Green Cleaning

Raw meat

I prepare all my meat on a meat only cutting board (a separate one for fruit, a separate one for veggies/garlic/onion so the flavors stay clean)Soap them down with a rag, pour a full teapot of boiling water over it, drip dry. Any accidental residue will be cooked and sterilized. Pork I am very careful about, I keep on a plate and wash the plate right away.
I avoid contaminating my counter tops with any meat, but plain dish soap enzymes should break down bacteria proteins in high enough concentrations. Sponges are bacteria heaven.

7th Generation disinfecting spray

On the rare occasion that meat juice gets on my counter I spray the counter with 7th generation multi-purpose disinfecting spray, wipe it with a half sheet of recycled fiber content, locally produced, paper towel, spray the counter again and then let it dry. The multi-purpose spray is supposed to be safe on porous surfaces (i.e. granite), though I have quartz so that's never been an issue. As for cutting boards, you should have two; one for meat only and one for all other cutting. I personally have a plastic cutting board for meat and put it in the dishwasher immediately after use to be washed with the next full load.

wash clothes

leelee66

I went to Walmart and purchased a package of wash clothes for five dollars. I believe there were twenty cloths in the package. I keep a few under the bathroom sink to quickly windex the mirrors and I keep the remaining in the kitchen. I use these to clean to entire house. Including dusting, glass and even the clean up after raw meat. I wash them with the towels in hot water with peroxide based safe bleach. I find this clean up to be safe and green at the same time.

Avoiding paper towels...

I bought a box of Shamwow towels at my local Costco. They are quite large and after washing (they shrink quite a bit!) I cut them into smaller paper-towel sized pieces.

I keep them near my paper towel roll and reach for them instead except for the yuckiest messes that need to be grabbed and trashed together with the towel. After using to clean up anything like raw meat juices, I throw them straight into the hamper for laundering.

To get my husband on board, I also began buying only recycled paper towels and informed him they cost a lot more than the regular ones, so he would want to use them less often!

Reply to Charliann

Happy to tell you that our spray cleaners and disinfecting cleaners do not need to be rinsed. Have you had a chance to try any of these products? Here is a direct link to the cleaner product pages:

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/Green-Cleaning

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/Disinfectants

Let me know if you have any questions, Sue

Cleaning/Disinfect Your Wooden Cutting Board

I can green clean almost anything now that I found Clean: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing by Michael de Jong. To clean and disinfect a wooden cutting board wipe it down with full strength white vinegar. The smell will dissipate after a few minutes. For more green cleaning get this book. All you need is vinegar, baking soda, borax, lemons, & salt to clean almost anything. If your library doesn’t have this book then e-mail me at grenakela@gmail.com and I can send you a copy. Book $8, piece of mind- priceless.