If you were to go into a typical American or European home right now, most kitchens would fail a hygiene audit. Now that doesn’t mean a kitchen is necessarily dangerous. However, keeping some good practices will guarantee far less chances of coming in contact with viruses and other pollutants.
Today we will be taking a look at some of these practices and how you can integrate them into your busy schedule. They will help you a lot.
Clean Your Counters After Every Use
Sure, we all brush away breadcrumbs and other food bits after we eat. However, that isn’t enough to ensure great hygiene. You have to go into a different mindset and start cleaning the counter after every use.
Choose a disinfecting wipe or anti-bacterial soap to clean the countertops after each meal or snack preparation and you will be able to rest knowing that no germs have accumulated whatsoever afterwards.
Refrigerate Food After a Maximum of Two Hours After Cooking
Bacteria thrives in certain temperatures, and if you leave your food to cool off after cooking it, you’ll increase the risk of getting germs on it if you don’t refrigerate it in due time. With that said, two hours should be the maximum amount of time in which food can be left unrefrigerated. We also recommend doing so because it will be easier to wash the dishes afterward. Speaking of which…
Try Natural Detergent
Classic dishwasher detergent just doesn’t cut it anymore. Sure, it’s cheap and gets the job done, but there are several side effects that you should take note of.
First of all, the chemicals inside regular dishwasher detergent greatly affect greywater systems and the environment in general. Secondly, these chemicals are highly toxic if ingested or even if they come into contact with skin.
Because of this, we recommend trying out the best natural dishwashing detergents to avoid any such unpleasantries.
Your Cutting Board… Clean It
Does your cutting board look clean enough? Well, it probably isn’t. We’ve heard about many cases where people simply scrub their cutting board and rinse with water after use. Stop doing that.
Instead, clean it properly with soap or detergent and hot water. Furthermore, if you cut meat, poultry, or fish on it, you should clean it immediately before proceeding to cut other food items on it. The juices left behind by raw meat make an ideal home for bacteria. Here are more details about what the USDA recommends regarding cutting boards.
How to Defrost
If you leave the food to thaw on the countertop, its temperature will rise between 40- and 135-degrees Fahrenheit, making it an ideal place for bacteria to grow. Instead of defrosting at room temperature, try taking items out of the freezer and placing them in the fridge.
Defrosting at cold temperatures greatly reduces the chances of bacteria forming on foods and thus impact your health. So, the next time you’re planning on making a meal with freezer-food, just plan ahead and defrost in due time.
The Bottom Line
We hope you’ve found the information in this article useful. Please consider sharing it with your friends and family so that they can too benefit from these better practices.