What do shopping cleaners do with the insides of packets?

[Floatyboat]

Just wondering how people that like to clean their shopping deal with things inside the packaging.

Obviously you'd presume tins and cereal etc would not have been contaminated in the last 72 hours but what about other stuff, short shelf life items. Some fruit and veg can be from farm to fork in 48 hours. Bread as well won't have been in the bag for long.

Do you just leave it before opening, cook it all before eating or wash it? But you can't really wash bread.

This has also got me thinking about other things that may have recently touched in non obvious ways.

we have to wash our hands singing happy birthday twice. How long would it take to thoroughly clean for example, a carton of milk, before you could be confident to have killed Coronavirus

I've wondered about this, too. Shopping washers: Would you just wipe your hands over quickly/ spray them with a quick squirt of Dettol and believe you're safe? I'm guessing no. So why do you believe that doing the same to your shopping will kill the virus?

I made a wicker man to give as a sacrifice to the gods. Took me a while to fill it with neighbours who went out for longer than their permitted hour of exercise but got there in the end.

Handy bonfire too

For packets that cannot be washed (sugar, some bread) am decanting into freezer bags (for very vulnerable person). Generally removing outer packaging as far as possible to reduce amount to wash. Otherwise dettol spray outside (would use diluted bleach/hot soapy water then bleach down sink as alternative).

Quarantine also a great idea but doesn’t work for fridge/freezer food or immediate needs

Hoping for a vaccine because obviously this is all burdensome, but worth it in this specific case - not to mention v environmentally unfriendly vs my normal routine

I don't do anything special. Although I gave a lemon a good wash yesterday. Bloke in nearby coop was jogling with it at the till.

Has anyone considered buying a quarantine fridge and freezer and then move food to the main one after a length of time. I wonder if the virus lasts longer in the cold though so won't work?

How the other half lives eh?

Everything would be going out of date before it's clear @Floatyboat.

@mrex

Yes possibly, I always ignore freezer best before dates, but then I guess I'd risk preserving covid19 into the future for when I finally dig out the Ben and Jerry's. Kind of ridiculous thing to do I suppose.

Some people on this thread seem to think that cleaning groceries is excessive. It may be for some (even most) people but for extremely vulnerable people it may well be worth it to avoid the infection.

@Floatyboat interesting posting history. Lots of ‘anti-fat’ posts and obsessing about this

Freezing just freezes microbes in the state that they're in so if there did happen to be Covid-19 on a pack of frozen food then it would still be there after defrosting.

There's a good chance that most of our food packets are not covered in Coronavirus though- it's important to keep that in mind.

Sorry starry? Lots of posts? What's the connection.

@cacaca It's still in stock in shops in our local area. I doubt the reason that it's short supply is that people are using it to clean; it's far more likely that people have stockpiled for their babies. I don't use Milton tablets, just some Milton wipes that I already had in the house.

However if using Milton is what is needed to prevent an extremely vulnerable person contracting a deadly infection then surely that's a legitimate reason to buy it.

It's possible to clean baby's bottles by steaming them if you really cannot get any.

Oh is OP the fat shaming genius?

Has anyone considered buying a quarantine fridge and freezer and then move food to the main one after a length of time.

No. I wash my hands.

@Annarosez thanks for the lecture. Your local stores are not my local stores. I ‘really’ cannot find it. Look at the prices it’s going for on eBay and Amazon. That will show you there’s a high demand for it since your message implies I’m lying.

It’s not going to stop someone catching coronavirus for gods sake.

@PrincessConsueIaBananaHammock there are a fair few. Apparently obese people shouldn’t be surprised at dying from Corona amongst others

I think that's someone else. Before Corona I never really came on much.

OP are you or anyone in your family in a high risk group?

Not within the house no

@BarbaraofSeville,
Thanks, your post really made me chuckle...
Surely people are not actually washing bread, or have I missed the point? Time for bed me thinks!

Then why are you so worried op?

The lockdown is to do with slowing it so the hospitals don't get overwhelmed with those who are vulnerable.

For the younger, healthy people, the risk of serious illness or death is low.

Why are you so worried?

@ElsieDear 😂 and to all the other witty posters. Btw, I'm not ridiculing those who are bleaching etc, each to their own and all that, but some of your posts are so funny. Really cheered me up.

@BeetrootRocks

I'm not particularly worried. Been interesting/helpful to discuss options and approaches. Obviously different people have different risk tolerance and that's fine. I'm just wondering if im missing easy wins on safety or wasting my time with magical thinking on any matters.

@cacaca, wasn't lecturing, wasn't saying you were lying but you cannot say that cleaning food surfaces and packaging won't protect against infection. A close family member of mine is a microbiologist and said that it might reduce the risk.