June 3, 2009

Since we are now feeding this all raw diet, cleaning up after and during meals is huge concern. I felt SO dirty dealing with that meet/carcass in my house, keeping them in my refridgerator, Riley eating it (outside, and me having to stand out there watching him for the whole of it), and then coming in and wanting to give me a kiss on the chin, or touch my leg with his nose to say hello, or smelling the trash can and touching it, smelling the floor, licking the floor, licking my hand.....ahhh! the raw meat germs are everywhere!!! After a really good cleaning with (erg, the only non-toxic cleaner in my house) regular old antibacterial dish soap, I felt much better. I then moved forward to find out ways to make this situation bearable. To keep myself from getting grossed out every time I opened the refridgerator- I put all of the raw meat for the week in a plastic trash bag, wound it up, then put it in its own little part of my fridge, away from the other food. I did the same thing for the bag of veggies. This not only keeps the mess down in the fridge, it aslo cuts down on prep-time- all I do is pull out those two bags, and everything I need is right there in front of me!

To help with the problem of Riley speading the "raw meat germs" all over my house, I did a little research on the subject. As you might have guessed, I am a bit of a germ-o-phobe. BUT, then it started raining, and I had to let him eat inside. I did quite a bit of research during these first few days and read how other people handle the germ issue.  

I now use about 20 drops of grape seed extract to 32oz water for my sanitizing. I LOVE it. It is not only a good cleaner, it is actually good for you! I use it to clean all of my fruit, my cutting boards, the counters, the sink, and anything else that needs sanitizing! I love it because it does not have a strong odor like other cleaners...I do not smell anything when I use it.

I also use vinegar as a sanitizer.   It works well and is VERY cheap! I use this anywhere it does not matter if it is a little stinky for a little while. The smell dissipates as soon as the vinegar dries. You can also add lemon juice to the vinegar.  It helps with the smell quite a bit, and the lemon also has natural cleaning properties.

There is a link to a really great website with lots of advice on natural cleaners on my links page.