoli, this healthy vegetable releases sulforaphane, a very strong-smelling compound. Other cruciferous veggies like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts can also give off similar odors.
- Fried chicken: Many wonder how to the get the smell of fried chicken out of the house because the scent is particularly stubborn. In actuality, it’s not the chicken but the oil used to fry it that produces the odor. Disposing of oil promptly rather than storing it in the kitchen can help cut down on some of the smell.
- Onion: The same thing that makes your eyes water when you cut an onion is what causes the odor of the vegetable to linger in the kitchen: sulfuric compounds. These molecules are also present in garlic, another top kitchen smell.
How to Eliminate Cooking Smells
Whether you want to know how to get rid of air fryer smell or how to get fish smell out of the house, there are multiple methods for you to try, such as:
1. Kitchen Odor Eliminator Gel
Fresh Wave Odor Eliminator Gel continuously fights odors for 30 to 60 days. Place a jar in the kitchen, and the plant-based ingredients seek out the molecules that cause foul odors and absorb them. This solution for how to get food smell out of the house is as convenient as it is effective because once the gel is in place, you can enjoy extended odor-fighting benefits.
2. Kitchen Odor Eliminator Pod
The stove, oven and other appliances aren’t the only things that can make your kitchen stink. Scraps and spoiled food can make your kitchen garbage can another source of odors. To neutralize the smell, pop a Fresh Wave Odor Removing Pod into the trash can. The slim pod can fit inside the lid or along the side, and you can use double-sided tape or adhesive to hold it in place. Add a Fresh Wave Odor Removing Pack, and the plant-based ingredients can trap odors for 30 days. Then, open the pod, wipe it out and add a fresh pack to continue to neutralize garbage odors.
3. Clean Out the Fridge
When the food you eat ends up as leftovers, your refrigerator can become a secondary source of cooking smells. To freshen up your fridge, do a complete purge, tossing all of the leftover food or anything else you suspect could be a culprit. While the inside is empty, wipe down the sides, shelves, drawers and bins with a safe multi-purpose cleaner like Fresh Wave Laundry Booster. Its plant-based ingredients target the root cause of foul odors and leave behind a pleasant natural scent. When the wipe down is done, place a new Fresh Wave Odor Removing Pod inside the appliance to promote a better-smelling fridge going forward. You can also repeat these steps to deal with a smelly freezer.
4. Don't Let Dishes Linger
Of course, you want to put your feet up and relax after you’ve finished making dinner, but letting your cookware, cooking utensils, flatware, dinnerware and drinkware stay stacked by the sink can increase the spread of cooking smells. When your meal included one of the items on the list above, fill the dishwasher or hand wash everything promptly to minimize odors.
5. Light a Kitchen Odor Eliminator Candle
Candles can add some ambience to the kitchen and go a long way toward helping you master the art of how to get curry smell and other unpleasant scents out of the house. Just be choosy about the type of candle you burn. Many scented candles release chemicals into the air. Fresh Wave Odor Removing Candles are made from soy and beeswax and are free of chemicals and artificial fragrances for a safer burn. Their natural ingredients are capable of neutralizing stubborn smells like onions and garlic.
6. Use a Kitchen Odor Eliminator Laundry Booster
Even if you don’t see spots or stains, your tablecloth, table runner, place mats and napkins can hold onto odors long after the meal is through. Sometimes, even washing them with regular detergent may not be enough to get out some pungent cooking odors. Be sure to launder regularly and add Fresh Wave Odor Eliminating Laundry Booster to increase the smell-fighting power of your washing machine. For table linens that are labeled hand wash only, spritz with plant-based Fresh Wave Odor Removing Spray.
Try Our Kitchen Odor Eliminating Products
Now that you know how to get food smells out of the house, you don’t have to alter your menu plans to keep your home from holding onto odors. Fresh Wave kitchen odor eliminator products absorb odors with natural, safe ingredients to keep odors at bay, so you’re finally free to prepare anything in your kitchen without worrying about the stink.
