Washing vegetables in the kitchen sink

[ambra]

We keep a couple of Huge plastic bowls above the sink that are used for the sole purpose of washing, soaking and rinsing vegetables. I don't have a double sink, and my single sink usually has a dirty coffee mug in it. heehee.

[Porthos]

I've noticed something reading though these posts that I hadn't thought about. We have a dishwasher. We don't wash dishes in the sink. We do scrub it out but it doesn't see the steady stream of soap and hot water the sinks of some posters here see. That may contribute to why I fundamentally see my sink as an unsanitary surface for foods.

I don't wash very many of my fruits and vegetables but when I do I use one of my SS mixing bowls or rinse them using a colander.

It's funny. I am way more fastidious about clean and sanitized surfaces and equipment in the renaissance faire kitchens I cook in.

Oh, and I don't actually do the dishes at home any more. I pay my adult daughter a small sum each week to take care of cleaning the kitchen. She's unemployed and can use the bucks, and it buys me time to do other things.

[qrn]

I use 409 ,spraying it on the sink to clean it before I put cut up,raw chicken in it while I am braking it down,then again after , Also use it to spray the hand grinder parts after I grind meat and put it away,(its advertised on the bottle as "antibacterial"

Bud

[Panosmex]

We live in central Mexico, and all our produce gets washed first (in the sink, or in a colander or bowl n the sink), then, if it is to be eaten raw, disinfected in a solution of tap water and Microdyn (colloidal silver drops). I recently read the advice to wash all the produce when it comes home, and we've found that to be wise. In this way, here's no confusion later as to which produce was washed/disinfected and which wasn't, and the risk of cross contamination is virtually eliminated. Our experience is that raw produce keeps better after the above treatment, if properly stored.

What's gross is hair washing in the sink. Worse, while visiting friends, I recently saw a baby get its bath in a kitchen sink.

[Blether]

...the hand grinder parts...

They're an interesting case, aren't they ? I wash my hand grinder's parts after use, dry with paper towels (to stop the otherwise-instant rust, more than anything else) and wipe the unplated surfaces with vegetable oil, using the paper towels again. Before use, I pour boiling water over / through everything.

[Lior]

ISn't there a dishwasher cycle good for vegies and fruit?

[Susie Q]

I wash dishes, clean meat, rinse produce... and my hands in a double sink. I don't care which side I use . A splash of bleach after I've cleaned a chicken, a drizzle of dishsoap if it's something else., a good scrubbing at the end of the day. It seems to have worked all these years.

Nobody has ever gotten sick from the food coming out of my kitchen nor the home kitchens of my relatives and friends. We pretty much all clean the same way. I guess we've all got a cast iron stomach from being allowed to let dogs and cats lick our faces and hands as we crawled around on all fours putting intresting things in our mouths when we were kids.

I personally think it was the sun hot, unwashed tomatoes pulled from the back yard vines and eaten on the spot, the fruits and veggies I ate while I picked them with my grandpa, and the hole-in-the-wall restaurants my parents took us to becauuse they looked interesting.

[MellaMella]

My mom taught me to wash my sink out every night with a sanitizing mix of bleach and water.

I put anything and everything in the sink, but I also rub it down pretty often - Soft Scrub with Bleach or Barkeepers Friend and lots of hot, hot water - keeps it shiny Sometimes I just need a great big bowl, and it's the biggest bowl I've got.

[lame username]

I keep a small spray bottle of Lysol diluted to spec from the concentrate by the kitchen sink to disinfect the sink, utensils, cutting boards, nearby counter-top (and even hands), etc. after processing raw meat; then wash all in hot, soapy water.

Luckily I have a nice large laundry sink and dedicated scrub brush for washing dog poop off of shoes (only after spraying off as much as possible with a hose outside) and other unsavory tasks.

My grandmother's friend only allowed washing vegetables in his kitchen sink. Hands were to be washed in the bathroom, and dishes in a tub.