I am sure most of you know that I have a passion for food. Something else that is a passion of mine might seen kind of strange, but the two are very related. One could almost say I am obsessed with this other subject; cooking in a clean kitchen. What most people call the “stomach flu” is usually due to eating food that is not properly prepared and then the germs get spread.

When preparing food for yourself and others to eat, it is VITAL that you use some precautions. Cleanliness in the kitchen is not just about wiping things down and doing the dishes. With just a few simple changes, you can make your kitchen a “clean cookin’ machine”!

Food Safety Basics for Home Cooks

First lets start with the basic. It may seem obvious to you, but hand washing is essential when cooking both before, during and after.

Here are some other tips for cooking safely in the kitchen

• Never “re-use” a cutting board for a different task without washing first, in hot soapy water. Many people just flip over the cutting board and use the same board for chopping both veggies and cutting up meat. This is a huge no-no! This is called cross contamination and is the #1 way food is made unsafe for consumption. I have actually have two different colored boards for these jobs. One is for meats only and the other is for veggies etc. Make sure to disinfect the counter after cutting up something on a board to prevent juices from other foods getting into your RTE (ready-to-eat) foods.
• Keep meat on the bottom of your fridge and always place it on a plate to prevent spillover of juices and blood.
• NEVER eat food that requires refrigeration if it has sat out at room temp more than 3-4 hours and always cool down food before placing in your fridge (more on that in another article). If you put hot food in your fridge, it can alter the temp in the fridge and cause spoilage of other foods.
• NEVER let food thaw on the counter. Sure people have done it and not gotten sick, but why risk it? If food that requires cooking or refrigeration sits out more than 4 hours, it can grow enough bacteria to make you sick even IF you cook it after.
• When re-heating, always reheat to 165 degrees F internally. Get in the habit of checking foods when you reheat them. If re-heating in a microwave, stop halfway and stir the item to break up any cold spots and distribute the heat evenly an continue microwaving.
• Make sure you cook meat to proper internal temps. Many people don’t know what the proper temps for foods are so I have included it here for some common foods. It isn’t enough to just visually see that you think it is done. Place a thermometer in the meat and see what temp it stays at for 15 seconds.
• Don’t just wipe up messes, disinfect them with hot soapy water before moving forward. This goes for your hands, too. If you cut up veggies, wash them thoroughly before moving onto your next task. It only takes 30 seconds!

Proper meat temps:

For Chicken, always cook to 165 Degrees F

For Ground meat like beef, its 160.

For fish, cook to 145

For Pork, cook to 145.

It is essential that you have a food thermometer. You can get an easy to read digital thermometer for a low cost on Amazon. When I say cook to a certain temperature, it is vital that you do so as bacteria can survive if you don’t.

I suggest keeping this chart from the Food Safety website handy.

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It happens when you least are ready for it. You get a phone call from someone that they are kind of near you and they would like to come see you and your main living area is a mess. You try to keep your home “guest ready”, but for some reason, that never seems to happen when guests are ready to come over. It’s the one day after your child was sick or you got wrapped up in some project and simply decided you didn’t feel like picking up the mess that evening.

If you have a quick 15 minutes before they arrive, you can do a quick clean-up that you can at least give your home the appearance of being clean without doing a deep clean right there and then so you can focus on the more important things, like spending time with your guest.

How to Do a 15 Minute Cleanup for Guests

First, grab a laundry basket and start tossing anything that doesn’t belong there in it. You can worry about where it goes later. Put the basket in a bedroom.

If you have mail or other papers lying around, grab a folder. Slide them all in it so they don’t get lost.

Do a quick sweep of the kitchen and spot clean. Toss any dirty dishes in the dishwasher or stove to get them out of sight. You don’t have to actually clean them right now, just get them in a place where your guests won’t see them.

Run a rag over the counters where you will be entertaining and dust these areas quickly.

Take the trash out so your home smells fresh. If you have a diffuser for essential oils, you could use this as well, but b aware that some people may have sensitivities to scents.

Since guests seem to always need to use the bathroom, do a quick wipe over the toilet and sink and toss anything out of place in a drawer.

Run the vacuum over the main floor area. Don’t worry about the whole house, you can get to that later.

This usually only takes me about 15 minutes if I rush. Remember that guests usually won’t notice anything you think is super out of place or the fine messy details you know are there. Don’t be too focused on these areas, and instead worry about de-cluttering and quick wipe downs.