To not use this saucepan again after slime making

[Servalan]

Hi there. I have OCD so can be a bit neurotic - don't want to overreact.

My daughter (very late teens) and a friend from college I think were feeling nostalgic for years past and have decided to make slime together. Just realised they are sitting in the garden making it in one of my saucepans (large stainless steel).

I'm thinking that this has potentially written the saucepan off for ever making food in it again safety wise - but I know I can worry about things unnecessarily, so just wanted a sense check

Thanks

Wash it?

What are they using to make slime?

Why wouldn't your dishwasher clean it properly? Doesn't it clean your pans?

I don't have a dishwasher so wash everything in the kitchen sink

No idea what they're making the slime with.

Well.... ask them?

But obviously it will be non-toxic, probably just flour, food colouring and the like.

Otherwise i think you have bigger issues than whether you re-use the saucepan.

Presumably you are able to clean pans usually?

Go and ask them what they're using...

That's probably the thing to nd out then, but it would have to be something very toxic before I'd throw a saucepan away.

Stainless steel is used as cooking utensil because it's doesn't absorb substances....

It's actually a great material and as long as you wash it, it will be good safe.

They have made it with PVA glue, contact lens solution (for the boric acid), bicarb of soda, out of date eye shadow and glitter

Just wash it thoroughly. You’ll be totally fine. I’m not a slattern (promise) but this wouldn’t cross my mind to worry about.

All fine. Stainless steel is a great material for cooking and will not absorb anything toxic

And if it reassures you, here's Gemini answer too

https://share.google/aimode/eCFjmmxGkpJaMQ1lV

So nothing you wouldn't put on your skin. Surely old food in a saucepan is more "dangerous"?

So all stuff that regularly goes in/on your body. Even the glue. It's not dangerous, although I'd still give the pan a good wash.

Just a question but why would anyone have glue on their skin?!?!

Silly question but what is slime?

Thank you everyone. I have contamination themes with the OCD so stuff like this makes me quite anxious - don't want to show the girls that I'm anxious as I want them to have a nice time, so really appreciate being able to run it by some folks.

It'll be fine after a good scrub. Which your daughter should be doing herself anyway as you say she's very late teens.

Do you feel you are in the right place to reach out for some help around your OCD?

You've never got glue on your hands accidentally? You don't remember the fun of peeling it off in primary school?

You've never once got glue on your skin.... Ever? In your ENTIRE LIFE?

Agree with everyone else - it's fine if you wash the saucepan.

I do think it's great that you checked in here because you don't want to pass your anxieties on and also think it's such a lovely, wholesome thing for a couple of girls in their late teens to want to do. I hope they're enjoying reliving their younger years.

If it's not causing their hands any harm it won't hurt the stainless steel pan. Give it a good wash and boil some water in it if you are still concerned. And tell your daughter not to use your pans for making slime.

It’s more that people are speaking of it like it’s a usual thing😅yes I’d have gotten it on doing craft but I’d scrub it afterwards!!! From the way everyone said it it was like it was a daily occurrence- well you always have glue on your skin so … and I was thinking but you don’t really and you definitely don’t ingest it!!!! (But am very tired so not thinking straight 😅)

Wholesome, but still a bit odd isn’t it? (Maybe I’m judging by what I was at as a ‘very late teen’!)
But keep your eyes on the News all the same, for fear two earnest young women are caught at the British Museum having barged past the wilting queue and hurled handfuls of purple slime (a tricky operation) at the Bayeux Tapestry, in protest at the theft of Anglo-Saxon lands by imperialist Norman invaders.

Have you tried Hypnosis for dealing with your OCD? A good hypnotist can work wonders at dealing with essentially, a simple phobia.

The OCD is actually much better than it used to be. I can generally stay on top of it if I fact check and then let myself move on rather than continue ruminating.