s/o returning to normal life - sanitizing groceries

[Teresa in MO]

I didn't want to hijack the return to normal life thread, is anyone still wiping down their groceries?  Since the beginning of March, I have been wiping down groceries.  Usually unloading the bags from the car to my porch, discarding any outer boxes that I can, wiping down glass and plastic with clorox wipes, taking produce and meat out of packaging.  It is exhausting to make a grocery trip and takes forever.  So last week when I went to the store I had planned on coming home and put the groceries up without doing it.  I couldn't do it, they just felt so dirty!  LOL  If you were doing this, are you still doing it?  I try and take groceries from the back of the shelves.  Or tell me if you never did this.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Never did it. 

ETA:  I wash all fresh produce and cook thoroughly all meats so I'm not worried about them.  Pantry items tend to stay on my shelves for a few days before use anyway so past the time when the virus is supposed to be still viable on surfaces.  I do wash my hands well after I come home. 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Jean in Newcastle

[alisoncooks]

I never did. (I just wash my hands afterwards.)

[regentrude]

Did it a couple times in the very beginning for things that needed refrigeration (everything else was quarantined in the garage for a bit). But haven't been doing that in a long time, since surfaces do not seem to play a significant role in transmission, and I am washing my hands during food prep anyway.

Edited June 15, 2020 by regentrude

[rebcoola]

Never did it.

[Ausmumof3]

Not anymore.  Transmission via surfaces seems low and we have zero active cases. 
actually I didn’t do much wiping mostly I wouldn’t bring the bags into the house though.  I still wash produce we don’t peel but that’s standard protocol for us 

[prairiewindmomma]

I still leave the shelf stable stuff in bags for a few days. I wash all produce well. I don’t sanitize wipe everything refrigerated though. 

[Pen]

Yes for anything I use right away. Yes for produce (though I did that before CV19). 

If sitting time will be as long as surface virus is supposed to need to deactivate, not now that I have a sense of that timeframe. 

[katilac]

Never did it. 

We use the grocery bags for scooping the cat boxes, and I do toss the new ones in the utility room for a couple of days so they aren't used right away. 

Edited June 15, 2020 by katilac

[melmichigan]

I wipe down contact items like refrigerator containers i.e. milk, OJ, that type of thing, and anything I'll use right away.  Most things I know will sit on a shelf long enough not to be an issue so I just have the kids wash hands well after unloading things.  

[KungFuPanda]

I never did. I wash the produce, counters, and my hands like crazy. I was never going to eat the packaging, so I didn’t sanitize it. I have a high risk-kid, but wiping down all my cans seemed like an heroic effort for no real pay off. 

[Teresa in MO]

Thanks everyone, I feel like I've been given permission not to go overboard!!  Like most of you, I've alway washed produce well, and we have always wiped off milk and juice containers before putting in the fridge.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Teresa in MO said:

I didn't want to hijack the return to normal life thread, is anyone still wiping down their groceries?  Since the beginning of March, I have been wiping down groceries.  Usually unloading the bags from the car to my porch, discarding any outer boxes that I can, wiping down glass and plastic with clorox wipes, taking produce and meat out of packaging.  It is exhausting to make a grocery trip and takes forever.  So last week when I went to the store I had planned on coming home and put the groceries up without doing it.  I couldn't do it, they just felt so dirty!  LOL  If you were doing this, are you still doing it?  I try and take groceries from the back of the shelves.  Or tell me if you never did this.

Yup. Except I spray it all down with peroxide - faster kill than clorox wipes, plus no odor/taste weirdness if it gets on the food. 

I don't take the meat out of the packaging, I just spray down the packaging with the peroxide. 

Produce is a PIA, as it seems that getting peroxide on it makes it go bad faster..but it also could be that just getting it via delivery is the issue - sitting in a hot trunk with a bunch of other's groceries on top of it while they make multiple stops to deliever stuff probably isn't helping. 

I'm rinsing grapes, berries, etc in water then letting them sit out on the counter for a few hours before refrigerating.  Washing apples in soapy water. Bananas I just l let sit for a day, same with potatoes, etc. 

[J-rap]

I never wiped down groceries, or boxes that arrived in the mail.  I did get in the habit of either washing my hands often or giving them (my hands) a squirt of my homemade sanitizing gel after touching things coming in from outside.  About once a day I take one sanitizing wipe and wipe down door knobs, faucet handles, light switches, random handles, my phone, my keys, etc, all in the period of maybe one minute.   I'll continue to do those things.

[mumto2]

For freezer items we are no longer doing everything.  We started isolating the things that are single use etc in a big bag inside the chest freezer and I can grab them from the bag knowing that I should wash my hands after.  Makes things quicker.  Things like giant bags of veg etc I just dump in a zip lock so I can use them multiple times easily.

[Shoeless]

I do not do it any longer, except I'll wipe down canned items that require a can opener, (rather than a pull ring to open). Once it was determined that surfaces were a low-risk, I decided to stop wearing myself out.

[HSmomof2]

3 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Never did it. 

ETA:  I wash all fresh produce and cook thoroughly all meats so I'm not worried about them.  Pantry items tend to stay on my shelves for a few days before use anyway so past the time when the virus is supposed to be still viable on surfaces.  I do wash my hands well after I come home. 

This is what I’ve done as well. 

[easypeasy]

I finally stopped this past week. I still store things on a sort of rotating basis - I buy when we're out of something in the cabinet/fridge. I move stuff from the new garage pantry into the kitchen. Then restock the garage pantry from the new groceries. So it sits for a while before coming inside. Freezer stuff just goes right in. And we wash veggies and fruits before eating them now (instead of when I bring them home from the grocery store). We ruined many veggies and fruits by washing too early...

