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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU or is DH? Cooking and food hygiene.

206 replies

Chickenandbread · 08/08/2025 20:41

I cooked dinner this evening. One of the ingredients was chicken. I diced it on a separate chopping board with a separate knife. Veg and other dry ingredients that needed chopping were done on a different board with a different knife. In my view this is normal and basic food hygiene.

Sat down to eat in the dining room. I hadn't cleared everything up from the kitchen counter yet. DH wanted some crusty bread to go with his meal so he went into the kitchen to cut some and brought me a slice too.

After we'd finished eating I went back into the kitchen and saw he'd used the dirty chicken board and knife to slice the bread. I was angry with him for using an obviously dirty board and knife. He was angry with me for being angry with him.

AIBU or is DH?

OP posts:
Isittimeformynapyet · 08/08/2025 23:59

BellissimoGecko · 08/08/2025 21:53

I always cut chicken with scissors straight into the pan. I never chop it on a board.

You are both wrong. you for not clearing up, him for not checking/noticing the board was dirty.

Even real chefs in proper restaurants with hygiene ratings of 5/5 use chopping boards for meat. All you scissor users don't get extra hygiene points for being unskilled! I've seen people do it and it's cackhanded, slower and more dangerous than using a knife.

Everyone saying simply remove the chickeny things straight to the washing up are perfectly correct.

JamDisaster · 08/08/2025 23:58

I suppose it depends how things work on your household but for us, if you chop raw meat on a board, that board immediately gets cleaned (and I’m quite a sloppy washer up). I wouldn’t leave a raw meat board on the side without at least mentioning it, bit grim. So not all on your husband.

Obimumkinobi · 08/08/2025 23:55

Who even attempts to cuts bread with the same TYPE of knife you chop meat with? That chicken juice must have been ground in to the bread😱

I would also cut veg & meat on the same board if they were all going to be cooked together but weirdly I have to chop the veg first. Board into the dishwasher and a quick squirt of Dettox on the surrounding surface.

Inchworms · 08/08/2025 23:51

Did he know it was chickeny and do it anyway, or not realise. That changes things

MumWifeOther · 08/08/2025 23:43

I would be disgusted but also is there a chance he didn’t know? If I’m honest I would never have left the knife or chopping board out if it had been used for raw chicken, as I clean / wash up as I go along, and always sanitise the surfaces after handling raw meat.

My friend got salmonella with this same scenario. Hope none of you get unwell 🤞🏽

soupyspoon · 08/08/2025 23:41

Im not a cleany cleany type of person, I wouldnt think to wash up things prior to eating, however I wouldnt chop up meat on a board, I never do that, I do it with scissors and I hold the meat with a fork in any case so I dont even touch it.

The fork and scissors goes in the sink to wait for someone to put them in the dishwasher.

I dont like the idea of raw meat on a chopping board for some reason.

Grammarnut · 08/08/2025 23:34

I wash the board I have used for meat as soon as I have finished. No mistakes, then.

LBFseBrom · 08/08/2025 23:32

You were absolutely right, as someone else said, it would have been better to put the chickeny board and knife in the sink.

However I didn't know that when I was young. I'd have wiped the board so it was dry and cut bread on it.

Your husband probably didn't realise so don't be hard on him, now he knows he won't do it again. You will no doubt survive.

Coffeislife · 08/08/2025 23:13

You are both grim

NeverDropYourMooncup · 08/08/2025 23:10

FunMustard · 08/08/2025 21:32

Heaven's to Betsy OP, don't you know it's YOUR fault for not immediately washing up the used items in case your husband - who isn't blind - were to pick up and use a dirty knife for bread?!

It's not fucking unhygienic in your own home to leave the dishes until after you've finished eating, honestly the competitive cleanliness on this site is out of control.

He's a fucking idiot and I'd say the same about anyone over the age of about 10 who used an obviously dirty knife to cut bread.

It's more about efficiency in a tight working space - you clean as you go so nothing gets potentially contaminated and you don't end up having to return to a pit to clean up after dinner - or going to get some bread and there not being a clear space so somebody picks up the knife left on the side and cuts the bread on the cutting board that's been left out.

Isittimeformynapyet · 08/08/2025 23:01

maybein2022 · 08/08/2025 20:58

Just seen your update. Your DH is wrong, then. Still think it would have taken two minutes for you to put the chicken packet in the bin and board in the sink though.

Two whole minutes!? How big is your kitchen?

MalcolmMoo · 08/08/2025 23:00

I don’t even eat meat but I know you cut and prepare raw meat separately otherwise it can make you ill, you have separate food prep areas

Tulipvase · 08/08/2025 22:59

Horsie · 08/08/2025 22:57

If you do the meat last, you can put the board and knife straight into the soapy water and then it's not hanging around. If it had veg on it last, I might forget it had had chicken on it. I suppose you're right, it's just that we've been taught to Fear the Chicken so much that the idea of cutting veg among the chicken germs is a bit grim!

Show quote history

you are right. I pretty much do cut the chicken last, so I can put the board in the sink. I just wondered if there was something I was missing hygiene wise.

