Wiping Down Shopping

[Ilovemypantry]

This might have already been covered but without trawling through I just thought I’d ask anyway.

So...when you get your shopping home (or delivered) are you all cleaning every single item? If so, what are you using to clean with? Would an antibacterial wipe be suffice or does it need to be bleach? I am wiping things over with antibacterial wipe but a bit half heartedly tbh. It’s quite a daunting task having to wipe every single item before putting it away in the fridge/freezer/cupboard.
Just wondered how everyone else is tackling this.

Baaaahhhhh

Yes, into the plastic recycling where we can (though our council doesn’t do fruit containers).
I use marigolds while I’m unwrapping, and my husband or daughter suitably marigoldEd up too hold the recipient bag or box open as the content is poured in from a height (tomatoes all over the path first time 😁) so they don’t cross contaminate. Wash the marigolds ready for next time or post. Similar procedure involving husband or daughter and tweezers.

I think I’ve done 6 big shops since this all got really bad. First one I didn’t wipe, the next three I did. I also cried in the supermarket each time and sobbed and completely showered and put clothes on a hot wash when I got home. The fear seems to have left me now and when I went to the supermarket the fifth and sixth time, I felt ok and didn’t feel I needed to bleach anything when I got home. I wonder if the difference was that the shop was much quieter and the people in it seemed to be much more aware and following social distancing rules far better than they were in the beginning?
I’ve got a click and collect order tomorrow and I won’t clean any of that when I get it home.

Definitely cleaning everything with disinfectant and soap from my supermarket delivery because it has just been handled and breathed by other human beings. Very careful to wipe everything throughly as possible, include bottoms of tins and not decontaminate while handling.
Only buying sealed veg and wiping/discarding packaging. Does take nearly an hour to do properly for a weekly shop.

For other deliveries depends - if its taken several days since dispatch to get to me then rationally i know I could just take it out of box and would be fine, however find myself cleaning deliveries too :|

Open post, discard envelope and wipe down letters themselves. Quarantine magazines for 3 days and then wipe before reading.

Coats, shoes, bag always stayed in the hallway and didn't come into house much before anyway, now I'm ultra strict about not bringing them in at alI. Handbags etc are stored in a plastic box by door to avoid wiping, then outside of box is wiped after items placed in it so stays clean on outside.

Car boot is definitely considered a dirty zone. When returning from shops I'd wipe the outside of reusable shopping bags before unpacking and then re-wipe outside and inside after all shopping was wiped and unpacked.

When I come back indoors from outside (Live in flat so only go out for exercise / put rubbish out)

• Remove clothes - leave coat, clothes, shoes, bag by door.
• Put keys, mobile, any cards/goods on floor by door.
• Wash hands properly - face if necessary (e.g. gone to shop)
• Put on clean clothes.
• Wipe mobile, keys, purchases, sunglasses etc with disinfect & soap mix
• Wipe door handles, door, floor (that walked on with shoes & where keys were initially) plus any surface touched before handwash/clothes change)
• Wash hands again.

( I wouldn't do above if I was outside in my non-existent garden - its only outside because have to navigate communal corridors & stairs.)

I do the above to keep my house a "clean" and avoid bring coronavirus onto any in my home, then I don't have to worry about washing my hands every 20 mins. That said when I think about how many people handle items in shops and the kinds of viruses people could be carrying I think I'll probably continue wiping shopping even when covid-19 isn't a concern!

Definitely not been ordering takeaways (not that I did a lot anyway).

Cardboard boxes go in the recycling box and if i have too many they go in the shed.

I open post like i would do a pair of sterile gloves, read it then put it in the drawer.

Wash my hands, wash my hands at work loads too.

Low risk household.
By the time I've been out queuing, buying and packing food at the two supermarkets it takes to do a week's shop, like fuck am I going to waste any more of my life wiping down the bloody groceries over a pretty much hypothetical risk. It's tedious enough unpacking it as usual.

Over the past 7-8 weeks since Covid 19 was escalating and panic buying was going on, I've seen the same staff in the supermarkets week in, week out. If handling groceries was that trecherous, they'd have been off ill, and the media would be full of stories about heroic, fallen shelf stackers and checkout assistants sacrificing themselves in the line of duty. As it is, social distancing is problematic, PPE is scant, and yet they managed being breathed around by all and sundry, let alone handling stock. The effort and worry is not worth the minimal benefit.

Maybe I'd feel differently if someone in the household had minimal immune system, but as a healthy family all u50, frequent washing/ sanitising of hands has sufficed perfectly well so far. Plus I don't have to worry about when it is safe to cease or whether to carry on ad infinatum to eliminate any hypothetical risks of any illness.

I was wiping down my shopping with anti bac wipes - but it made my anxiety worse. I stopped last week - felt anxious at first but then relieved as had stopped and have not wiped any shopping or deliveries since then. It’s helped me feel like I’m getting back to ‘normal’ and as pps have said it is a theoretical / hypothetical risk anyway

I have got changed when got home from supermarket though - that’s the next thing to next week

I’ve got / had ocd around contamination which id worked hard to control and I really want to get back to being in control of it rather than putting various new behaviours in place that will be hard to stop

I did all the obsessive wiping down while in freakout mode early on and I still got sick. Now we just stick to washing our hands after handling stuff that comes in.