Still trying to wipe down surfaces/handles frequently but I lose track of days/hours, so who knows how frequently it's happening... 😕 

[Pawz4me]

I never wiped down anything (groceries, mail, packages). It never made any sense to me. I'm not doing it now, either, and our cases/tests positive rate here are much higher than ever.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Pawz4me

[JustEm]

I watched my mom wipe down the groceries once, it took so long that I just decided it was a risk I was willing to take by not wiping them down.

[marbel]

We did it for a while, but have stopped. It was such a production and we never really knew if it was necessary. When the word came out that surfaces were a very low risk, we stopped.  

[Momto6inIN]

I tried once and decided that was a crazy train of spiral thinking that if I jumped on I would never get off. Because now I have all these clean groceries and dirty Clorox wipes in my hand, so now I have to clean the Clorox wipes container because I touched it with my hand. And I touched the shelves with my hands as I put them in the pantry. And probably the counters. And .... just no.

[Joker]

29 minutes ago, Momto6inIN said:

I tried once and decided that was a crazy train of spiral thinking that if I jumped on I would never get off. Because now I have all these clean groceries and dirty Clorox wipes in my hand, so now I have to clean the Clorox wipes container because I touched it with my hand. And I touched the shelves with my hands as I put them in the pantry. And probably the counters. And .... just no.

Yeah, we did it a few times and it just made my anxiety sky rocket. We quit a while ago and I feel much better about things now.

[ktgrok]

6 hours ago, kand said:

I’m still doing it, but not as thoroughly as I was. I know it’s low risk, but low risk is enough for me to still feel I need to take some precautions. If it were only dh and I, I wouldn’t and would just wash my hands after opening something and immediately throwing the package away (which I still do anyway). I have kids who are constantly helping themselves to food, though, and I can’t count on them to all do the same, and to not touch their faces after they do so. 
 

I use hydrogen peroxide on refrigerated and frozen packaging, and put other stuff aside for 1-3 days. If it’s glass or plastic and someone wants it before three days, I either dump it out of the package or give it a quick wipe down before giving it to them. 

Yup. That's a big part of it. 

And honestly, the whole "surfaces are low risk" doesn't jive with the "just wash your hands and don't worry" message. If surfaces are low risk, why does everyone keep talking about washing your hands? And wiping doorknobs, etc? If it is enough of a risk that we are still being told constantly to wash our hands, I don't see how it isn't enough of a risk to spray down the groceries. If it is low risk enough I don't need to do that (for my own comfort level) it would be also low risk enough I don't have to be constantly washing/sanitizing my hands, you know?

And since I know that the virus can live much longer in the fridge/freezer (up to years in the freezer) I'd rather just deal with it when I'm putting them away. I unload things onto the table, spray and wait 1 minute, then put away.

[ktgrok]

46 minutes ago, Momto6inIN said:

I tried once and decided that was a crazy train of spiral thinking that if I jumped on I would never get off. Because now I have all these clean groceries and dirty Clorox wipes in my hand, so now I have to clean the Clorox wipes container because I touched it with my hand. And I touched the shelves with my hands as I put them in the pantry. And probably the counters. And .... just no.

lol. There is a video somewhere of a guy washing hands with this issue. It's hysterical. 

And yeah, I just use the spray bottle, spray down the table full of groceries, let sit one minute or so. While sitting I wash my hands. Then put away. Unload more, repeat, until done. 

[Ausmumof3]

23 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Yup. That's a big part of it. 

And honestly, the whole "surfaces are low risk" doesn't jive with the "just wash your hands and don't worry" message. If surfaces are low risk, why does everyone keep talking about washing your hands? And wiping doorknobs, etc? If it is enough of a risk that we are still being told constantly to wash our hands, I don't see how it isn't enough of a risk to spray down the groceries. If it is low risk enough I don't need to do that (for my own comfort level) it would be also low risk enough I don't have to be constantly washing/sanitizing my hands, you know?

And since I know that the virus can live much longer in the fridge/freezer (up to years in the freezer) I'd rather just deal with it when I'm putting them away. I unload things onto the table, spray and wait 1 minute, then put away.

Because in the early days the thought was that this was a significant means of spread but the newer research seems to be showing its mostly airborne transmission so masking and distancing is more important.  I also suspect telling people to wash their hands gave them some kind of public health message to get out and reassure people that is a good message anyway while they worked it out.  Though given the amount of flip flopping I think it’s totally understandable if people still disinfect their groceries.  It’s just for me personally without local cases and that being lower risk apparently and being a total pain in the butt to do I’m ok with dropping it.

[Bambam]

I never did it. I do wash produce a little more thoroughly now though. 

I do wash my hands before and after preparing food (and often in the middle too!) I do wash my hands before eating. I do wash my hands when I return from the grocery store. I do wash my hands after putting groceries away. 

[EmseB]

4 hours ago, Momto6inIN said:

I tried once and decided that was a crazy train of spiral thinking that if I jumped on I would never get off. Because now I have all these clean groceries and dirty Clorox wipes in my hand, so now I have to clean the Clorox wipes container because I touched it with my hand. And I touched the shelves with my hands as I put them in the pantry. And probably the counters. And .... just no.

Yes. I mean I tried the grocery thing one time and there was just no end to the washing of things that touched the things that touched things.

[mlktwins]

Yep, have from the beginning and still do.  My home is my safety zone and this is part of it.  We put the groceries in the garage and DH and I wipe them down.  Sometimes we leave non-perishables in the garage for a few days (like boxes of cereal).  I feel more comfortable doing it :-).  Eveyone has to do what they are most comfortable with.  We do get groceries for 2 sets of elderly parents too.  So...we would be wiping down for them if we weren't wiping down for us!