Kitchen Cleaning Tips for Germ-Free Cooking
Kaitlin Krull
For many of us, preparing a tasty, home-cooked meal in the
comfort of our own kitchen is absolute bliss. Keeping the kitchen clean, on the
other hand, is not. If, like us at Modernize, you’re concerned about keeping your
house clean and beautiful, then check out these cleaning tips for a germ-free
kitchen.
Food preparation
Always wash hands
after touching raw meat. Use paper towels while cooking with raw meats rather
than dish towels to avoid contamination and the spread of harmful bacteria.
Use glass or plastic cutting boards, or replace old wooden
ones often as bacteria gets trapped inside grooves and cracks (and most can’t
be washed in the dishwasher). Even better, use different boards for different
kinds of food prep to avoid cross contamination.
Do not rinse raw meats before cooking! The bacteria
dispersed during splashback far outweighs any bacteria you may be removing from
the surface of the meat, which gets cooked off anyway, and you are not making
the meat taste better.
via Modernize
Cleaning up
After preparing food, disinfect surfaces thoroughly with
antibacterial wipes or sprays. Don’t forget cupboard handles, light switches,
and door knobs, or anywhere else you might have touched while cooking.
Remember that bleach is your friend. Chopping boards,
sponges, sinks, and anywhere salmonella and other bacteria tend to linger can
be sprayed with, soaked in, or scrubbed with a mixture of bleach and water.
Just make sure to protect your hands and clothes!
Make sure to wash dish towels and sponges regularly. You’d
be amazed at the amount of bacteria your cleaning accessories can accumulate in
a short amount of time.
Did you know that knife blocks can get moldy? Save yourself
from this grossest of kitchen fates by completely drying knives after washing,
or storing them on magnetic strips instead of blocks.
When washing dishes, use a dishwasher when possible (as it
runs at a higher temperature than hand washing) or hand wash dishes thoroughly
with dish soap and the hottest water you can tolerate, starting with the
cleanest items to avoid dirtying your water too early.
via Modernize
Storage
When storing leftovers, make sure to cool them to room
temperature and refrigerate or freeze them within one to two hours of cooking.
If you put hot food into your fridge and freezer you run the risk of raising
their internal temperature and damaging other food stored inside.
Speaking of refrigeration, keep track of your fridge and
freezer temperatures. Keep fridges between 37° and 40° Fahrenheit (3°-5°Celsius)
and freezers below 0°Fahrenheit (-18° Celsius). Don’t forget to clean your refrigerator
coils regularly to keep the temperatures steady and your appliances working as
well as they should.
via Modernize
Posts
