Safety in The Kitchen

Get in there and cook, just make sure you follow these tips for safety in the kitchen!

Mealtime can be hectic. Hopefully, you have begun following my menu planning system, to help you learn how to tame the mealtime madness, but you may still find yourself in a rush to get food on the table.

No worries. It happens. Just remember that kitchen safety must always come first and these tips for safety in the kitchen will help you if disaster results from the mealtime rush.

Tips to Prevent Cooking Fires:

These tips for safety in the kitchen will help you to prevent cooking fires, the most common kitchen hazard.

• Don't leave pots or pans unattended.

• Keep pot handles turned in to keep from knocking them off the stove.

• Keep stove top grease-free between uses.

• Keep flammable objects like dish towels and pot holders away from the stove.

• Wear short sleeves or roll up your long sleeves to prevent them from catching fire.

• When cooking with alcohol always pull the pan off the flame before adding it - alcohol is highly flammable.

• Teach young children to stay away from the stove altogether - whether it is on or off.

• When children become old enough, teach them the proper way to use the stove. Explain to them why they should never use the stove without adult supervision. Make sure you teach them these safety tips!

Tips to Extinguish a Cooking Fire:

If you do have a fire while cooking, these tips for safety in the kitchen will help you to quickly extinguish the flames.

• Keep a fire extinguisher easily accessible in your kitchen.

• If a small fire breaks out inside a pot or pan, put the lid on it then turn the burner off.

• If a larger fire breaks out sprinkle it with baking soda.

General Kitchen Safety Tips:

Although cooking fires are the most common hazard in the kitchen, there are some other very important things you can do to maintain safety in the kitchen.

• Keep your kitchen knives sharp. Believe it or not, you are more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp one.

• Store your kitchen knives safely...either in a knife block or in a drawer organizer. If you keep your knives mixed in with other utensils you can easily cut yourself reaching for what you need.

• When it comes to storing small appliances keep heavier appliances lower and lighter weight appliances up high. You do not want to injure yourself reaching above your head for a heavy appliance.

• Keep a bottle of aloe vera gel in the refrigerator and use it for kitchen burns. The aloe vera is very healing and keeping it cold helps to immediately relieve the pain from a burn. This works great for sunburns too!