When listing Christmas smells, many of us will immediately think of the comforting scents of cinnamon and mulled wine. There are however some pretty unappetising festive food odours to contend with, as any home cook will no doubt know.
As carefully as you may prepare them, certain Christmas dinner vegetables can leave an unpleasant stench long after you've had your fill and settled in front of some festive telly, with sprouts being a famously pongy contender.
With this in mind, savvy interiors experts at Drench have unveiled their top tips for banishing some of the less-than-tempting festive cooking smells from your home.
Invest in some plug-in air fresheners and scented candles
Polly Shearer, interiors expert at Drench, suggested: "Plug-in air fresheners are a great way to circulate fresh-smelling air throughout the kitchen without being too overpowering, and they are also cost-effective.
"We have discovered that the most popular Christmas cleaning product scent this year is pine, so I’d definitely recommend plugging one of those in on Christmas eve to get the scent flowing around the kitchen and leaving it there throughout Christmas day.”
Boil up some cinnamon sticks
Boiling some cinnamon sticks makes for a natural, thrifty air freshener, which masks cooking smells while filling your home with all the fragrances of a true winter wonderland.
According to Polly: "Cinnamon is the second most popular air freshener scent this year that we have discovered, so by making your own you’ll be saving money by using something you might already have in the cupboard.
"Boil a few sticks of cinnamon for around five minutes and then leave to cool. You can leave this on your kitchen counter all day to help combat those food smells."
Store food in tight containers
Stronger-smelling Christmas foods, such as meat or sprouts need to be tightly sealed in containers to ensure smells don't leak out into the kitchen.
Make sure to close the doors leading out of the kitchen
Scents from a kitchen can quickly spread to other parts of your home, which can be particularly annoying if you live in a flat. Fortunately, there are ways to keep these contained.
Polly said: "By shutting doors and opening windows in your kitchen you will minimise the chances of having a turkey or sprout-scented bedroom!”
Pour some Zoflora down your kitchen sink after washing up
As well as disinfecting your basin after a pile of washing up, a pouring of Zoflora can help minimise any foul smells coming out of your sink.
Polly advised: "Once you’ve finished doing the dishes and your sink is empty, pour a couple of neat capfuls down the drain and a lovely festive scent will fill the air.
"Our research has discovered that the most popular festive scents of Zoflora are Winter Spice and Cranberry and Orange, so we'd recommend these as a nice extra festive touch.”
Whip up a white wine vinegar mixture
A famously handy cleaning product, white wine vinegar also does the trick when it comes to neutralising unwanted smells. All you need to do is mix three parts vinegar to one part water, using this nifty mixture to spray and disinfect surfaces whilst getting dinner sorted.
Do you have a Christmas hack to share? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
