Helpful Tips in Sanitizing your Kitchen

If you think that your bathroom is the dirtiest part of your home, you might be mistaken. You kitchen might be and can be the dirtiest part of your home if you don’t regularly sanitize it. Sanitizing is different from cleaning. Cleaning is limited to what your eyes can see while sanitizing involves killing or destroying unseen harmful bacteria and germs present in your kitchen.

Here are some steps you can take to sanitize your kitchen:

1. Know the dirtiest things/part of your kitchen that needs top priority in sanitizing.

Five of the most important parts or things in your kitchen that need top priority in sanitizing are your kitchen sink, sponge, refrigerator handle, countertop and chopping boards. These are the common breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that can spread to other parts of your kitchen if not regularly sanitized.

2. Prepare your homemade disinfectant solution.

You can opt for commercial disinfectant solutions that you can readily buy in the supermarket but homemade solutions which are equally effective are safer to use. Here are two popular disinfectant solutions that you can prepare and use for sanitizing your kitchen:

• Equal parts of white vinegar and hot water, or
• 4 cups of hot water + 1 teaspoon bleach (preferably unscented)

3. Sanitize your kitchen using your homemade solution.

• Kitchen sink – At least twice a week, sanitize your kitchen sink using either of the two solutions above. Close the kitchen sink drain then fill it up with the solution up to the top (if you use the second solution and you fill 1 gallon of hot water, you will need 4 teaspoons of bleach, etc.). Let it sit for at least five minutes before running it down the drain. This will sanitize not only the sink but the drain as well.
• Sponge – Soak your sponge overnight (preferably everyday) in any of the homemade solutions above.
• Refrigerator handle – Wipe your refrigerator handle at least twice a day with the disinfectant solution.
• Countertop – After every use, clean then disinfect your countertop with a disinfectant solution to prevent germs from breeding in this area.
• Chopping board – After using it, don’t forget to wash your chopping board immediately. Then at the end of the day, disinfect it with the disinfectant solution. As a rule of the thumb, maintain a separate chopping board for chopping meat and for chopping vegetables and fruits.

4. Keep the Germs and Bacteria at Bay

It is said that prevention is better than cure. The same principle should apply in sanitizing your kitchen. With this, you should observe some simple things to keep germs and bacteria at bay. Many things can contribute to the overall dirtiness of your kitchen. These include dirty hands, wrong handling of raw meat, trash, poor maintenance, and others. To prevent germs and bacteria from spreading, here are some simple things you can do:

• Keep a box of disposable gloves in your kitchen and use it for handling the trash, washing the dishes, handling raw meat, and other things that expose you to dirt.
• After every use, wash things properly and air-dry before storing them again. This applies to things frequently used in the kitchen like utensils, knives, and chopping boards.
• Sanitize regularly as mentioned above.
• Wash your hands before, during, and after you prepare food. This will help prevent cross-contamination in your kitchen.

Although it is not really a guarantee that you can get rid of all the germs and bacteria in your kitchen using the above tips, nonetheless, it will help you attain a cleaner kitchen with the least amount of germs and bacteria possible.