Do you change kitchen cloths every day?

ladygrey_2 · 4 March 2006 at 10:47AM

every night I put all kitchen cloths and t-towels in the washing machine but stayed at a friends last night and noticed that last thing she rinsed out her dish cloth and hung it over side of sink to re-use today!

surely that's potentially harmful

is there an old-style way of doing this so germs don't breed or am I right to wash them every 24 hrs?

stressedoutmumof1 · 4 March 2006 at 10:54AM

I wouldn't go as far as washing them EVERY day, but I do leave them in a sink full of bleach and water 2-3 times a week overnight.

twink · 4 March 2006 at 10:56AM

i certainly use a clean one every day and machine wash but do give them a boil in an old pan quite often and there is only me.

Bossyboots · 4 March 2006 at 10:57AM

I change my dishcloths after every use!!!! T-towels too!

This was ingrained in me by my domestic science teacher for five years and I still abide by it.

doddsy · 4 March 2006 at 10:58AM

For the dishcloths I soak in water and bleach and then put them in the wm about 3 times a week. The tea towells are changed every day. (makes good ironing practise for the youngest too!!)

Curry_Queen · 4 March 2006 at 11:01AM

I probably change my dish cloths every 2-3 days, the same with tea-towels unless they get food or anything spilt on them, but then I don't wash or dry dishes with either of them. I use a dishbrush to wash the dishes which then get rinsed under a hot tap and left to air dry. The dish-cloths are used for wiping the sides down, cleaning the cooker etc and are left to soak in a solution of Milton's when I've finished.

I'm quite fussy when it comes to hygiene in the kitchen, although you wouldn't believe it if you saw the state of it this morning :eek: ... I've been on strike the last two days and waiting to see how long it takes for someone else to clean up :whistle:. ... but I'm not sure I can bear to look at it any longer so guess what I'm gonna be doing for the next couple hours :mad:

Penny-Pincher!! · 4 March 2006 at 11:04AM

I use micro fibre cloths, and I change them every other day but bleach them in the meantime IYKWIM. Then on a friday they all get washed and theres normally about 8 as I always have one damp and one dry (to buff).

PP
xx

wigginsmum · 4 March 2006 at 11:07AM

Curry_Queen wrote:

I've been on strike the last two days and waiting to see how long it takes for someone else to clean up :whistle:. ... but I'm not sure I can bear to look at it any longer so guess what I'm gonna be doing for the next couple hours :mad:

Me too ... DH technically is in charge of washing-up while I cook, but he hasn't done any since last Sunday so the kitchen's a complete tip.

cha97michelle · 4 March 2006 at 11:09AM

i use wasshing up sponges, and after use, microwave them on full power for one minute (if wet) and 30s if dry. This boils the water in them killing any germs. I then replace the sponge when it starts to look a bit sorry.

We've never got food poisoning.

As for tea towels, we never dry up the dishes, so i tend to go through perhaps 2 or 3 a week. They are only really for drying hands washed after food prep using antibac wash, or after washing up.

cloths for washing the side get put in bleach in the sink,which has the double function of destaining the sink. I only do this once per week, which i should probably do more often, but all food prep gets done on boards, and the sides really only get crumbs on. The boards get washed up after use, and if meat chopping happened, the board gets rinsed first with boiling water and then washed up as normal.

I do wash up in very hot water. This comes from years spent as a student washing up in a fish and chip shop, where believe me, you needed the hot water to get rid of the grease.

zar · 4 March 2006 at 11:18AM

I reuse my cloths and wash them when i think they need washing - depends on how much I've used them for a start. e.g. I very rarely use a tea towel as its more hygenic to let things dry naturally, so it would be daft to replace them after I've dried maybe one pan up.

As with your friend, I rinse my cloths and hang them out to dry. We haven't died yet

And - this will probably horrify you as well

- I never wash washing up sponges, just rinse them well. And replace every month or so.

I am keen on having a separate hand towel in the kitchen from the tea towel, and also use a sponge exclusively for washing up and a cloth for wiping down surfaces. Everyone has their own pecularites in this area - you don't like seeing a cloth being used the next day, I feel horrified when someone uses the washing up sponge to wipe down surfaces, or if my DH uses a tea towel to dry his hands*!

I am very careful with anywhere that raw poultry or meat has touched, however, and try and ensure everything can go straight into the dishwasher so they don't contaminate any of the cloths. I don't take hygiene lightly, but I'm also of the opinion that a little bacteria is good for you. (Well some is essential to keeping you alive, obviously, but I mean in the sense of possibly reducing susceptibility to autoimmune diseases.)

*and he often proudly says he uses the towel to wipe his hands so it gets all grubby, just like his grandpa :eek:

ladygrey_2 · 4 March 2006 at 12:04PM

I thought micro fibre cloths couldn't be bleached?
as it ruined the cloth

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Do you change kitchen cloths every day?

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