Camp kitchen hygiene

Hygiene is very important in the kitchen.

• Clean hands
  Make sure that everybody washes his/her hands before helping in the kitchen.
  Therefore water (and soap) should be available in/next to the kitchen.
  Ask people who want to join whether they've washed their hands.

• "Whole" hands
  Of course somebody with an open wound should not be in immediate contact with the food (e.g. cutting vegetables). If someone cuts his/her finger, This should immediately be taken care of. By the way the First Aid box should best be around the kitchen area.
  No problem of course if somebody with a minor cut is helping to keep the kitchen fire going. So, no blood in the food. Many of us are vegetarian.

• Clean kitchen area and food store
  Make sure that the kitchen area and the food store are cleaned daily and put in order.
  It is also much nicer to work in a clean and orderly kitchen.
  Some people do a wonderful job in keeping a kitchen clean.
  Get out all the private cups and plates.

• Wash up everything and do it immediately
  Make sure that everything gets washed up.
  A good piece of advice : when starting the food circle, put a pot of water on the fire (or what is left of it). By the time the food is eaten, this water is warm to wash up with.
  It's always easier to clean the pots right after food circle than after a night of waiting. And cleaning a porridge pot after it's been standing in the blazing sun all day is never a very inviting job.

• Cleaning/disinfecting kitchen material
  Once in a while you can clean/disinfect all kitchen knives and other tools.
  Just boil a pot of water, pour some vinegar in it and put the kitchen tools in it for 10 – 15 minutes. Don't do this with plastic tools or plastic handles.

• Serving
  Always serve with clean kitchen tools.
  Servers carry some responsibility. Don't let people take with their own spoon or cup, not even for seconds.
  If you serve bread or chapatti, don't let everybody take with their own hands. The server makes sure his hands are clean and hands the chapatti or bread to everyone.

• Cool storage
  Especially with milk products and prepared food (leftovers) a cool storage place is very important

• Re-using old food / leftovers
  Care should be taken with serving leftovers.
  Leftovers should be :
  • put in a cool area immediately after a meal : if you leave breakfast standing in the sun all day long, or some dinner outside all night long, you'd better throw it away than serve it. Throwing away is a waste of money, stomach infection and diarrhea with two dozen people is wasting much more.
  • label the food immediately : what is in the pot and when it is prepared
  • don't let people munch from leftovers with their own spoon ; if you offer leftovers to be eaten the day after as munchies, put a serving spoon in the pot.