[Sweetcaroline]

As I was cleaning the kitchen tonight after preparing chicken... I got to thinking... I've been seeing a lot of threads from 'new cooks' and folks trying new recipes and thought I would post a quick reminder about cleaning up after preparing and cooking chicken (all raw meat I guess)...

Here's what I do... I wipe countertops and work areas down thoroughly with disenfectant and paper towels and toss em' (I don't use them to wipe anything else afterwards...) I never use a sponge for this. It may sound a bit obsessive, but I also wipe off the oven door handle, sink knobs or anything else I may have touched with raw chicken on my hands...I always wash cutting boards and utensils by hand in hot soapy water and dry immed. I never put cooked meat in the plate that held the raw meat, (I've seen this done at outside barbeque's). I'm sure most everyone is aware of the hazards of cross-contamination but I thought I'd put the info out there just in case...

[vixjean]

Hahah, I wash off the sink handles too... and the bottle of dish soap!

[zenor77]

I try really hard not to touch the sink handle. I do an awkward elbow limbo to turn on the water if I have chicken-y hands. Lol.

It's better to be safe then sorry. Especially given how our food is raised and how many outbreaks there have been in recent years. I'm not crazy obsessed with other germs, but salmonella is no joke!

[LindseyLouWho]

There's some good information here.

Zenor, I do the same awkward elbow thing to turn on the faucet! I imagine it's quite common... haha.

[nelie]

You know I really used to be paranoid about working with raw meats. Then when I stopped eating meat, it still took me a few weeks to acclimate to not having to worry about it when I chopped and prepped food and even in the initial stages of cooking something.

[srmb60]

The best thing I've ever found in the realm of kitchen clean are glass cutting boards. I have one that just fits into a sink full of hot soapy water. I cut up my gooky-whatever then just slide the whole board into the sink.

[murphmitch]

I have two glass ones, so I can use one for vegetables and one for meat. They fit in my dishwasher, easier for me than hand washing.

[CrazedLedZepFan]

I do the same thing! I keep Lyson disinfedtant wipes and wipe down the counter, sink knobs, and door handle. And I always store raw meat in the very bottom of my fridge in a drawer (as to not drip on any of the other items). Totally obsessive about it since I had my daughter, but really you can't be too careful with raw meat these days.