Kitchen Crimes

[Belle2667]

I think we will end up regretting our over-sterilization of our kids' world. We've learned that too much cleanliness and lack of exposure to animals, etc has increased asthma. I think we will find that we avoid getting alot of natural bacteria, etc into our systems by avoiding all things with any risk will end up making us much more susceptible to things. In another generation or two there may be whole food groups people need to avoid do to this. I think we should be careful but stop obsessing so much. Watch food channel. Most chefs including Alton Brown can give a very good explanation of the true risk of egg products. He even did a whole show on it. If you are not in a high risk group you should just relax a bit.

I totally agree!

That's the argument I use to avoid housecleaning! My house is the dirtiest & germiest and my kids are healthy as oxen!

BTW, my grease goes down the drain, my meat's on the counter, I use the same sponge for dishes and countertops, we eat expired food, as well as cookie doughs and cake batter and dishtowels are used for drying dishes and hands and for wiping counters and faces!

 

[Tiggeroo]

we lived on a farm and all my mom would do was boil the milk once before we drank it- it was straight from the cow

My mother was into health foods and went out of her way to get raw milk, unpast. unhomogenized. When that was difficult we raised dairy goats.

 

[JennyMominRI]

Hmmm... I'm with most of you it seems. I lick knives and spoons, eat raw cookie dough, cake mix, etc., put grease down the drain... plus I once lit a pot holder on fire. I don't think me and kitchens get along very well.

I regularly light pot holders on fire..There is not a pot holder in the house without singe marks on it..Pot holders all over America hide and cringe when they see me coming .When I walk through the kitchen area of Bed Bath and Beyond pot holders dive for cover

 

[gris gris]

I totally agree!

That's the argument I use to avoid housecleaning! My house is the dirtiest & germiest and my kids are healthy as oxen!

I'm with Belle on this one! I love not being a germ freak and love it even more that my family is never sick.

My biggest kitchen crime cost me $260 - I peeled potatoes and put all of them into the garbage disposal, which apparently wasn't the right thing to do, because all the peels went into the pipes and expanded. Mr. Roto Rooter came out on the 4th of July and explained to me all about starch and expansion I really don't like to cook!

 

[ducklite]

Seriously, how many people did you know growing up that were allergic to peanuts? It wasn't that long ago that I was in elementary school and they served pb&j as the alternative choice for whatever they were serving.

I'm not sure why we've got the increase--or if we really do. I think it's more discussed than it ever was. I ate peanuts/peanut butter for 41 years--started when I was two or so--and two years ago became allergic to them. I actually wonder if it's the actual foods or the preservatives that are in everything these days. Obviously I'm not going to eat fresh boiled peanuts to find out if it's the actual peanut or the preservatives...

Anne

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

My name is sherry and well when I make pancakes, my 16 yo only likes them cooked on the outside... and barely any color. Yes people they are gooey and squishy on the inside. Only way he will eat them... Lock me up and throw away the key for this kid....

This is how I make my OWN pancakes! Yum!! And then use the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray so you don't tear them trying to butter them!

I also thaw on the counter, eat LOTS of cookie dough, lick the beaters, use expired products, freeze meat longer than they say is OK..... I am sure there is more but that is all I can think of right now!

 

[Syrreal]

Obviously I'm not going to eat fresh boiled peanuts to find out if it's the actual peanut or the preservatives...
Anne

Mmm...boiled peanuts....from a scary looking roadside stand... YUM! I haven't had those since we moved up here!

 

[2bemarried]

I'm cracking up reading all of these. I've commited so many kitchen crimes that I should have been in kitchen prison years ago.

1. I eat raw cake batter, cookie dough...anything sugary really
2. I thaw on the counter (well..in a container of cold water sitting on the counter)
3. I burn pot holders
4. I pour grease down the drain
5. I cut mold off of cheese
6. DH leaves dishes sitting in the sink for days and I let it stay there. I cook, he cleans...end of story
7. The only anti-baterial cleaner I use is for the counter top where I cut up chicken
8. I have meat in the freezer from 2004 waiting to be cooked
9. We have three cats and they shed like crazy. Do you know how much cat hair flies around in a kitchen while you're cooking?
10. DH has been known to put a leftover in the frig and a month later I'll find his "science fair project" in the back of the frig.

 

[TheGirlin14G]

I don't know if this is a crime, but in my family measuring isn't necessary.. a pour of this, a few heaping spoonfuls of that, a palm full of that stuff, and a then we taste it go by that... except Christmas cookies.. they're measured out for the most part.. and then, licking the spoon and beaters is a tradition - and who am I to break tradition?

When my friends get together sometimes we'll make those cookies that you just stick the squares on a cookie sheet in the oven and bake them.. about half the squares actually make it to the cookie sheet

 

[Belle2667]

I've got another one!

I dip my unwashed finger into the sauce to taste. Sometimes I even double-dip! Ssshh! Don't tell anyone!

