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I sell a lot of used outdoor gear and bought a small one on Amazon that is fine for my small rooms. You don’t want to breathe it. I hold my breath as I open the windows and turn on the fans to ventilate. You may be able to rent one if you get smokers, etc. I was lucky that I had no immediate guest and had 30+ hours to freshen up.
I’m going to write up a guide to set expectations. I have already updated my listing, advising that it is for snacks, simple microwave items and deli take out. I don’t offer kitchen access and I’ve had too many guests trying to make it something it isn’t.
There are so many things that go along with safe food prep. I do the dishes for the guests, but it would be unsanitary to try to prepare raw meats and unwashed vegetables. I’ve had guests try to do that. I had a couple students who wanted to use a propane stove and shut that idea down fast. They tried using it outside in the dead of winter, cooking big chunks of beef in a Teflon pan, cutting meat in the pan and making big scratches. It was their pan, but they were eating meat with no sanitation and no concept of proper cooking. Then they started pouring the grease out on my gravel walkways and I banned that. Then they asked about a hot plate. NO NO NO!!! I had big visions of grease fires, cooking odors, etc. Modern kitchens have ventilation too. God help me if they scalded themselves or worse. I’ve seen what an E. coli infection can do too.
The related issue is that they want to eat as a group and start re-arranging furniture to suit. I had to create a house rule for that too.
I’m about to pull the microwave and most of the dishes, limiting food to beverages and no cook takeout. I’m worried that will reduce bookings even further than no kitchen access.
This is all rather a surprise as I have used Airbnb’s all over North America and Europe and it never occurred to me to do such things. If cooking was an issue, I rented places with a kitchen!
Might I recommend you switch to Ozium? This stuff literally neutralizes the odor right out of the air. It doesn’t take very much (so don’t get sticker shock) and the orange peel scent dissipates quickly.
I drove rideshare very briefly and I kept it in my bag because man people can stink and leave their stink behind, and you don’t want your car smelling like body odor mingled with air freshener (or even just air freshener, for that matter).
I was visiting a relative in the hospital who had an accident and needed to be changed. The odor kept lingering and I pulled that stuff out of my bag and one tiny squirt and it was instantly gone, everyone in the room was thanking me including the one who dealt it. I swear by this stuff. My cleaner was going to use Febreeze to try to get rid of a campfire smell in our house and I had her go buy this instead. She was impressed at how effective it is.
Ah, I see Johnny Depp with a top hat making those grilled cheese sandwiches. He followed it up with mashed potatoes from a tennis racquet, if I recall correctly. (And now “I would walk 500 miles” will be going through my head the rest of the afternoon!)
I always “boil” my eggs in the microwave. Even have a special gadget specifically for cooking 4 at a time. Much easier and quicker than on the stove plus they peel easier and never crack like some do On the stovetop.
I had a couple of reusable plastic and wire mesh Keurig pods that folks could use for their own coffee (we do have an excellent local coffee roaster). I was trying to be eco-friendly and appease those who object to the wastefulness of the regular Keurig pods. They were rarely used until last month. Then a very nice fellow managed to punch holes in the wire mesh on both reusables because he didn’t align the pod’s arrows with the ones on the machine, ruining them. They won’t be replaced.
You might be interested in the Melitta JavaJig as a replacement. They require filters so there is something to throw out in addition to the grounds, but they are pretty easy to use.
I swear by this stuff. My cleaner was going to use Febreeze to try to get rid of a campfire smell in our house and I had her go buy this instead. She was impressed at how effective it is.