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Where I buy my meat there is a residue on the bottom of the package, where the wrap meets. Also, as it thaws the juices usually seep in there so I feel like its the same as touching the meat.
Our packages aren't wrapped. The plastic is heat sealed to the top of the tray. And our ground meat doesn't typically have juices. It's a fairly dry hunk of meat.
I've never measured? But I do know I kill small forests with my paper towel use. I DO have dish towels that I have been aiming to use more. It's just a habit to grab a paper towel, but I've been getting better about it.
I wash my hands a lot while cooking. Come to think about it, I wash my hands a lot otherwise also. All dish soaps cause me dry and cracked skin on my hands except for Palmolive which is a good soap and does not dry out my skin at all.
I think this is the right section, but please feel free to move this if there is a more appropriate section (hopefully not mental health- LOL!)
I am wondering how often others wash their hands during meal prep. I feel like I wash my hands too often but I can't stand the idea of touching something like meat, and then moving to vegetables, even if they're being cooked together. Sometimes its because I need to add seasoning and don't want to contaminate the outside of the container with germs.
Example: Last night I made meatloaf. Washed my hands to begin. Took out the meat, seasonings, bread crumbs, milk.
Emptied the meat into a bowl, washed my hands. Cut open the "cook in a bag" recipe I love, and added seasonings, milk, bread crumbs. Forgot the egg. Washed my hands, got the egg. Mixed it all in by hand. Washed my hands. Chopped onion (for loaf), and potatoes to go with it. Washed my hands. Got out my baking sheet and formed my loaf. Needed to add flour to the bag so it wouldn't stick. Washed my hands. Added flour. Put the loaf in the bag to cook. Washed my hands. Started on the vegetables.
This may be completely correct in how most people cook, but I have no idea. It's the only thing I ever stop to wonder "Is this something like OCD?" I'm a very tidy person but I don't think I typically fall into the OCD category.
Maybe it's poor prep planning, maybe I dislike germs more than some. Maybe I am missing the easier way??
What about you?
For sanitary purposes I wash them or use a Clorox wipe just before I start cooking, cutting, whatever. If I am handling fresh meat I will make sure I was them again. Otherwise, I just keep washing them if I get them into the food. I am not so concerned about contamination as I am getting the foods mixed together or just having messy hands. I hate that. Sometimes, if I don't actually wash them, I use a towel to wipe them with. No wonder I have 10 dirty towels every few days.
I wouldn't have washed my hands after emptying the meat into a bowl, because I wouldn't have actually touched the meat (cut the plastic, held the tray, turned it over, and let the meat fall in the bowl). I wouldn't have washed my hands after dry ingredients. I'd brush my hands over the sink to get excess off, but they're not too dirty at that point to go in the fridge and get an egg. I probably also wouldn't have washed my hands to add the flour to the bag, as I would have had the flour ready in a prep bowl (or I would have put it in the bag before I started everything.
Forgot to add that after chopping onions and potatoes, I might rinse my hands, but they don't really need a full wash at that point.
Constantly. After any time I handle raw meat or anything messy or anything strong smelling like garlic and onion. And whenever they just feel 'dirty'. I'm always washing my hands anyway.
I've never measured? But I do know I kill small forests with my paper towel use. I DO have dish towels that I have been aiming to use more. It's just a habit to grab a paper towel, but I've been getting better about it.
No you are not OCD, I wash my hands like you do. I did buy a box of the disposable plastic gloves to use when I polish our furniture and then decided to use them to handle meat I cook. But I am 'Queen of the Paper Towels" Bounty stock holders must love me. I spray my kitchen counters with a cleaner, wipe them down with paper towels. Then lay out paper towels to work on my veggies or meat. I just don't want to serve up a dish of botulism.
Really good to hear the responses. I usually prep my vegetables first also, but even with things like potatoes, I'd be washing my hands before moving on, since they leave the gritty feel. I used meatloaf as an example but there are some other dishes that make me feel like I spend as much time washing my hands as I do prepping the meal. I see nothing wrong with it and don't plan to change it. But admittedly so, I also have a food/germ "issue" that I don't eat any leftovers if more than a day old, and if meat isn't cooked within two days of thawing, it goes in the garbage. I cook a lot, so that doesn't happen often but it has happened.
I was wondering if anyone would come on here and say things like "As long as its cooked together, who cares" I just wanted to know if I'm the minority or the majority.
That would be me- generally, if it's gonna get cooked, fuhgedaboudit. I usually prep my meat first, because 99.9% of the time it's gonna go out on the grill and I rub it with various seasonings beforehand and let it sit for a while. I'l wash 'em after prepping chicken, because it's usually slimy-juicey and I get cakes of rub on my fingers...and because of some of the horror stories about chicken processing plants. I'm not real scared of it, though, and I've even eaten raw chicken (not intentionally- it was a restaurant with very dim lighting and I was about half-way through it before I realized it hadn't been cooked) and it didn't kill me.
Some people are way too germophobic these days.
No leftovers more than a day old? Heck, I've eaten stuff that's been in the fridge for two or three weeks. If it isn't green and doesn't smell bad I'll, eat it. Forgot Saturday night's beans on the stove? No problem, crank the heat under them and have them for breakfast with my eggs and sausages.
Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot, nine days old. Wintertime I make stews (with lots of peas), the pot will get other meats and veggies added over a period of days, it sits on a trivet on the woodstove and sometimes it'll go for a week or more. Yum-yum, the meat gets nice and tender, just take it off the cast-iron trivet and set it right on the stovetop to hot it up good. If it's getting low on liquid I just dump some more Guinness into it.
Don't worry so much, you'll end up giving yourself a heart attack.
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I've never measured? But I do know I kill small forests with my paper towel use. I DO have dish towels that I have been aiming to use more. It's just a habit to grab a paper towel, but I've been getting better about it.