@nahnonever Does Milton not work for Covid-19 (Sars-CoV-2 virus)?

When my partner comes home with the shopping I use dettol spray and wipe every single item Down. It takes me bit of time but I rather that then take a risk. Esp when you have young kids at. Home. If it's come. To. That stage then be it. Because sometimes. We. Are. Forgetting or. Maybe choosing to forget this is a big pandemic. Not just a cough cold passed around this a airborne killer virus. We risk going to the supermarket and we know everyone coughs or sneezes but we stil need food o' the table. So defo we. Should consider wiping the packaging down before it goes in our drawers or fridges x

No, I'm still going out to work and can't wipe everything I may come into contact with. If you are shielded then OK as you don't have any outside contact.

I am deliberately not washing my shopping as I feel that would send me down a path from which there's no return. I can't let myself worry about every single surface, I'd go mad.

I wash my hands and that's all I can do.

Corona has made me much more aware how often shoppers pick up and replace an item.
Perhaps we all should make our mind up before picking up an item.

Not just a cough cold passed around this a airborne killer virus what??

For most people this will be uneventful with mild symptoms or no symptoms. And it's not airborne. It's passed from person to person through physical contact or objects an infected person has touched. No wonder people are freaking out if they think it's airborne!

It's an understandable confusion - it can be transmitted in water droplets when coughed or sneezed from an infected person. Technically this is not airborne. It doesn't float in the air.

It can be transmitted on surfaces though. So washing shopping does make sense. I'm in quarantine with a medic. Ours gets washed.

“ Esp when you have young kids at. Home. If it's come. To. That stage then be it. Because sometimes. We. Are. Forgetting or. Maybe choosing to forget this is a big pandemic.”

Oh piss off. Clearly you have the luxury of time and space to prioritise this when the risk from shopping is small. I have a newborn and a toddler and a key worker husband. I don’t have two hands free most of the day to be dicking about with bleach and shopping over and above the usual handwashing and hygiene, and I don’t have the space for all this quarantining of things for days on end. I don’t care if others want to prioritise this, but don’t make out those of us who don’t are stupid.

I’m not, the risk is small and if you did catch it from packaging hopefully the viral load would be small enough for the body to deal with the virus more easily than a large exposure. I do wash my hands after handling anything new coming into the house though.

However I’m working with key worker children everyday so much risk of catching this is already moderate so cleaning packaging seems a little redundant for that reason too.

@Isa4 young children are barely at risk from the virus. 92% of the deaths have been in the over 60s. With these numbers in mind, and as both DS and I are under 30 and fit as a fiddle, I'm not wiping down shopping.

I'm not slating those that are, but please don't insinuate that those of us who aren't are somehow taking a risk. The risk here is incredibly tiny.

I will reiterate...

supermarket workers are not dropping dead in disproportionate numbers, yet we deal with packaging that has been handled hundreds of times a day, plus hundreds and hundreds of shoppers face to face. and, most often, not with a 2 metre distance (stand up tills, not the sit down automated ones). We have a screen between us and the customer, but they are passing money and cards underneath all the time.

Handwashing and gloves are all we have. It's working so far. Please don't let paranoia or half informed ideas ruin your life. If you WANT to wash all your shopping because it makes you feel more secure, then do. But, honestly, I think it's a waste of time. You're more likely to contract CV-19 from someone you know and are with for a longer period of time than from your egg box.

It takes me bit of time but I rather that then take a risk. Esp when you have young kids at. Home. If it's come. To. That stage then be it. Because sometimes. We. Are. Forgetting or. Maybe choosing to forget this is a big pandemic

My toddler and soon to be newborn (assuming all goes well and the baby is healthy) are the people in our extended family I'm least worried about getting it. Their presence in my house has no influence on my decision to wash or not wash (not wash!) shopping or anything else, wrt covid at least.

Can I remind those who are using bleach to take care? There was a lady posted here a while ago to say that she was using bleach to clean incoming shopping, but had to stop because her family complained their meals had a funny taste.

We quarantine our food in the garage for two days. We have an old fridge/freezer in there. Anything we need straightaway we either tip out of the outer packets into another container or we wash with soapy water.

Esp when you have young kids at. Home. If it's come. To. That stage then be it. Because sometimes. We. Are. Forgetting or. Maybe choosing to forget this is a big pandemic.

This is the type of ill informed panic spreading that I causing this nonsense in the first place.

You are going to get it at some point. It’s really no worse than a lot of other viruses for most people, it’s just that it’s new so it’s spreading.

You really need to chill out - so do all the other clean freaks

I Milton all packaging. I shop for elderly parents and neighbours.
I disinfect car door handles, steering wheel etc. I wash and dry bags.

I spray soles of shoes or leave them in quarantine outside. I also wash dogs paws with soap and water. Other countries have published about the virus being transmitted via shoes and animal paws, hence also advice to keep cats indoors.

Makes me feel better and less anxious. Each to their own. I’m not berating those who don’t. And I’m not causing any hassle to anyone but myself.

Those wiping down the shopping, when are you going to decide its safe to stop doing it?

No I'm not. I've already touched it all in the store and been unable to wash my hands til I get home. Also I believe the virus doesn't live long on anything apart from hard surfaces ie metal and most items won't be used straight away anyway. I put it away then wash hands thoroughly