 

[Chattyaholic]

I forgot one that my grandmother used to do...she would cook a huge noon meal on Sunday and have everyone over. When we were done she'd just put all of the leftover food in the center of the table, cover it with a clean tablecloth, and at night for supper she would just take the cover off and
wa-la...there was supper, ready and waiting! Nothing went into the refrigerator. It stayed on the table for hours!! And nobody got sick!!!

 

[Cindy B]

My 85 year old father (who is in great shape and is at the mall right now chasing women) is the KING of expired foods. He even goes to this salvage place - that I refer to as the "used" food store. He once bought a case of 19 cent expired mayonnaise.

He must have his own penicillin factory going inside his body. The couple of .

My FIL is the same way. We found a 2 liter soda bottle in his bar that had the darker color on the bottom of the bottle... when did they stop that 1985?

He's the kind of expired cheese, bread and lunchmeat. I don't eat at his house really.

Now that is really weird to a point because growing up we had the huge WIC block of nasty cheese, ate "mystery" cans from the salvage store.. these cans had no labels.. you had to shake them to figure out what was in it.

The rule with the mystery cans was if you opened it, it was yours and you HAD to eat it!

I think I can top with salvage store crimes. There is a salvage store in NJ that used to sell salvaged airline food. Honest! Yes, my dad would come home with salvaged airplane trays of food to give us. My dad would tell us that it was special and fancy...

I grew up thinking airline food in those containers were fine cuisine!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Do you commit "Kitchen Crimes?" You know...the stuff the experts tell you to NEVER do...?

I know I'm guilty of a few kitchen "no-no's." For instance, I (gasp) thaw meat on the counter! I've done this my whole life and never gotten sick.

Also...(small children, look away)...I eat raw cookie dough! The homemade kind! [Now looking over my shoulder for the "Kitchen Police" to come and take me away!]

I LOVE cookie dough.....but it's a big no no while pregnant. Siiiiiigh....

...on the other hand, I'd rather have a healthy baby

 

[Charade]

LOL, I eat the cookie dough too.

Oh BABY!!! Me too!

Raw eggs are neutralized when made into cookie dough.

 

[Shugardrawers]

I plead guilty to almost all the crimes previously mentioned. Dh will eat absolutely anything. I've been known to be too tired or ill to clean up after dinner and leave things overnight. Dh will pack it up in the morning and take it for lunch. Casseroles, stews, pork chops, rice, he doesn't care. And if I make cookies, cakes, pies, etc. he's standing over me drooling and dying to lick the spoon and beaters. I don't scrape the bowl just so he can have more of the batter. He's still alive so I think it's fairly harmless.

 

[summerrluvv]

I think I can top with salvage store crimes. There is a salvage store in NJ that used to sell salvaged airline food. Honest! Yes, my dad would come home with salvaged airplane trays of food to give us. My dad would tell us that it was special and fancy...

I grew up thinking airline food in those containers were fine cuisine!

 

[KarenAylwood]

I'm guilty of the usual cake batter/cookie dough crimes.

I pour grease down the sink and I dip with my finger to taste (and sometimes double dip ).

I also cut mold off of cheese, and sometimes off of bread (but not usually). I'll eat anything as long as it looks and smells ok no matter the expiration date (except yogurt).

My dad likes real maple syrup so my parents always have it on hand but hardly ever make waffles. He made waffles one morning and pulled out the old maple syrup- it had mold on the top of it. So he skimmed it off, and boiled it saying he was "killing any bacteria in it." Let's just say he was SICK AS A DOG for a day after that! Word to the wise- boiling old maple syrup doesn't make it ok!

My mom used to do the raw hamburger thing. Actually now that I don't live at home, she probably still does it. When I am actually home and there's raw hamburger around, I watch her like a hawk. I don't get the appeal!

 

[NAB]

Mine crime would be that I don't change my spoon after frying hamburger for hamburger helper. Not suppose to use a spoon raw meat has touched with cooked meat.

Also have sent hubby a hot dog bun I picked mold off of once. It was only one spot and I had no more.

 

[mickeysgal]

My biggest kitchen crime cost me $260 - I peeled potatoes and put all of them into the garbage disposal, which apparently wasn't the right thing to do, because all the peels went into the pipes and expanded. Mr. Roto Rooter came out on the 4th of July and explained to me all about starch and expansion I really don't like to cook!

I never knew this. Would it have helped if you had run the water a good long while after disposing of the peels?

To answer someone's question about grease down the drain - You're not suppossed to do it because grease congeals and could clog the drain. I do it though while running the hot water for a good long time to flush it through.

My personal Kitchen Crime is that I'm an egg exploder. Many a time I start to hard-boil eggs and simply forget about them. Its pure pleasure scaping egg bits off the ceiling, floor and countertops while dealing with the smell. Making Easter eggs can be a source of anxiety in our family.

 

[mickeysgal]

My mother remembers storing fresh eggs on the counter instead of the "ice box". They were never refrigerated and they didn't get sick.

Its a wonder that we'll all still here, isn't it?