We went away to my parents yesterday morning, were gone a little more than 24 hours. My wife left the chicken stock simmering…

The house now stinks of burnt food. This morning we started cleaning up a haze of smoky grime from the kitchen cupboards which has helped a bit, but I also found some Fabreze air freshener.

OMFG that stuff stinks. I only gave the house a quick squiz in each room.. my eyes are almost streaming and my head hurts. I think I’m going to make some more soup..

I would talk to your insurance company and get the place professionally cleaned and possibly redecorated. We have solid fuel heating and one day my wife went to work, forgetting to close the ash box door on the stove. The central heating boiled, causing all the wallpaper to peel off the walls and ruining carpets etc. the insurance coughed up for it.

Glad your house is all ok dude. Burn some toast! That used to stop my folks smelling all sorts weird smells.

I’m not really sure if the white kitchen cabinets have yellowed, or it’s just some grime that can be cleaned up. Might have to look at insurance if they are damaged. I’ll see what can be cleaned up and then think about insurance later.

Although if I could claim for a new carpet… 😉

Think yourself lucky you have a front door left intact.

Lost count number of doors panned in due to pan left unattended, got a smoke alarm?

Yeah, smoke alarm. I think we were very lucky 😯 The house wasn’t full of smoke, particularly, just the smell. The lid was on the pan.

i cant get my head round what type of person leaves a pan on the hob with the hob turned on unattended for 24 hours…..

nipping out the shop maybe but going out for a full 24 hours and leaving it.

totally lentil.

A very forgetful one!

You don’t have kids do you?

You don’t have kids do you?

Did the kids kidnap your wife?

i cant get my head round what type of person leaves a pan on the hob with the hob turned on unattended for 24 hours…..

So you’ve never made a mistake? I would think that it was forgetfulness rather than deliberate.

I used to have to go around after my ex and make sure the gas range was switched off, front door shut(!)/locked, etc. not all of us possess trained logical engineers brains….

A very forgetful one!

You don’t have kids do you?

I have kids and I can assure you that it takes a certain type of special to leave a pan on the hob for 24hrs. She’s clearly trying to burn the house down.

it was more that part of the process of making really tasty stock involves simmering it down for near 24 hours – adding water as you go.

so when you make stock that way you dont think of it being a mistake but someone trying to make really tasty stock unattended.

nipping out the shop maybe but going out for a full 24 hours and leaving it.

Speaking as a forgetful (scatterbrained) person there are a least two levels to forgetfulness:

1. You forget something and them something or some latent spark reminds you of it (the ‘ARGHreka!’ moment)

2. You truly forget something only to be reminded (usually too late) either by someone else or by the sorry charred results (the ‘forgetfulmess’)

I often mis-think that no.1 is true and race home to find that no, I didn’t leave the grill on after all.

I once:

– turned the grill on
– placed raw sausages under the grill
– removed cooked suasages from the grill
– made and ate a sausage butty
– went skiing for a week.

Note the obvious error.

The house did have a bit of a strange smell when I got home…

once returned home to find a carbonised tea towel smouldering away on a low burning gas ring – had been like that all day – can’t believe with such a combination had a home to return to, 2 young kids being the root cause just getting out the house involves so much stuff and distraction

PS thought this was going to be a helly hansen thermals thread!

She turned it back on for a bit more simmering (no idea why she didn’t just put it away, it had already been boiled a lot) that morning, but we were leaving immediately for my parents in a rush. Trying to get kids 5 and under ready is a bit of a handful. Forgetting is understandable, but I don’t know why she put it on in the first place.

IHN – what was your electricity bill like?!

Take up smoking or get a lodger – preferably a tramp (or French student).

if it makes you feel any better my office stinks……but that wasnt chicken stock ….i blame lots of cheese over the weekend and my lactose intollerance.

Just washed all the coats that were hanging up, now to wash the bedding…

Get a dog, then your house will smell like the vet’s waiting room.
Cif is the stuff for getting yellow, greasy dirt off kitchen unit doors.

Try Flash Bleach spray, then everything just smells of bleach…..

Fabreze has cauterized my nasal linings. I am now afraid to turn on the lights incase a spark sends the whole lot up.

I can smell fabreze without retching. Used to live in a shared house with a guy (mid 40s) who never washed anything, just fabrezed it. Towels, socks, everything. Horrible sweaty musty clothes mixed with a sickly sweet hint of fabreze *bleurgh*

I turned round once after driving 20ish miles as I thought I had left the hob on (I hadn’t). I have kids lol

I can sympathize, my good lady once left a pan of eggs boiling and another time a pan of broccoli for a couple of hours. Elbow grease and windows open, the smell goes after…….. a couple of weeks 😐

Sugar soap for the cabinets?

Sugar soap – good shout, will find some.

My wife has an incredible sensitivity to chemical odours and fragranged stuff, so we have elimitated all but the most lightly or naturally scented products from our house which has made me really sensitive to them now too.

However, she’s come back from the supermarket with the whole nine yards – different types of fabreze, air fresheners, scented sticks, and even some Shake n Vac. I can hardly breathe in here.. it’s like the 60s Batman movie with the orange fumes

We once had a microwave blow up – now *that* makes for a revolting smell. Took weeks of airing/washing/cleaning to get the smell out. It wasn’t helped by having a massive pile of cooking books directly above it and the paper absorbed the smell.

My ex once left a pan on the hob for the duration of a two week holiday to Cuba. The small amount of oil in the pan had turned to plastic and the house was a little warm but aside from that it was all amazingly okay.

I thought this was going to be about Molgrips latest fad diet 🙂

My lad put some left over potato pie in the microwave and then texted his mum to ask how long to warm it up for.

She replied in stupid text speak. ie

4 2 minutes!

He managed about 14 minutes before realising something was wrong and shut it off!

Cue one wrecked microwave, plate, kitchen cupboards and a very smelly kitchen for weeks afterwards!

😆 you’ll only do it once ‘cos carbonised chicken stock just smells fugly.
I did it in similar circumstances – young kids to organise and then a trip out.

I now only tend to make stock when I know I have an evening at home, plus the kids are grown up so more annoying but less distracting.

My Mum can beat that PePPeR, she let a swan egg (yes really) boil dry and it exploded. The whole kitchen, ceiling included, had bits of egg and shell stuck to it.

I did exactly the same thing Moly except i left the pan for about 4 hours. The stink was horrific and I think we ended up getting cleaner in – but there was still a bit of smell for months afterwards.

My kids won’t come in the kitchen when I am making chicken stock and instead retreat to their playroom to eat meals – they just hate the small of it cooking, never mind burning.

(This happens most Mondays as I slow cook the chicken carcass left over from Sunday lunch overnight).

Buy a load of the Neutradol air fresheners – the gel type ones that you just leave standing around.

They don’t smell of much, but do quite a good job of neutralising odours.

IHN – Member
I once:

– turned the grill on
– placed raw sausages under the grill
– removed cooked suasages from the grill
– made and ate a sausage butty
– went skiing for a week.

Note the obvious error.Elementary my dear whatsit; no brown sauce.

IHN – Member
The house did have a bit of a strange smell when I got home…

It does take time to get over that sort of oversight. You notice it more returning from the bland Alpine air, craving that tangy, fruity, spicy odour of home.

Buy a load of the Neutradol air fresheners – the gel type ones that you just leave standing around.

They don’t smell of much, but do quite a good job of neutralising odours.

They work better if you put them on the radiator as well.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pTGraQ]Soup, anyone?[/url] by molgrips, on Flickr

tasty