Washing hands before eating

[Saurdaysarentwhattheyusedtobe]

Do you do it?

Do you make your Dc do it?

I wash my hands before eating if I'm eating out somewhere. Usually because I've been out and about and just like to freshen up.

At home, I wouldn't routinely wash my hands if I was about to eat something that someone else had prepared and I was going to use cutlery to eat. If I have cooked it, I will have already washed my hands before/after. If I need to use my hands to eat, burger etc, then I'll wash my hands.

Currently sat on the sofa waiting for DP to bring me spaghetti bolognese, haven't washed my hands but I don't shovel spaghetti in with my hands!

No. I wash them when needed - after touching raw meat etc, I usually do it when I get in from being out. I don't need to wash them before I eat, just because. Neither does my child.

I'm a bit lax with hand washing after the loo as well tbh. I don't touch anything except loo roll. I do after a no 2 but not a wee!

I honestly think a bit of dirt is good for us.

I always wash my hands before eating, cooking, handling food, emptying the dishwasher or setting the table. I would expect other people to do the same.

I understand different opinions but I really don't see how it can be massively disgusting.

I've just eaten dinner (we eat early with young DC) and my fingers didn't touch my food, my mouth, or the ends of the my cutlery that go in my mouth. I literally only touched the handle of my knife and fork, and the handle of the serving spoon. So I'm not sure why a meal (when eaten with cutlery) is a particularly essential part of the day to have clean hands for, over and above other times of the day. I don't put my fingers in/around my mouth, or in my food, or on the ends of my cutlery.
If I was eating something that I used my fingers for (or that required fingers to serve, eg slicing cake and transferring to a plate), I'd wash my hands, and I wash my hands before and after cooking/preparing food.

I tend not to piss on my hands.

Ditto.

I wonder who has the healthier microbiome.
The constant hand washers or the chilled people?

People who spend time gardening end up with much better gut health and so do those they live with.

Most of the time I have soil under my finger nails. It doesn't come off with a hand wash. I've been known to stick my fingers into the mud in the winter just to achieve that effect :)

Absolutely amazed that people wash their hands after a wee!

You do realise that zillions of bacteria, viruses and mould spores are everywhere and will be on your hands almost immediately after washing. Some of them will come from the towel you dry your hands on.

Absolutely amazed that people wash their hands after a wee

I'm absolutely amazed that people don't 🤢

Never and never.

Never do, never get sick.

I've had food poisoning twice in half a century. Both times from eating seafood in a restaurant.

This thread explains why COVID, and more recently flu, was so rife 😱

I wash after the loo and before cooking. That's it. It's fine.

I never ever get sick. My 16 year old has never had a vomiting bug in his entire life.

I'm nearly 60 and an upset stomach, D & V etc is a very rare event for me. Perhaps my immune system gets a decent workout instead of being shielded from any germs at all.

We live amongst trillions and trillions of microbial lifeforms, plus the billions that live inside us all. I really cannot be arsed trying to make my surroundings sterile.

I wash them after I've handled meat. That's it.

I rarely get ill either, nor have I ever had covid!

Bogginsthe3rd · Today 17:41

Some real manky dirty folk on this thread. Wash your hands more people !

Why would we do that when we have experienced no adverse effects? Good hygiene requires washing your hands after the toilet and after handling raw meat/fish or something dirty, not before eating your own food with your own hands (probably with cutlery)!

No and no

Exactly.

If finger food like packed lunch sandwiches, yes. If knife and fork food, no, can’t see why I would?

No if we're just at home. If I'd been out somewhere I always wash my hands when I get home. I wash my hands before preparing food, after blowing my nose and after going to the loo.

After the loo or changing a nappy, of course.

Before I cook, of course.

Before I feed the baby, of course.

Before I eat? Depends on if I've been doing anything recently that demands it.

Doesn't seem to have caused me an issue. My immune system is rock solid and I'm very very rarely ill.

No, because I have an adult child that was as a non-adult child was OCD about handwashing and the state she left them in and was horrific

If they are visibly dirty wash them

Otherwise, you will probably survive the dirt

After the toilet, doing the outdoor bins, picking up after my dog or doing something else equally gross - yes I wash my hands.

That's it, I certainly don't bother before eating. Germs are good for the immune system!

Not unless they are visibly grubby. That's what cutlery is for...so you don't have to touch your food 🤷‍♀️