Are you wiping down packages?

[Katsmeow]

It varies:

1. Amazon (or other delivered boxes) that we don't need to open right away. Put in garage until needed (may be weeks).

2. Immediate need packages - wipe down outside where we touch it with disinfectant wraps, wipe down outside of what is inside. Then wash hands.

3. Delivered or picked up groceries (or anything else). DH wears gloves to get stuff out of the bags. Discard backs. I use disinfectant wipes to wipe down outside of containers. Use disenfectant wipes anywhere the packages were put down. Wash hands. Usually put new items in area where won't use for a couple of days (unless something need to urgently use then open it and wash hands.

4. Mail. Leave in mail box 24 hours, use disinfectant wipe on outside of mail when brought in.

 

[Ready]

I don’t wipe anything down but I make sure to wash my hands after handling any packages.

 

[stepford]

OK, I just got my first grocery delivery and I'm trying to be good about disinfection. As I see it there are three categories:

1. Non-perishable goods: Easy, I'll just leave them in the garage for 1-3 days then assume it's safe to touch.

2. Frozen foods: Also easy. Remove and discard the outer carton and assume the inner carton is safe to handle.

3. Perishable, but non-frozen dairy and meat: This is the harder category. I wiped down everything with Clorox Clean-up and am currently letting it sit until the stink of bleach goes away (probably an hour or two). After this I assume it's safe to put in the fridge and consume at will.

The tough one to figure is the dozen eggs (hard to wipe down the rough cardboard of an egg container). I'm going to let them sit for 24 hours in my cool (50-55 F) garage. I'd prefer to be able to refrigerate them sooner, but this seems like the best compromise.



Correction: After reading that letting eggs warm up overnight is a bad thing I stuck the egg carton in a plastic bag and refrigerated it. When I'm finished with my current dozen I will transfer the eggs individually from the new carton to the (presumably clean) old one.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I made a list of fruits and vegetables that do not need to be refrigerated so we can buy fresh produce and let it sit for a few days. This includes citrus fruits, apples, pears, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, yams, avocado, tomatoes, bananas, stone fruits like peaches and plums, kiwi, mango, papaya and tomatillos. Freezer stuff we will start wiping down. Pantry items get ordered online and the packages are left to sit for three days.

A local Costco here had at least one COVID-19 employee so it is likely other grocery store employees here may have it as well or will soon. If things get really bad we will live off our pantry and freezer items for month or so. We have a side by side and chest freezer stocked up. I'm setting up an herb garden and I have a multi-level sprouter tray we can pull out of storage for fresh sprouts.

 

[audreyh1]

We’ve just been doing the 24 hour set aside with delivered packages and mail. Pick it up wearing work gloves and set it aside. Wash hands after removing gloves.

 

[Sunset]

OK, I just got my first grocery delivery and I'm trying to be good about disinfection. As I see it there are three categories:

...

3. Perishable, but non-frozen dairy and meat: This is the harder category. I wiped down everything with Clorox Clean-up and am currently letting it sit until the stink of bleach goes away (probably an hour or two). After this I assume it's safe to put in the fridge and consume at will.

The tough one to figure is the dozen eggs (hard to wipe down the rough cardboard of an egg container).....

1. I put all these things in the sink and spray them with diluted bleach, (I use a stronger mixture than needed, about 1/4 bleach to 3/4 water).
2. I rub the wet bleach around packages with my gloved hands.
3. Let it sit a few minutes.
4. Then rinse off the bleach.

I have found if you don't rinse off the bleach, it will dry on the package and your fridge smells of bleach and when taking the package out of the fridge, it will put bleach on your hand. Same with frozen foods.

I have not had to do a cardboard egg container, I can see how those would be difficult, I'd probably just transfer the eggs as you have done.

 

[Kwirk]

The tough one to figure is the dozen eggs (hard to wipe down the rough cardboard of an egg container).

We pasteurize the eggs with a sous vide and transfer them to a pre-coronavirus egg container. The transfer is possibly sufficient but we pasteurize for other reasons.

 

[sengsational]

First Grocery Pick-up

Even though I think the main SARS-CoV-2 vector is being near people in an enclosed space (aerosols), I'm taking a little more time "putting groceries away". Actually an infinite amount more time because DW used to do it all, and now I've gone from zero to about 20 minutes. No, I'm not trying to convince anyone to do this...just sharing that it's not hard for me and not that much extra time, considering the overall process of menu planning, shopping, traditional put-away, cooking and cleaning up.

Goal: To keep the inside of the house virus-free.

Preparation:

• Back the car to shade (i.e. the garage opening)
• Get out 4 big plastic bins (big boxes would also work)
• Get out a large, clean bucket and put water and 1 TBS bleach per gallon (make 2 or 3 gallons)
• Put on a set of cotton gloves over a set of latex/nitrile gloves
• Get spray bottle of sanitizing solution (alcohol, peroxide, weak bleach, whatever)
• Dampen (and keep dampening) the cotton gloves

Sorting:

A) Pantry Items: These go right into the pantry box, to be brought in the house in a few days.

B) Packaged Freezer and Refrigerator Items: No alternative but to spray these down. I tried alcohol, but the fumes were horrible, so I use 3% hydrogen peroxide (similar contact times, afaik). You could also mix an appropriately mild bleach solution with a similar contact time. From a spray bottle, I hit the outside of these packaged items, then wiped the gloves over the surface, especially the places where others might have touched.