CandyCane457 · 08/08/2025 22:59

Chickenandbread · 08/08/2025 21:45

OK I accept it wasn't ideal to.leave it on the counter but it was so obvious it had been used and there were other clean chopping boards plus a clean bread board in the cupboard as well as plenty of clean knives available.

For the people saying they use scissors, without a board ever, this is something I've never seen. How do you evenly dice a chicken breast with scissors ? Wouldn't the handle of the scissors get raw meat juices inside it or are your scissors entirely metal?

I always use scissors to chop my chicken straight into the pan/seasoning dish. It’s so quick, less washing up and faff, and I couldn’t care less if the chicken is “evenly diced” or not!

Horsie · 08/08/2025 22:59

Blueskiesandrainbows · 08/08/2025 22:55

I always use a throw away glove to hold chicken and cut with scissors, then I open scissors and put them flat in the dishwasher so they get completely cleaned. No board, chicken bits straight into the bin, throw glove away, much more hygienic.

What kind of kitchen surface do you have? I'm guessing cutting the chicken right on the surface wouldn't work with wood.

Teacupover5 · 08/08/2025 22:58

Chickenandbread · 08/08/2025 22:37

I'm not usually dramatic but I really do not want campylobacter due to DH.

I honestly cannot believe DH is so blind he didn't notice the residue nor just take a clean board and a clean bread kmife out.

I accept it would have been better to put it in the dishwasher or wash it up straight away but it is Friday evening, its been a long week, and I was just looking forward to a nice meal so I left it.

How long is this week that you can’t spare 5 seconds to ditch a board /wash up …not buying that

pizzaHeart · 08/08/2025 22:58

Of course you should have put it away but these board and knife could have stayed there for 3 days and I still wouldn’t use them, no one with a bit of common sense would.
So your DH is BVU.

Horsie · 08/08/2025 22:57

Tulipvase · 08/08/2025 22:52

But why? If they are literally all being cooked together?

Show quote history

If you do the meat last, you can put the board and knife straight into the soapy water and then it's not hanging around. If it had veg on it last, I might forget it had had chicken on it. I suppose you're right, it's just that we've been taught to Fear the Chicken so much that the idea of cutting veg among the chicken germs is a bit grim!

Tulipvase · 08/08/2025 22:56

beachwalkx · 08/08/2025 22:53

But if it’s not cooked properly or you eat it raw… would you eat a piece of chicken if someone told you there was a 1-2/10 chance you would get sick? I wouldn’t

Show quote history

It was more the bleach comments I was referring to. I do,of course, attempt to cook safely and in 30 plus years of cooking, I have never poisoned anyone!
And no, I don’t want to eat raw chicken.

Blueskiesandrainbows · 08/08/2025 22:55

I always use a throw away glove to hold chicken and cut with scissors, then I open scissors and put them flat in the dishwasher so they get completely cleaned. No board, chicken bits straight into the bin, throw glove away, much more hygienic.

beachwalkx · 08/08/2025 22:53

Tulipvase · 08/08/2025 22:42

Whilst it is a bit grim and I do think both parties are partly to blame, I feel there is a bit of hysteria on here. Apparently 10 to 20 % roughly of chicken is infected with salmonella or campylobacter, frozen chicken being worse. And of course that’s not a risk to be taken lightly but some reactions on this are a bit extreme.

But if it’s not cooked properly or you eat it raw… would you eat a piece of chicken if someone told you there was a 1-2/10 chance you would get sick? I wouldn’t

Flossflower · 08/08/2025 22:52

FunMustard · 08/08/2025 21:32

Heaven's to Betsy OP, don't you know it's YOUR fault for not immediately washing up the used items in case your husband - who isn't blind - were to pick up and use a dirty knife for bread?!

It's not fucking unhygienic in your own home to leave the dishes until after you've finished eating, honestly the competitive cleanliness on this site is out of control.

He's a fucking idiot and I'd say the same about anyone over the age of about 10 who used an obviously dirty knife to cut bread.

I tend to agree with you. Anyone with half a brain should know about raw chicken. Put it in the dishwasher or leave it on the side untouched. Do not put in the sink because if anyone runs a tap the germs can be sprayed elsewhere.
Bread with a dinner - YABU OP.

Tulipvase · 08/08/2025 22:52

Horsie · 08/08/2025 22:50

But the veg chopped first!

Show quote history

But why? If they are literally all being cooked together?

whitewineandsun · 08/08/2025 22:50

Spies · 08/08/2025 20:50

To be fair I wouldn't have thought you'd leave the knife and board out you'd used to cut the chicken on, wouldn't you have put them both immediately in the sink or dishwasher? so I can see why he wouldn't have questioned using them.

Same. Did he know?

Having read updates, you're both unreasonable.

Horsie · 08/08/2025 22:50

GiantTeddyIsTired · 08/08/2025 21:15

If the chicken and veg were all going in together to be cooked, rather than eaten raw I'd have used the same board and knife.

But ABsolutely not for bread later! I would have put the knife and cutting board in the dishwasher/sink/obviously ready for one of those two places though, just in case one of the kids doesn't realise (they know not to use a meat-cutting board for other stuff, but you can't really see chicken residue)

But the veg chopped first!