Collaborative Post¦ In the last year, we have all become more aware of the importance of cleaning our homes. If you want your family to be healthy, you need to stay on top of bacteria and this is especially important in the kitchen. You prepare food in there, so if there is a build up of bacteria, you could get seriously ill. Raw meat can also make you very sick if you don’t clean up properly after preparing it. Luckily, everybody knows this and we all clean the kitchen properly so all of the bacteria is dealt with, or so we think.
There are some spots in the kitchen that get missed so bacteria builds up over time and can potentially be a health hazard. These are some of the kitchen cleaning jobs you are probably missing.
Your Appliances
This is one that people usually forget because they assume that appliances clean themselves. Everybody knows that you need to clean the oven from time to time, but what about the washing machine or dishwasher? You’d be forgiven for thinking that they clean themselves while they’re cleaning your dishes or clothes, but they don’t. Over time, dirt and grime build up and when you use the appliances, you’re transferring all of that bacteria back onto the items inside. That’s bad news when you’re eating off plates that could be covered with bacteria. Knowing how to clean a dishwasher and washing machine is essential if you want to stay healthy. The good news is, you can get some great products that you put in while running empty appliances and they will give it a good clean. Doing this every few months will stop bacteria from collecting in your appliances.
Dirty Cloths
You use a cloth to clean up the kitchen, but how clean is the cloth? If you don’t swap your cloth for a new one that often, it’s probably teeming with bacteria and you are spreading that all over the work surfaces when you use it to wipe up. The best way to stay safe is to use separate cloths for different jobs, so you are not using the same cloth to wipe up raw meat juices and then clean your plates. You should also change the cloths regularly or at least soak them in bleach to kill all of the bacteria and keep them clean.
Wooden Surfaces
Wooden surfaces are very popular in kitchens these days and if you are remodelling, you might decide that you want a nice wooden worktop or even some wooden cutting boards. However, you have to be very careful because they can easily soak up bacteria. Cutting boards, in particular, are bad because they get lots of small scratches and grooves in them where bacteria can hide. Even when you wash them up, you don’t get rid of it all, so you should never use wooden cutting boards for things like raw meat. If you have wooden worktops, be very thorough with cleaning and don’t let water soak into them because that creates a breeding ground for bacteria.
These simple kitchen cleaning mistakes allow bacteria to grow and spread, which could make you very sick. But if you stay on top of these simple cleaning jobs, you can make sure that your family stays healthy.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.