Is anyone else cleaning their shopping?

No I'm not - other than fruit and veg which I would usually wash at any time.

Yes, I do. I wipe all the boxes and packages.

I, too, feel a bit OTT but pleased to see I’m not alone. I wear a mask when I have to go the shop, surgical gloves and wipe down everything. Some tinned and prepacked stuff goes into another room and stays there for at least 3 days. I even washed a cauliflower in a mild bleach solution last week.

We are. Anything that can be washed in soapy water or submerged in a Milton solution, is. Miltoned a whole lot of fruit and veg the other day.
Anything else is left outside in a cool place for a couple of days.

All post and the daily delivered paper is also ‘quarantined’. I pick up anything like that with rubber gloves on, and then wash rubber-gloved hands as per hand washing.

my DIL & GD both work in the same stores in their home town further south and receive some terrible abuse from customers

This is dreadful; heard about a young neighbour yesterday who has suffered this at Tesco. I think a police presence is necessary, and I hope these customers are banned forthwith.

No, I still wash fruit and vegetables, I always did. I’m fastidious about hand washing and wiping down surfaces though. That comes from all the infection seminars I had to attend before I retired. I keep having this disagreement with my grandchildren about soap and water versus hand sanitiser. Soap and water and good hand washing techniques are far more effective than sanitisers but I might as well be talking to a brick wall.

I do. I lather it lightly with bar soap and a quick rinse under the tap and wipe it or leave to dry if it's cardboard.

Yes I got a big Tesco order delivered on Tuesday , it was left in the porch , I had latex gloves on and carried the bags through to the garden , Everything was wiped down with soapy hot water that could be washed , then dried off with Dettol wipes and anything that could be left out tins , bottles etc was , Frozen food in plastic also got dunked in hot water before being put away in freezer,Fresh fruit and veg got washed and left outside to dry The whole thing took ages but I felt happier and safer for doing it for DH and myself as we are both vulnerable, All the bags the food came in was promptly put in the bin,

Witzend, could you please post a brief list of recommended durations for what you call "quarantine" for stuff coming into the house?

I've read a few articles on this, and although there is a small risk because the virus can remain on surfaces, it apparently soon starts to deteriorate, and washing hands after handling, and not touching the face seems to be best advice.
I wonder if we are putting ourselves at risk from the chemicals we are using to "disinfect" the shopping?

M0nica, SueH49 and morethan2, I was beginning to think I was the only one who didn't wash down everything.
We also wash fruit and veg, before peeling.

No I dont do it.

A friend told me that she wiped all the plastic bags of frozen food that she had bought with a bleach solution and then put them in the freezer. They have all stuck together!

Mines due between 10 and 11. Gloves ready and waiting, hot soapy water and bleach. Fruit washed in Milton and veg washed where practical.

Not that I’m neurotic you understand?

I clean what I need and leave the rest of a few days. It seems logical to me - because I'm isolating and it's all delivered.

I think it's way, way more important to avoid going into shops and supermarkets. I think shopping is risky.

Transmission is mainly from other people and the jury's still out on the threat from airborne droplets, the 'safe' distance. We aren't talking about still air either - it's circulating.

Why have our government not emphasised that people are most infectious before they have any symptoms?

People may get a false sense of security from cleaning their shopping, don't you think?

If you're peeling all your fruit and veg you're losing a lot of the vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Anything that can be washed in soapy water or submerged in a Milton solution, is. ...... I am doing that too.

I quarantine the post, but how do you disinfect the newspaper? Not much point in quarantining it as it will be out of date by the time I read it.

I'm wiping everything packaged, and the shopping bags, with hypochlorite solution (baby sterilising fluid) diluted at WHO recommended rate of 45mls to 1.5l water (that's stronger than the manufacturers' dilution instructions). Then leave it all to dry before putting away.

Vegetables are cooked, that will destroy the virus so I see no need to wash them, though handwashing after handling them is necessary. I'm not worried about fruit that is prepackaged ('cos I wipe that) or comes in its own wrapper (oranges, bananas). I understand that the virus doesn't persist for so long on fruit & veg. (Might be wrong, of course)

DP, being younger than me, is doing the shopping, wearing disposable gloves. When he comes back I rush out and disinfect his car and any door handles he's touched!

People may get a false sense of security from cleaning their shopping, don't you think?

I don't understand your reasoning here, Hetty. I disinfect everything because I don't know who it's been handled by previous to our purchase. Previous handlers might, or might not, have been infectious...

I echo Greeneyedgirl. All these chemicals, bleach etc, are basically poisons, potentially as dangerous as the virus. just be sensible. I’m certainly not going to bleach my shopping!

Hetty58

Some of us are going to the shops because we are being asked to by the supermarket chiefs as they cannot fulfil all the online deliveries.
If we all tried to get them, the situation would be unworkable.

I'm not OCD about it and I don't think it's a false sense of security. There is always SOME risk. But my perspective is that I should do everything I can. Some stuff I can't control. I'm not going to worry about things I can't control. THAT would be OCD I think.

All these chemicals, bleach etc, are basically poisons,

And to think that people were perfectly happy at the thought of eating chlorine washed chicken fro the US, and kept telling us that prepared bagged salad stuff was chlorine washed and perfectly OK. Not to mention using swimming pools which are stuffed full of the stuff!

As far as chlorine solutions are concerned the dilutions used are perfectly safe. Household bleach is potentially more toxic than baby sterilising fluid because it has more than just sodium hypochlorite in it. Milton and its generic equivalents have no additives and are absolutely fine.

They are fine to clean surfaces and utensils Maizie, but not intended for consumables.

I am honestly amazed at this thread.

Like everyone else I am following all the recommendations regarding hand washing etc but come on, washing fruit and vegetables in hot soapy water???? Really?

I do give things a bit of a wipe when I get home and of course I wash fruit and vegetables in cold water before using, but that’s as far as I go.

I seem to be in the minority though so maybe you are all correct in what you are doing.