It should be called 'No Elbow Grease'! (Elbow Grease All Purpose Degreaser)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Elbow Grease All Purpose Degreaser
Date:	20/09/08 (200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cleans greasy and oily surfaces quickly and easily, doesn't make me cough, smells nice

Disadvantages: --------------

I recently had part of my huge brick garden shed converted into a kitchenette as I have a large garden and it was becoming an effort to walk back to my bungalow whenever I wanted a snack or a cup of tea. Up to now I have installed a microwave, two ring electric hob, kettle and toaster so I needed a stash of cleaning products ready to hand in the kitchenette to be able to keep it as clean as my main kitchen.

I spend a lot of money on cleaning products and tend to buy the best available, but can't justify doing this for two kitchens so went off to Poundland to see what I could pick up there. Among other things I bought a bottle of Elbow Grease All Purpose Degreaser, and was glad I did after my granddaughter decided to fry herself a bacon sandwich this morning. The end result of this cooking session is a total mess of little oil splatters and larger puddles of cold grease all over my hob and work surface. How can one twelve year old and two slices of bacon can cause so much mess?

I was not holding out very much hope for this Degreaser as I usually buy the much more expensive Fairy Power Spray, which I think is wonderful, and could not see how this much cheaper version could be of the same standard.

After unplugging my electric hob I liberally sprayed Elbow Grease across the top of both the hob and the surface. The trigger spray is very easy to use and the rounded design of the bottle meant it was comfortable to hold in my hand while depressing the trigger, the trigger mechanism itself is smooth and easy to press which was a relief as I have arthritis in my hands and it was playing up that day.

I left the Degreaser for a few minutes and was surprised to see I could literally see the grease dissolving and getting more runny before my eyes. I used a hot damp cloth to wipe the surfaces and was astounded as it picked up grease and oil, leaving visibly cleaner areas where I had wiped. In total I had to rinse and clean my cloth in hot water twice and for the final rinse of the surfaces I sprayed a little of this product onto a clean damp cloth to make sure every last bit of greasy residue had been removed. After a little work, if you can call simply wiping a surface and rinsing the cloth work, my kitchenette was as clean as it had been before being hit by a twelve year olds complete lack of understanding about hygiene!

I decided to test it further on a roasting tin that had been used to cook a joint of lamb and roast vegetables. Anyone who cooks lamb will know it's an extremely greasy meat to cook, and my roasting tin was a mess of cold solidified lamb fat, small burned pools of fat and bits of potato that had stuck fast to the bottom of the tin. This time I sprayed more of the Degreaser as this was a very tough job, again I left it a few minutes and tackled it with a damp cloth. The first application removed most of the larger bits of greasy dirt from the roasting tin, and with a little perseverance I think I could have scrubbed the tin clean but I decided to spray it again to see how well a second application would perform.

After leaving it to soak in for a while I realised I was late for an appointment so ran a very hot bowl of soapy water and left the tin in to soak without wiping the Elbow Grease off. When I returned an hour later I could see that a lot of the grease had lifted off the tin and was either floating on the still warm water or very loosely attached to the tin still, requiring just a very swift scrub over with the dishwashing brush. A rinse with hot, then cold water left my tin sparkling clean and ready to put away for the next meal.

I am extremely impressed with Elbow Grease All Purpose Degreaser. Considering it cost me just £1 I would say it is at least as good as Fairy Power Spray which is almost £3 in price now, it's certainly more effective than Cifs kitchen cleaner which is fairly cheap to buy but requires a lot of hard work to get the most from the product. This Degreaser has a subtle lemon scent which is very fresh smelling and leaves a lovely clean fragrance in my kitchen. Most importantly it does not make me cough at all, even while using it at the bottom end of my shed which is waiting for a window to be cut into the wall and there is very little ventilation save the door which was open at the other end. I would be coughing and wheezing at some other products by this point but I had no more than a little tickle in my throat, which is to be expected as I have severe asthma so even the kindest products will produce some reaction.

I would certainly recommend this and it will now replace my Fairy Power Spray completely because it's not only cheaper but comes in a bigger bottle and is just as effective.

Summary: An excellent cleaner at an excellent price.