How to Make Disinfectant Wipes?

[harllee]

I need to disinfect groceries, packages, food deliveries, etc. Both DH and I are at high risk for the virus and I am getting stressed that I cannot disinfectant items coming into our house. I am out of disinfectant wipes and paper towels and cannot find any locally or online (Ebay has some that is outrageously expensive). I do have some isopropyl alcohol that I have tried to use with shop towels (only have a few shop towels) but that did not work well--too messy. Any ideas how I can make some disinfectant wipes? Or better yet, an online source for disinfectant wipes or paper towels? Thanks.

 

[HadEnuff]

Hot soapy water?

 

[Ready]

I think you are going to drive yourself crazy trying to disinfect your groceries and it will not accomplish anything. It’s impossible to properly wipe down every surface of every grocery item in your bag with enough disinfectant to be sure that you removed every last virus particle on every surface. Even if you wipe a package down, your wipe may not stay on the surface of the package long enough to be completely effective. Lysol wipes typically need to remain on the surface for at least a full minute to be effective.

So even if you do this, you are still going to need to wash your hands every time you touch a package. And this is all you really need to do anyway. Washing your hands and avoiding touching your face is the biggest thing you can do to protect yourselves. And since we know that the virus is unlikely to survive past three days on any surface, you can be comfortable knowing that anything you bought more than 3 days ago is now safe.

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/...ivery-clean-sanitize-wipe-outside-coronavirus

 

[CardsFan]

Hot soapy water?

+1.
EVERYTHING I have read says soap and water is better than any disinfectant. That said, we are not being as careful as OP.

We put it all away, wash our hands before and after, wash our hands often during the day (even when we have not been out).

 

[Amethyst]

Given that two doctors and one nurse, on separate occasions, have advised Mr. A. and me always to wash superficial wounds with soap and water, NOT disinfectant, I am in the camp that says fill your dish basin or sink with warm soapy water, run your groceries through it/rinse/dry them (yes, even the produce if it's remotely washable, which most produce is) and call it good.

I have not gotten to the point of washing each individual egg, although I've always been careful about cracking and using eggs. I always wash my hands before and after handling eggs, and try to avoid getting any egg content onto the outside of the shell. This was preached by my Mom.

+1.
EVERYTHING I have read says soap and water is better than any disinfectant.
We put it all away, wash our hands before and after, wash our hands often during the day (even when we have not been out).

 

[Janet H]

I bought some diaper wipes (unscented) and poured 91 percent rubbing alcohol into the package. I'm not entirely convinced the diluted end result is strong enough but I'm using it to wipe down mail feel a little better for having tried

 

[ncbill]

What Ready said...listened to a radio interview yesterday with an expert who pointed out it was literally his 136th interview on why you don't need to worry about getting the virus from groceries or take-out food.

 

[Aerides]

I agree with Ready, but you may find paper towels at costco.

 

[CaptTom]

Since I'm only shopping every two weeks, a lot of what I buy goes into "quarantine" in the basement. By the time I need it, it's been there long enough that any virus should be dead.

On the way to quarantine, products are brought in through a back door to a countertop right inside the door. Anything packaging which can be removed to the trash or recycle bin is removed there. Lots of hand-washing between each step. Items are sorted; some can be wiped with a disinfectant wipe, some washed. Most are moved to quarantine. Countertop is disinfected after.

I'm getting good at picking up the mail with my left hand, then using my right hand to open the door. I leave the door to the recycle bin closet open before going out, and most of it gets tossed right in (still using just my left hand.) The rest goes to the sorting countertop. Most things can wait a day or two, after which virus supposedly can't survive on paper. Magazines get a longer quarantine. If something needs to be opened right away, it generally goes in the scanner, then hand-washing, scanning, recycling or shredding, and hand-washing again.

I'm sure this is all overkill. But it's not like I don't have the time. And who knows?

 

[harllee]

OP here-- I am quarantining everything I can for 48 hours or so--mail, packages, nonperishable groceries. I don't disinfect those items. But things I need to use immediately or that has to go in the refrigerator I do want to disinfect. I am washing produce.

 

[greengo523]

I know disinfecting groceries is probably overkill, but I prefer to be on the safe side. If the virus can be on the bottom of your shoes(I have heard that from multiple sources) there is no reason it couldn't be on some grocery items. No matter how many precautions you take you could still contract the virus. I personally don't want to find out if I will survive it or not if I get it.

 

[Bongleur]

The virus has been found on the floor of a hospital pharmacy. And all over the place in PPE removal rooms. So it can get tracked around.

Use shop rags or scraps and clean them in a bucket of chlorine solution.

I put a tarp on my porch to keep chlorine off the concrete (its bad for concrete & mortar). They deliver food in plastic bags. I spray my chlorine solution right onto the stuff, still in the bags. That helps it stay wet for 10 minutes.

Then I use a shop cloth wet with chlorine solution to wipe stuff down. I also turn the bags inside out & set them on the tarp, with the food on top, since the tarp is woven & a bit leaky. Wait until it dries.

Some things are delivered also in the clear plastic produce bags. I use scissors to cut off the top of the knotted bag, and my wife reaches in to extract the contents.

As it gets warm I'll need to put out a cooler for the frozen stuff.

