Bleach alternative

[bobbittle]

Can't even flush TP down the toilet..

So.....ummmm.......what do you do with it?

 

[mrjarrell]

Star San is supposed to be septic safe, so you should be good to go with it. Sounds like you need a new septic system, tho. Best budget in for that soon. When was the last time you had it serviced and drained? That might buy you a little time.

 

[bobbittle]

Yes you bleach dishes if you don't have a dish washer..

Most normal people don't.

we use to own a convenience store that had a small kitchen/deli counter and we got a list of everything health and safety related to comply with. You need a big stainless 3 sink for wash rinse and sanitize, a sprayer, our sprayer was like 300 bucks IIRC, and a sanitizing solution.

What exactly was the $300 sprayer for? Sanitizing dishes? All you have to do is leave them in the sanitizing solution for X seconds then let them air dry. No spraying necessary.

If for surfaces.......who the heck told you you needed it? A $2 spray bottle from Walmart does the job just fine.

 

[mrjarrell]

Most normal people don't.



What exactly was the $300 sprayer for? Sanitizing dishes? All you have to do is leave them in the sanitizing solution for X seconds then let them air dry. No spraying necessary.

If for surfaces.......who the heck told you you needed it? A $2 spray bottle from Walmart does the job just fine.

I think he's talking about a high pressure cleaning sprayer that's used in most commercial food places. Wish I had one at home. They'll strip damned near anything off a plate that isn't baked on. Much better than those piddly little sprayers attached to most sinks.

 

[lizerdking]

This thread has taught me two things.

1. I am a dirty person who has no regard for personal safety when it comes to doing dishes.

2. Ya'll worry too much.

There is a reason restaurants and hospitals have to clean to a higher standard. They have nasty diseases that could be passed on come through their doors.

You and your family don't.

 

[92ThoStro]

Yes, I am talking about a pull down commercial water sprayer. It goes over your "rinsing" sink, and you pull it down to activate. Like mentioned, it can strip nearly anything off dirty dishes. I too wish we had one at home! But we have dogs that will lick plates clean just fine. Which i guess is another reason I like to sanitize dishes.

What do we do with TP?
What people in third world countries do. We have a small stainless waste bin with a removable insert., like you would find in a woman's public restroom. The bag is changed daily and taken out and placed in a trash can, which at the end of the week is taken and burned in a huge hole in the ground with the rest of the trash.

The septic was last pumped 3 years ago. I know the place needs a new septic, it needs a new everything lol. We mainly go to the bathroom in the garage, and take showers out there, and do laundry out there. It's a huge pole barn garage, half has cement floor, half is gravel. And the cement floor is carpeted, with a living room, bathroom, laundry room, small bedroom and an office, with a 2 car garage. The gravel side is like a 20 car garage if I had to guess. We should just live out there LOL

 

[rhino]

What is an alternative to bleach to sanitize dishes after washing? Can't use bleach every day because of the septic, and we can't use antibacterial soap to wash. There has to be septic friendly sanitizers?

If your water supply is clean, you should be fine with any kind of soap and plenty of clean rinsing water. Use the running water to rinse thoroughly (with clean hands/gloves) instead of dunking in kind of not so filthy water and you should be fine.

 

[jerryv]

Bleach on dishes!? Never even heard of such a thing. I've been eating off dishes for over 60 years that were washed with normal dishwashing liquid, and I can't remember the last time I was sick. Nor do I have any allergies.

When I was a kid, kids were always sticking things in their mouths .. to see what they feel like, taste like, etc .. These days' moms follow their kids around with antiseptic sprays to ensure they don't get exposed to bacteria.

But here's the thing ... if you get exposed to bacteria, especially early on, you develop immunities. Without immunities, it's much easier to fall prey to various bacterial agents later in life.

I've got to wonder whether so many kids have peanut allergies today because so many parents ensure that their kids are never exposed to peanuts. Mothers should eat peanuts like crazy while they're pregnant .. that's the way to produce kids that aren't allergic.

So .. keep things clean but don't get crazy over it. A germ here and there isn't going to kill you .. in fact it may help you. All the emphasis on anti-bacterial soaps, shampoos, etc etc .. are advertising gimmicks, preying on your desire to be good parents .. but really just a way to boost profits.

$.02

 

[gregkl]

I've got to wonder whether so many kids have peanut allergies today because so many parents ensure that their kids are never exposed to peanuts. Mothers should eat peanuts like crazy while they're pregnant .. that's the way to produce kids that aren't allergic.

$.02

I agree.

I don't really think that many are allergic. I think it's more of an intolerance. They served peanuts for years on planes and people were fine. Now, all of a sudden they break down in seizures?

I know Neitzsche was a raving lunatic, but there is some truth to the "that which does not kill you, makes you stronger."

 

[92ThoStro]

I will pick up germs another way.
I don't think i can bring myself to not sanitize the dishes lol!
I'll lick a light pole or something every now and then so I can keep up with the rest of you
I'm sure I pick up enough germs around the farm from the rabbits, chickens, horses and dogs and stuff. They are pretty dirty.

Another thing...

Sponges....*cringe*

If you use a sponge it goes in the microwave on HIGH so you can sanitize it and allow it to dry. I can't stand when people just squeeze the excess water out and set it on the counter. It will start to mildew and everything else. yyyuuuck

 

[rhino]

Sterilizing your sponge/scrubber is a great idea.

If you wash and then rinse your dishes thoroughly with clean, running water, they will be as clean & sanitary when you use them as they would be if you "sanitized" them with bleach.

