Help! Left a pot cooking on the stove...

[michelle1k]

and went out for 3 hours (!!!) and now of course, our house smells like smoke in the worst possible way! At least a kindly neighbor came over and rescued the burning pot off of the stove; so our house was still standing when we remembered and rushed back in a total panic. But if you've ever had your house smelling of burning food, this is 100% worse!!!

Does anyone have any ideas to get rid of the nasty, nasty smoke smell? I'm about ready to go out and buy the bad bad smoke neutralizing air fresheners!

Warmly,
Michelle in NY - mama to sweet ds (5) and dd (16 months)

[EmsMom]

My Clean & Green book recommends zeolite (it says you can purchase this at health food stores or thru mail order but I think I have even seen it at local hardware stores), 3 to 4 bags per room for odor removal. Also recommends baking soda or kitty litter, placed in an open container for small enclosed areas like closets. It also mentions the use of vinegar in a cup and set in the areas of teh home that need air freshening. She mentions that this even works for cigarette smoke, so maybe burned beans smoke, too? Hope any (or all) of this helps!

[beanma]

i've burned a couple of things on pots on the stove (once plastic toothbrushes -- awful!) and then one time i burned (caught fire) tostadas in the toaster oven (don't ever use the toaster oven for that again -- big oven from now on). we just cleaned everything really well and aired the house out. i like to use orange oil cleaner. it smells good and does a great job on grease and sticky stuff. i think that was the cleanest our house has been since. anyway, i found that after cleaning and airing out the smell was pretty much gone.

hth