C) Packaged Produce: Here I often treated these as item class "B)", above, but sometimes it was easier to just tear open the package and dump the contents into a refrigerator bin (like the red and yellow bell peppers). For my sanity, I've made the decision that anything that's got field or factory packaging has been in the packaging long enough to be 'clean enough' to get our normal pre-eating wash (not the wash of class "D)", below). I realize this might not be enough for some, and too much for others.

D) Unpackaged Produce: These are items other people (at least the grocery 'picker' and possibly other customers) have certainly touched recently. These are sorted separately. Items in this bin are tossed into the weak bleach solution and left for a minute or two, then pulled out, dropped into a few large colanders and taken to the kitchen sink to be rinsed and put away. Obviously the thin plastic bags they were in have been disposed of, so other arrangements need to be made if you want them bagged before refrigeration.

Finally, If there's a pantry item that "can't wait", the preferred option is to de-package it (using cotton gloves dampened with sanitizing solution), but if that's not possible, just spray it down like we had to do with refrigerator items.

 

[sengsational]

I'm taking a little more time "putting groceries away". Actually an infinite amount more time because DW used to do it all, and now I've gone from zero to about 20 minutes.

Just went up and found that DW put-away ALL the pantry items I was hoping I could "out wait her" on that one

 

[atmsmshr]

We quarantine the packages for a couple of days.

+1

Same for US mail.

 

[Dash man]

+1



Same for US mail.

Most of my mail goes straight into the recycling bin and wash my hands. The rare piece we keep, we open right away and dispose of the envelope or packaging and wash our hands right away before touching the contents.

 

[Lcountz]

I hang mail (letter and mags) on my clothes line in the sun, until sundown. If it's raining, I put it in a designated place in my garage, then hang it out. I use gloves to empty my mailbox, and since I pay all my bills on line, there are just a few things I keep. The junk goes in the garbage.

I undo the cardboard outer boxes outside, using gloves. The interior products I arrange in my garage on a piece of cardboard and let air dry for a few days.

Grocery shopping....I last went on March 24th. The cold stuff I unpack on my garage floor and then put it directly into freezer or fridge. The non-perishable sits on the cardboard with a spray of Lysol spray, for a few days.

I no longer bring my groceries inside in the plastic bags onto the kitchen table to put away.

I also don't bring my shopping purse inside. That too goes on the washline to dry after a wipe off. I take my debit card into the store in a ziploc bag, use it, put it back into the bag, and wash it in soapy water when I get home.

IN my car, I have a box with 91% alcohol, a roll of paper towels, and a garbage bag. After I unload all my stuff into the trunk, I douse my hands, rub vigorously until dry. Then I wet another paper towel and do around my lips and nostrils, even going IN to my nostrils with the alcohol soaked cloth. ( TMI I know...) With another wetted towel, I open the front car door, wipe the steering wheel, get in, wipe the inside door handle, and close the door.

So far, so good. I have enough foods left to last at least another week. I have made some face masks for my next trip out. I live alone, so I control my trip to the store for very early in the day.

From Amazon I have ordered: Scotts white bifold towels... the kind that go into a dispenser...they are great and cheap!!..Jars of Smucker's peanut butter....7oz Hershey bars in a 12 pack..for a little treat each day. I gave up candy, but what the heck.

I also picked a good decade to give up drinking 3 years ago...so far I've resisted starting again, but there are days I say O why not?

A good reason is that the PA State Liquor stores are closed....and I don't want to drink anything the grocery store stocks....!

Stay well everyone....!

 

[sengsational]

+1

Same for US mail.

Not sure if I posted here or on FB, bit its a one minute video of getting the mail process. Pretty simple and almost foolproof (but I have forgotten to move the day indicator once).

 

[RobbieB]

No. But my wife does.

 

[stepford]

Not sure if I posted here or on FB, bit its a one minute video of getting the mail process. Pretty simple and almost foolproof (but I have forgotten to move the day indicator once).

So mail is 3 days now? I thought 24 hours was the number for paper/cardboard and 3 days for metal and plastic.

 

[Ready]

So mail is 3 days now? I thought 24 hours was the number for paper/cardboard and 3 days for metal and plastic.

This is like the WR argument, where 3% is the new 4%, and just to be safe we round down to 2.5%.

 

[audreyh1]

So mail is 3 days now? I thought 24 hours was the number for paper/cardboard and 3 days for metal and plastic.

Mail - 24 hours unless wrapped in plastic?

There does seem to be a build up of more and more elaborate sanitation schemes.

 

[Winemaker]

No. We just use basic common sense, we always opened packages in garage and brought contents upstairs. We don't wear shoes inside the house either, they are always taken off down stairs. Critters, good and bad, are always out there, and always will be.

 

[dd564]

I don't inhale my mail, so we haven't done anything different.

 

[sengsational]

So mail is 3 days now? I thought 24 hours was the number for paper/cardboard and 3 days for metal and plastic.

Adjust the number of boxes to suit your beliefs. I went long for the video because, if someone is watching, they're probably wanting to be conservative. But you could drop down to one box.



My "reasoning" is that the gloves of my mail carrier have the entire neighborhood's germs on them (they all touch their own mail box handle, and she touches every mail box). The 3 vs 1 day is because there is plastic 'windows' on the mail, and the junk mail is often 'coated paper' (shiney), so those may allow the virus to survive longer.


You go without the 'dopomine hit' of new mail for a few days, but then back to the normal daily dose. Who leaves town for a couple of days and worries they won't be able to manage some bit of snail mail?