I will pick up germs another way.
I don't think i can bring myself to not sanitize the dishes lol!
I'll lick a light pole or something every now and then so I can keep up with the rest of you
I'm sure I pick up enough germs around the farm from the rabbits, chickens, horses and dogs and stuff. They are pretty dirty.

Another thing...

Sponges....*cringe*

If you use a sponge it goes in the microwave on HIGH so you can sanitize it and allow it to dry. I can't stand when people just squeeze the excess water out and set it on the counter. It will start to mildew and everything else. yyyuuuck

 

[bobbittle]

If you wash and then rinse your dishes thoroughly with clean, running water, they will be as clean & sanitary when you use them as they would be if you "sanitized" them with bleach.

No they won't. But good enough for most people.

 

[bobbittle]

Sponges....*cringe*

If you use a sponge it goes in the microwave on HIGH so you can sanitize it and allow it to dry. I can't stand when people just squeeze the excess water out and set it on the counter. It will start to mildew and everything else. yyyuuuck

Kitchen sponges are nasty.

You could lick a toilet seat and pick up less germs than are on a typical kitchen sponge.

 

[mrjarrell]

No they won't. But good enough for most people.

Ummm...that quote isn't from a post of mine.

 

[JetGirl]

Go ahead and eat some ... boogers

You can have mine. I'll start saving them for you.

 

[bobbittle]

Ummm...that quote isn't from a post of mine.

Interesting. I don't know how that happened.

 

[Fargo]

I will pick up germs another way.
I don't think i can bring myself to not sanitize the dishes lol!
I'll lick a light pole or something every now and then so I can keep up with the rest of you
I'm sure I pick up enough germs around the farm from the rabbits, chickens, horses and dogs and stuff. They are pretty dirty.

I know how you feel, my mom was an incredible germaholic at home and my dad was pretty much the opposite when we were out hunting/in the woods/etc.

I would gut out a deer, rinse most of the blood of my hands and think nothing of tucking into a sandwich. At home though, it was ingrained that any raw meat was one step beneath unstable plutonium so my actions there were completely contrary with rampant handwashing. Still to this day, I feel almost a compulsion about raw meat in a kitchen that is completely absent elsewhere.

Realistically, I would venture to say that between the farm and house animals, you are getting daily germ doses exponentially larger than anything that might be left on a dish after washing. Sanitizing them might reduce your exposure by half a percent on a really good day. Then again, I know what it is like to try to stop doing something you've convinced yourself is necessary and it is easier said than done.

Best,


Joe

 

[92ThoStro]

Soaking clean dishes in bleach water absolutely will kill more bacteria than washing them with soap and water, Rhino. I guess you are probably saying it's negligible and we don't have the same liability issues a restaurant has though. But " Clean and Sanitary" are two different things. "Clean" is what happens when you wash the visible, and greasy stuff off your dishes with soap and a sponge. "Sanitary" is killing the germs on the dishes. Bleach will kill them, so will heat from the dish washers, and so will other sanitizing solutions that were mentioned by other posters.

I know I am exposed to far more germs around the farm and animals, but it's not a crime to cut down on germs in areas that are easy.
It's really not hard to sanitize dishes. Not much extra effort at all. Sterilizing your sponge is so easy it is inexcusable to not do it. They are so dirty.
It takes like 5 minutes to bleach the entire bathroom and mop the floor.

Same here, I can go fishing, and pull a hook out of the mouth and put it in the live well, and then sit there eating a bag of chips after rinsing the slime off my hands over the side of the boat in the lake water. And then go home and cook bacon, wash my hands because I touched raw bacon, then put it back in freezer, wash freezer handle, wash my hands again.

 

[88GT]

At home I cover all the dishes that are air drying, so flies and stuff don't land on them. We have lots of flies because we have farm animals, and we have litter boxes in the house. So fly on cat poo, then land on dishes = eeew

Yeah, and fly on cat poo , then lands on your countertop after you've sanitized. OMG, the horror. I think you're fooling yourself on the value of your efforts.

Do you have children? Are you planning on having them?

I know I am exposed to far more germs around the farm and animals, but it's not a crime to cut down on germs in areas that are easy.
It's really not hard to sanitize dishes. Not much extra effort at all. Sterilizing your sponge is so easy it is inexcusable to not do it. They are so dirty.
It takes like 5 minutes to bleach the entire bathroom and mop the floor.

They aren't that dirty. Life wasn't meant to be sterile.


Hydrogen peroxide kills germs too and is safe for septics. Use that or vinegar and your phobia issues are over.

 

[sepe]

I will pick up germs another way.
I don't think i can bring myself to not sanitize the dishes lol!
I'll lick a light pole or something every now and then so I can keep up with the rest of you
I'm sure I pick up enough germs around the farm from the rabbits, chickens, horses and dogs and stuff. They are pretty dirty.

Another thing...

Sponges....*cringe*

If you use a sponge it goes in the microwave on HIGH so you can sanitize it and allow it to dry. I can't stand when people just squeeze the excess water out and set it on the counter. It will start to mildew and everything else. yyyuuuck

My aunt that has horses (had over 20 for awhile), goats, dogs, geese, sheep, and other random things she brings home must be doing something wrong. Other than in the hottest part of the summer, you don't really see flies and there is no smell. Sure, the goats and sheep are a little dirty but the horses...not dirty enough that it would be alarming, dusty maybe but not dirty.

I'm not too worried about dishes at home or in restaurants but in a past job I spent the majority of the day handling and sterilizing medical instruments that were labeled biohazard. It was always interesting finding a still moist hunk of meat on an instrument that got express shipped.