How to clean oven/keep it clean?

[Anonymous]

So, every time I make a lasagna, or something like that, I inevitably have a bit of cheese spill over and start burning on the bottom of my stove. I do my best to clean it off immediately, but inevitably some remains (I have 3 kids under 4, so it is a bit of mayhem over here), causing a smoke storm the next time I cook. I wonder what others of you do to maintain a clean oven? Any tricks here? Do you clean it every time or wait and clean it every once and a while? And when you do either, what do you clean it with, etc?

Many thanks. I have set the fire alarm off about 4 times this week, and I am about to go insane.

[Anonymous]

When you're baking lasagna, casserole, a pie, etc., put the baking dish on top of a larger cookie sheet (jelly roll pan) to catch any spills. If you can't get the spills off the oven bottom, run the fan/vent as soon as you start preheating for the next meal which should suck the smoke out before it sets off the alarm.

My mother lines her oven with aluminum foil because it doesn't have a self-cleaning feature and it is a huge PITA to clean. If something spills, she just has to pull out the foil. You can also buy disposable oven liners in some grocery stores (near the other foil-type pans).

[Anonymous]

The grocery stores sell oven liners, use them on the rack below your lasagna. If it over flows then just throw out the oven liner. We have an electric range and I keep the oven liner on the bottom underneath the coil. They say not to do that but I've been doing that for years, so has my mom. Just make sure to take it out if you use your "self-cleaning" oven.