Household Tips – The Kitchen

The Kitchen is the most important room of your household as it is the most used room and remains busy all the time with the mess of cooking, eating, storing and serving food etc. The cleanliness of this very busy place is that more important as it is directly linked to the health of people in your house.

When the kitchen is not cleaned for a long time or bacteria and germs take centre stage in it. These germs enter human being through cooking and eating in the dirty kitchen. It is always better to clean the cooking range, the slabs, utensils and wash basin after cooking every meal. If you cannot clean your entire kitchen every day for some reason, try to clean it atleast every alternate day. If the cooking range or gas stove and slabs are wiped clean with a wet cloth after cooking everyday, the less chances of bacteria and germs in your kitchen. Wash your kitchen floor regularly with soap and water to which a little disinfectant is added. This way you will have a neat and clean kitchen every time you come in to cook some food.

Apart from the cooking range, gas stove and sink that need to be kept clean, the other appliances in your kitchen such as the refrigerator, microwave oven, the mixie etc also need to be cleaned on a regular basis. Kitchen cupboards, cabinets and shelves need to be cleaned and dusted on a monthly basis. Containers containing the various ingredients also need to cleaned regularly and old powders and condiments that have passed their expiry should be disposed off. Wash the cutting Board and Knife as soon as the cutting is done.

The dust bin / garbage pail should be kept under the kitchen sink and closed with the lid to discourage flies. All vessels containing food should be kept closed to avoid dust, flies, insects or even lizards falling into it. Spray the kitchen regularly especially near the sink and other outlets to discourage cockroaches. All exposed leftovers and stale foods should be disposed off.

Keeping your kitchen safe is also just as important as keeping it clean. Ensure that the gas cylinder value closed after cooking is done. Matchsticks used for lighting the gas should be completely put out before throwing them in the dustbin. A small metal ashtray or a tin could be kept in the kitchen for this purpose. Avoid shelves containing kitchen ingredients and condiments above the gas range so as to prevent any untoward accident while stretching over the gas flame to reach them. Most of all avoid keeping the gas oven on the floor especially when there are children in the house.