Food hygiene is the top rule for a safe clean house. We cook meals each day to feed the ones we love. We must keep the room clean so no one gets sick.
A few small steps stop bad germs in their fast tracks. This guide shows you how to prep food with deep care.
Wash Your Hands First
The first step is to wash your bare hands quite well. Our skin holds bad germs that we can not see at all. These germs can jump from our hands to our fresh meals. Use hot tap water and lots of soap each time you wash. Scrub for twenty full ticks of the clock to be quite safe.
Clean hands keep the whole dish safe for your large group. If you touch a trash bin, wash them up right away. If you rub your nose, go straight back to the deep sink. It is a fast habit that saves you from deep bad pain. Do not skip this step even if you are in a rush.
Stop Germs From Spreading
Germs love to move from raw meat to your fresh green leaves. We call this cross spread and it is a huge health risk. It takes place when you use one tool for all your chores. Do not cut raw beef and then chop a crisp green salad. The bad bugs from the red beef will get in the bowl.
Use one wood board for your raw thick cuts of meat. Use a new clean board for your fresh green root plants. If you just have one board, wash it right then and there. Use hot soap and a stiff brush to scrub it clean and neat. Wash your steel blade hot before you cut the next fresh thing.
Keep Raw Meat By Itself
You must store raw meat far away from your fresh cold food. Keep it deep inside your cold box to stay safe all week. Raw cuts can drip red juice that holds very bad live germs. If this raw juice hits your fresh sweet milk, it ruins it. The bugs will grow fast and make you quite sick in a day.
Place all raw meat on the low bottom shelf deep inside. This way, no juice can drip down on your fresh cut snacks. Put the meat in a tight hard bin with a firm tight lid. You can also use a thick zip bag that seals up quite tight. This traps the bugs inside so they do not spread far and wide.
Read More: Knife And Cut Safety In Your Home
Check The Heat Of Your Meat
High heat is the best way to kill bugs in raw cold food. Each type of meat needs a set heat point to be safe. Use a sharp steel probe to check the thick core part. Do not just look at the pink juice or the dark hard crust. Only a real heat check proves that the bad bugs are dead.
Pork needs to be hot all the way deep to the core. Chicken must reach a high heat so it is safe to eat now. Fish cooks fast but you still must check the thick back end. Take the time to poke the probe in deep and straight down. It gives you true peace of mind when you serve the warm plates.
Cool Your Leftovers Fast
Serve your hot food right when it is done on the hot stove. If you have extra food, put it away fast in the cold box. Do not let it sit out in the warm room air all night. Bad bugs grow fast when food sits out for too long a time. Put the spare food in the cold box in just two short hours.
When you want to eat the old meal, heat it up quite hot. Make sure thick steam rolls off the top of the hot deep dish. It needs to be hot all the way through the thick cold part. Cold spots in the middle can still hold live bad sick bugs. Heat it well so the next meal is a safe one for you too.
Wash Your Fresh Green Plants
We talk a lot about raw meat and the risks it brings in. But raw plants grown in the dirt can hold bad bugs too. You must wash all fresh fruit and crisp green tree leaves. Hold them straight in the fast stream of cool clean tap water. Rub the skins with your bare hands to get the loose dirt off.
Do not use harsh dish soap or bleach on your fresh greens. The soft skin of a sweet fruit can soak up the bad soap. Just use plain cool water and a stiff scrub brush to clean it. Scrub hard root foods like yams or round red beets quite well. Dry them with a clean cloth before you chop them up for soup.
Thaw Your Meat The Safe Way
Do not leave a block of frozen meat out on the warm desk. The warm air in the room will thaw the soft outside fast. The deep core will stay cold hard ice for a long long time. Bad bugs will grow on the warm outside in a flash of time. This is a very unsafe way to prep your cold hard raw meat.
The best way to thaw meat is in your main cold food box. Put the frozen block on a flat plate on the low bottom shelf. Let it sit there in the cold air for a full long day. It will thaw out slow and stay safe the whole long time. You can also use cold tap water if you seal the bag tight.
Handle Raw Eggs With Care
Raw eggs in a shell can hold bad bugs on the hard outside. Some bad bugs can even live right inside the raw yellow yolk. Treat raw eggs with the same deep care as raw cut red meat. Keep them in their main box inside the cold dark fridge. Do not put them in the warm front door of the cold box.
Wash your hands right after you crack a raw egg open wide. Do not let the raw yolk drip on the clean flat work desk. Cook your eggs so the yolk and the white are hard and firm. If you bake a sweet cake, do not eat the raw wet dough. The raw egg in the bowl can make you very sick in the gut.
Keep Pests Out Of The Room
Bugs and mice love to find a free fast meal in your house. They bring bad dirt and vile germs right to your clean prep desk. You must keep them out of the room where you make fresh meals. Seal up all small thin cracks in the base boards and the walls. Do not leave sweet crumbs on the hard floor when you go to bed.
Keep your dry goods in tight hard bins with firm snap lids. A thin paper bag will not stop a mouse with sharp front teeth. Take your trash bags out to the large street bin each day. A clean bright room with no spare food will not draw pests in. This keeps your home safe and your fresh food pure and clean.
Keep Your Spices Clean
Dry spice jars sit on the shelf for a very long long time. We grab them with our hands when we cook on the hot stove. If you touch raw meat, do not grab the small spice jar next. The bad germs will stay on the hard glass for a whole long week. Wash your hands first or use a clean wood spoon for the dry spice.
Keep your spice rack far from the high heat and the wet steam. Steam will make the dry spice clump up in a hard solid ball. It can make green mold grow deep inside the small glass spice jar. Wipe the outside of the jars with a damp cloth once a month. This keeps the dust off and makes the small jars look quite nice.
Use Clean Cloths And Towels
A cloth hand towel gets wet and dirty on a very fast pace. We wipe our hands on it when we rush through a hot meal. The damp wet cloth is a great place for bad bugs to grow. Do not use the same cloth to wipe the desk and dry clean plates. Use a fresh clean dry cloth for each new chore in the room.
Wash your wet towels in the hot wash box quite a whole lot. Dry them on high heat so they get crisp and bone dry fast. Keep a stack of clean dry cloths right near the main wash sink. Use paper sheets to wipe up raw red meat juice from a bad spill. Toss the dirty wet paper in the trash bin right then and there.
Serve Food The Safe Way
When the meal is all done, you must serve it with deep care. Do not use a dirty wood spoon to serve the fresh hot new food. Give each dish its own clean spoon or wide steel grab tongs. Keep hot foods quite hot and keep the cold foods quite cold. This stops the bad bugs from growing in the nice warm zone.
If you host a big feast, put the food out in small fresh rounds. Keep the rest in the cold box or hot on the low warm stove. Swap out the serving bowls when they get low on the hot food. Do not mix fresh hot food right into an old cold dirty bowl. This simple neat trick keeps the whole large feast safe to eat.