Cultural cleaning practices

[mubarak86]

Sort of reminded by another thread about how when I got with DH and spent time with his non British family, how they were horrified by some of my cleaning (or not so) ways.
Eg, his family always wash meat/chicken before use. Not just a rinse under the tap, but they use flour, lemon juice and some even use olive oil soap and massage it in, before thoroughly rinsing it off.
Another one is how they wash the dishes. Small bowl of warm soapy water, sponge is dipped in, dish washed and set aside before rinsing soap off. Wearing of flip flops in bathroom, no bare feet ever. Flip flops left in bathroom, never to be worn outside of bathroom.

Would be interested to hear if you are in a mixed culture marriage or if you are not white British in what ways you feel you do things differently (or even if you just know others) . Keep it respectful please, no one is asking for opinions on what is the "right" way to do things.

Washing machine in the kitchen. Pulley to dry washing in the bathroom or kitchen depending where the lights are in the two room. Scotland. Tenement.

My mum grew up on a farm in Ireland and was always very dogmatic about washing our hands whenever we came in from outdoors, and encouraged us to wash our hands at least once a day when in school. Woe betide anyone who didn't wash hands after using the loo too, every single time. I would consider hand washing to be one of the basic elements of hygiene tbh.

Mum would be aghast at the idea of an animal sharing a bed. She really doesn't like the idea of cats being indoors at all. Dogs would be tolerated indoors but only downstairs and never on furniture.

She always washed up in a basin in the sink, rinsed with tap water, put the dishes on the draining rack, then poured several kettlefuls of almost boiling water carefully over everything on the rack. Glasses were always washed separately using extremely hot water, and rinsed inside and out using extremely hot water.
I have a dishwasher . I buy kitchen sponges in bulk and throw them out frequently. I bleach my kitchen scrubbing brush about once a week.

We had to have indoor and outdoor shoes in the primary school I attended, in Dublin in the 70s. Shoes were changed in the corridor and kept in drawstring bags in cubbies.

I never wash meat - bacteria live throughout the meat, not just on the surface. I wash fruit and veg with warm soapy water, and I rinse them because otherwise you end up with fruit and veg tasting of soap.

I had a washing machine and dryer in the basement in my house, and currently have communal washer and dryer in the basement of the building where I live. I never iron but I fold clothes carefully when they come out of the dryer.

Airing bedding or anything else out of windows or on my deck is prohibited, but I like to open the windows and air out the apartment frequently even if only for ten minutes, in the colder months. Opening the windows in the hot summer months is counter productive thanks to the humidity. It's always so nice to throw open the windows when the crisp autumn days arrive.

Another question.

Am I the only person who was taught the order to wash up in school? I went to a girls' school run by The Sisters of Mercy in the 70s/80s and in some ways I think I went to school in 1950s Ireland. Lots of home economics and sewing and learning how to starch a shirt, hand wash etc but we genuinely had a lesson on how to wash up and whenever we had done some cooking we had to wash up afterwards.

So washing in order:

glasses / glass wear
plates / china / serving dishes
cutlery
cooking utensils
Pans / things that have been in the oven

Dry in the same order with a clean tea towel everything except the pans. Pans dried with well rung out dish cloth (I still have no idea why)

Fresh water to wash the dish cloths and tea towel, tea towel hung on the cooker to dry, dishcloth hung off the tap with the bowl on its side.

I was taught the order to wash up in brownies as well as how to change a bed sheet! But we did cutlery second. I can't remember if we did it this was in food tech as well? But yes it would be the cleanest items first. All in one bowl but since you were only meant to be doing one meal's worth at a time that kind of worked. When I became an adult I realised I could change the water as much as I liked which helped the washing up process greatly for me. I also learned a habit of using just boiled water and a brush to rinse the worst things first.

@BertieBotts A conflict with Brownies, interesting.

Now my Home Ec teacher was also my Guides leader so maybe she rebelled about the order.

Hate the idea of having the washing machine in the kitchen

I don't understand why so many posters find this distasteful.

I sort the washing out in the bedroom, bring it downstairs in the washing basket and it all goes straight into the machine.

What on earth is unhygienic about that? Having pets in the kitchen would be more unhygienic than dirty washing.

I don't understand why so many posters find this distasteful.

I don't find it distasteful, but it's rare here so it just seems odd and something I would not want. There is enough happening in a kitchen already without doing the washing there as well.

I’m not British but have British husband, step family and friends. I do not like their washing methods. They all do washing up in a bowl with hot water but only a tiny bit of washing up liquid. They don’t pre-rinse (just scrape off food remains) and do not rinse off afterwards either; some dry dishes with a tea towel which is not always necessarily clean. They scrub dishes with a brush which doesn’t seem as effective as a sponge. They also don’t seem to start with cleaner stuff first - chopping boards that had raw meat prepared on them will often go in first and wash the rest in the same water which is brown by the time they finish!. I have to secretly re-wash stuff my husband does as he doesn’t like being criticised but often the stuff remains greasy - thank goodness most stuff goes in the dish washer!.

Where I was born we scrape off food off the plate, put washing up liquid on the sponge and make sure that it lathers when we scrub the dishes to get rid of the grease. We then thoroughly rinse the dishes and make sure they look shiny & there’s no dirt or grease visible afterwards.

I think a lot of the Asian cultures do the same. Yet a lot of British people often think that people from other countries are dirty!

When my daughters were doing cooking lessons at school one teacher told them off for pre-rinsing with boiling water any thing that had been in contact with raw meat or eggs (which is what I do & taught them).

