Letting Pets Crawl On The Counter And Other Gross AF Things You Need To Stop Doing In The Kitchen

Few things make me more unlikely to eat someone’s food than seeing the gross things in their kitchen. I’m not saying I’m Mrs. Clean. Definitely not. My own kitchen may have a stain (or five), but there’s a difference between needing to tidy up and having things get downright gross in there.

If you want to keep me from eating any of your food, let me find out that you do one of these gross things in your kitchen.

1. Not washing your hands.

Do I really have to explain this one? We all learned the same songs about hand washing in preschool. You should know better.

2. Letting animals crawl on the counter.

I feel like nine times out of ten if someone has an animal on the counter it’s going to be a cat. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love cats. They are the grand prize of all the pets. But I don’t want them around my meals. If I see your pet’s hair in my food, I will flip TF out.

3. Washing chicken with soap.

Not only is this gross AF, it’s weird AF. Why the heck would you want to eat chicken that you cleaned with dishwashing liquid? I know you’ve seen the videos online. Again, you don’t have to worry about me eating this food.

4. Seasoning meat in a dirty sink.

There are plenty of people who think seasoning the food in the sink is gross regardless of it being recently cleaned. I don’t have a dog in that fight. I say, do you. But if you are seasoning meat in an obviously dirty sink, we have a problem. Bacteria is NOT a seasoning. And you better be using more than salt and pepper on that meat.

5. Cleaning dishes with the same rag you just used for the trash.

Full disclosure: I almost grossed myself out with this one. There have been a couple of times I kept the “clean the dishes rag” a little too close to the “clean sh*t up rag.” In my defense, I had pregnancy brain and couldn’t remember which was which. Thankfully, the smell test made it easy to tell one from the other.

Don’t cross contaminate your dishes by using the same rag you use to clean the house, especially your trash. That’s a no-no.

6. Never exchanging or cleaning the dish rag.

Speaking of dish rags, don’t let the dish rag get that awful mildew smell. Not only does it smell gross, but it’s a sign that bacteria are all over and you’re probably spreading them on your dishes. Scratch that, we know it’s on your dishes because we can smell it.

7. Letting dishes sit in the sink until they mold.

I sympathize with folks who struggle with dirty dishes. I think dishes are the worst part of the kitchen to clean. But even I have a limit. Don’t let moist dishes with food sit in your sink unless you want to put your family at risk for getting sick. If I see plates dressed in peach fuzz, I’m not eating at your house.

8. Have sex in the kitchen.

Meh. I would file this more under being adventurous than “gross,” but a lot of people told me they saw it as nasty, so I’ll list it. As long as you wipe your ass before putting in on the counter and wipe your counter after putting it under your ass… I think I would be okay with it. But if there’s a lingering scent of sex in the air… I’m OUTTA THERE.

9. Not cleaning your countertops.

Speaking of counters, dirty ones are pretty gross. I’m not talking about a stain here or there. And I don’t have room to judge the seasoning stains on your oven — because my husband seasons food wildly. But if I can literally see the bacteria dancing on the stains on your countertop, you need to handle that, dude. You shouldn’t be working on a science project on your kitchen counter. Clean that stuff!

10. Use nasty cutting boards.

Last, but certainly not least, one of the grossest things people do in the kitchen is using the same cutting board for meat and vegetables without washing them. PSA: DON’T EVER DO THIS. Don’t forget to throw out your cutting boards as soon as they start to crack or get holes in them. Otherwise, you’ll be left with a really nasty mold situation.

Unfortunately, I learned that one (and maybe a few others on this list) the hard way.