For mail, I hold the envelope in a gloved hand and use my letter opener with the other. Reach in & extract the contents -- machine printed bills etc have probably never been touched by human hands.

Boxes are sprayed with solution around the seams & top. Box knife cuts tape, pointy end opens flaps. Then spray contents. Again, many products shrink wrapped have probably never been touched. So cut open & extract.

Decon letter opener & knife with 99% alcohol so it won't rust.
Decon rubber glove with whatever (use heavy type, not disposable).

 

[38Chevy454]

I bought some diaper wipes (unscented) and poured 91 percent rubbing alcohol into the package. I'm not entirely convinced the diluted end result is strong enough but I'm using it to wipe down mail feel a little better for having tried

That's what I did as well. The wipes now smell like a doctor office from the alcohol.

May not be as good as real disinfectant wipes. But certainly the added alcohol has to help. Of course now can't find any 91% alcohol in stores so following this technique is not possible now.

 

[Spock]

spray bottles with dilute bleach solution (0.05% recommended by CDC for hand washing).

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Given that two doctors and one nurse, on separate occasions, have advised Mr. A. and me always to wash superficial wounds with soap and water, NOT disinfectant, I am in the camp that says fill your dish basin or sink with warm soapy water, run your groceries through it/rinse/dry them (yes, even the produce if it's remotely washable, which most produce is) and call it good.

I have not gotten to the point of washing each individual egg, although I've always been careful about cracking and using eggs. I always wash my hands before and after handling eggs, and try to avoid getting any egg content onto the outside of the shell. This was preached by my Mom.

Even if you got shell in the egg, and only poached or coddled it, it would kill any coronavirus present, which doesn't survive above 140-150F. This is why we do COOKED takeout foods, and just wipe down the outsides of the containers and/or wash our hands after handling them, depending on the situation.

 

[donheff]

I keep a dilute bleach mixture in a spray bottle on the kitchen counter and add a T of bleach every few days as it grows weaker. I spray a paper towel to make a wipe to clean incoming packages and then the counter. I have seen two ER docs online demonstrating this as the technique they use.

I have read several places that you need to refresh your bleach mixture or it will quickly weaken. Why wouldn't this be the case with commercial wipes as well?

 

[Spock]

I keep a dilute bleach mixture in a spray bottle on the kitchen counter and add a T of bleach every few days as it grows weaker. I spray a paper towel to make a wipe to clean incoming packages and then the counter. I have seen two ER docs online demonstrating this as the technique they use.

I have read several places that you need to refresh your bleach mixture or it will quickly weaken. Why wouldn't this be the case with commercial wipes as well?

Read the label on the wipes. Clorox wipes do not have bleach in them.

 

[donheff]

Read the label on the wipes. Clorox wipes do not have bleach in them.

Kind of like Google that? I can't read the label on the wipes since there are no wipes available.

 

[Spock]

Kind of like Google that? I can't read the label on the wipes since there are no wipes available.

I read the side of the canister... chemical names too long to try to type (much less type accurately) here.
But yes... google it and Clorox's own website links to a list of incredients, top of which on the one I looked at was isopropyl alchohol, not bleach.
Or go on amazon and use the picture zoom to read the label on the side.

ETA: Here's another:
"Most people associate Clorox with bleach; however, both Clorox and Lysol disinfecting wipes are completely free of bleach. Instead, their active ingredient is Alkyl C12-18 Dimethylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride. This ingredient is an antimicrobial ammonium compound responsible for disinfecting and sanitizing surfaces."

 

[davismills]

The smell of bleach is the new Chanel #5

 

[Chuckanut]

Soap destroys the outer waxy protective layer of the virus. Once that happens the virus is doomed to a quick death.

Note: This is not a recommendation to drink soap solutions as a way of preventing or curing the virus.

 

[sengsational]

Alternate to Disinfectant Wipes

When I have to bring groceries, that can't be quarantined, into my house, I put a pair of cotton gloves over pair of nitrile gloves. I have a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide (fumes are too irritating spraying isopropyl alcohol). I dampen the gloves, spray the packaging, then wipe the packaging with the damp gloves, concentrating on where other people have likely touched.

Immersing in soapy water would probably work for some things, but I can't imaging trying that with a bag of potato chips. And some packages have air holes, so while spraying and wiping might work, immersing wouldn't.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Even if you got shell in the egg, and only poached or coddled it, it would kill any coronavirus present, which doesn't survive above 140-150F. This is why we do COOKED takeout foods, and just wipe down the outsides of the containers and/or wash our hands after handling them, depending on the situation.

Another thing you can do with cooked takeout foods is transfer them out of the container immediately the wash hands and disinfect the area. Then you can just reheat the food, thus killing any residual virus.

 

[Janet H]

That's what I did as well. The wipes now smell like a doctor office from the alcohol.

May not be as good as real disinfectant wipes. But certainly the added alcohol has to help. Of course now can't find any 91% alcohol in stores so following this technique is not possible now.

I have been able to find 99 percent "technical grade" recently on amazon. Interesting article here about differences in percentages and the importance of water: https://labproinc.com/blog/chemical...ce-between-isopropyl-alcohol-ipa-99-and-70-25

 

[MRG]

Anyone wanting alcohol for disinfection should check out your liquor stores for everclear. I bought a fifth of 195% for $15.00. They had plenty, it's not available in every state so check your laws.