One of my friends lived in Hing Kong for a while, where expats tend to employ helpers. They all use the method from my birth country. My fiends expat friends were once complaining as tho why their helpers use so much washing up liquid - I explained how this is actually more hygienic.

@TwinTeensMum people who can't wash up properly drive me to despair! I know someone who doesn't use enough washing up liquid or properly hot water and there's often grease left on things!

I'm white British and we're not all like that! I was brought up to use plenty of dish liquid, hot, clean water...wash things in order of cleanest to dirtiest. Fresh water if needed. Glasses and silverware polished to a shine afterwards.

Everything had to be dried thoroughly - wet breeds germs - and we used a lot of paper towel as my mum considered tea towels unhygienic unless they were freshly changed with each use.

Washing up sponges, bowls, brushes, dishcloths etc rinsed clean each time and disinfected every night before bed.

@Basilbrushgotfat
sorry I should have made it clearer that my comments was only in relation to the British people I know - who are of an older generation.

I also disinfect the sponge every night & use paper for wiping surfaces as I remember my grandmother used to use a wiping cloth which I remember used to smell & feel greasy (odd bearing in mind the rest of the washing up methods the my family use).

Yes to putting washing up liquid on the sponge - not just adding a few drops in water! Then you squeeze the sponge a few times until it becomes very, very soapy and bubbly - you cover the plate / glass / pan / knife in that soap and then scrub it. Rinse with fresh water. There is absolutely no grease or even the smallest bubble left on it by the time you've rinsed it.

No, you don't end up buying tonnes of washing up liquid because the amount that goes on the sponge is tiny and also more efficiently used.

I use those washing up sponges that attach to a hollow plastic handle that you fill with washing up liquid. If you want to use a bit less you can dilute a bit with water. Seems like the perfect solution to me.

Though I am lucky to have a dishwasher to do most of it. I think maybe people don’t learn about washing up methods because so many have dishwashers, so hand washing is just for the occasional non dishwasher-safe item. I’d better remember to teach my son at some point.

I was taught washing up order at school in home ec - glass, cutlery, non-greasy, greasy, pots & pans. Not that we had any pots and pans in the cucumber-sandwich lesson that also covered washing up.

Dad & I took sarnies to work/school in plastic bags. They were brought home, and were re-used many times.
DM washed up in the same order as above, but never rinsed anything.
Then, same dishcloth was used to wipe down work surfaces & cooker hob.

Finally, our lunch bags were wiped out with that dishcloth.

<BiscuitLover3678 · 19/05/2022 20:05

different tea towels for drying hands and drying dishes>

My SIL in Germany has become more German than the Germans. SWMBO warned me in advance NOT to use the dishcloth for wiping my hands and v.v.
So I was startled at the gasps from SIL when I carefully picked up the dishcloth to dry the dishes. Apparently I had picked up the very similar "fruit-polishing cloth" 🙄

@sashh I wasn't taught by the Sisters of Mercy but that is exactly how I do the washing-up too! I don't remember anyone teaching me to do it in that order, just seems right.

Wiping your “v.v.”? Dare I even ask what that is?

Vice versa maybe? Although it is a bit unclear.

To me a tea towel is the dry cloth for drying dishes. You should really dry your hands on a hand towel.

Whereas a dishcloth is (often wet) cloth that you actually wash dirty dishes with. And wipe down surfaces. Although I think really you are supposed to have separate cloths for those 2 jobs.

Everyone has their own little ways. And people seem to enjoy feeling that their own ways are cleaner and far superior of course.

Having to adjust 'all' habits to another person's standards is hardly my interpretation of continued harmony, but having been with the same Yorkshireman, as a Lancastrian, for over 50 years, I know all about adjustments, ours weren't so one sided though.

I see you have adopted the Yorkshire approach of 'must have last word at all costs'. Apparently it's served you well. Congratulations on your enduring relationship, an achievement increasingly rare.

Omg living in Spain in a flat share one of the British guys used to just dump his plate in the washing up bowl with food still on it, like there was once a whole slice of white bread floating on the top of the water. He also used to wash one shirt at a time in the machine on a 3 hour programme. We encouraged him to move out fairly quickly.

Like Italy, Spanish kitchens often had a cupboard above the sink to let dishes dry out of sight and we would hang the bedding out of the windows every morning to dry in the sun. Shoes off at the front door and slippers in the house at all times, no carpets, just tiled floors. Any loose rugs were washed separately every week. I’ve still kept up most of the habits I learned in Europe, it just makes sense. I have a separate cupboard in the downstairs bathroom with a washing machine and dryer on top of each other. Makes it much easier to hang and sort washing once done.

newtoallthisshizzle you must have a large bathroom to sort laundy. Mine isnlt big enough to fold sheets, and I don't have enough flat surfaces to make piles.
I also don't have a tumble drier- that is a positive choice, for a number of reasons.

We have two bathrooms (I converted a bedroom into a bathroom in this and the previous house). After having two in an earlier house, I learned that I really like having my own and have been fortunate since in having the space to do it. The second smaller bathroom also contains the washer dryer. It’s DH’s space and so long as he has a loo, a shower and wash basin, he doesn’t care. That’s obvious from the state he leaves it in and one reason I don’t want to share. I don’t hang clothes out. I use a clothes maiden or the dryer. I find it much more practical for laundry to be washed and dried upstairs. After all, it starts out and end up there!

I have always wondered why UK people seem to all do their washing up in some kind of plastic bowl. Why is that? We just use the sink.