POLL: How often do you change your cutting board?

8 years ago

I know I should change my cutting board way more frequently than I do, but it still sits there in the kitchen, probably full of bacteria and ready to be replaced.

It's time to fess up, how often do you change your cutting board? Let us know in the comments section below.

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I don't remember the last time I changed my cutting board...

Once a month

Every 6 months

Every year

Ever 1-2 years

Something else - tell us!

Featured Answer

turquoisetree53

8 years ago

a good survey Emmeline

my white plastic boards are for dirty jobs, which can be bleached and dishwasher washed. i confess I only chuck when they look naff.

my nice wooden chopping boards only for bread and some veg, washed after use, and bleach washed/ scrubbed and dried outside every few months.

never raw meat near other stuff. they say even washing chicken in sink could spread salmonella etc around your surfaces even more.

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Comments (40)

Tom Flanagan
8 years ago
I'm planning my next trip to IKEA as we speak...
User
8 years ago
i figure one per year right?
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User
8 years ago
I don't like cutting boards, at least wood ones. There is just no way that makes me feel like it's clean. I usually just use a paper towel on the counter and then toss it or a paper plate for juicier items. Or, if something really big, like turkey, I use a platter. I keep promising myself a marble cutting board and then forget to get one. :D
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Some chopping boards should be changed after each use

(Charles 1st). Click to enlarge.
User
8 years ago
I think that might be a chopping "block", chook, but I agree with the sentiment... :D
User
8 years ago
I don't throw cutting boards out, I buy ones that can be sterilized...
marisahayhurst
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Please, Which are they?
bosgag
8 years ago
I never change my wooden chopping boards. Wood has natural disinfecting qualities and 99.9% of bacteria die within 24hrs in a wooden board. Plastic on the other hand allows bacteria to multiply in the knife cuts. Glass and marble are also safe but blunt the knives so for me wood is the only choice.
poollover
8 years ago
I am with bosgag. Wood all the way, I do keep one specifically for raw meat and scrub with soap and hot water after use, never any problems. Much kinder to knives. Buy good quality and they will last a lifetime.

Not sure when the ignorance about wooden boards gained traction, guess its probably something to do with h&s paranoia.

And of course a great marketing opportunity to persuade people they need a clutch of different coloured plastic/nylon boards that need replacing frequently.
megboydcx
8 years ago
I agree that wooden boards are the way to go - you only need 3, they last a very long time. One for onions, and then other veg; one for meat; and one for bread, etc…. Not that I get too upset if I or someone else helping, uses the 'wrong' one… I also use wooden spoons, especially since I have only ceramic or enamel pots and pans - makes my life in the kitchen simpler at every level - and more hygienic !!!
ash4711
8 years ago
I use a black quartz tile the depth of my black worktop (60 x 30 I think). It cleans up a treat and I can cut everything on it, no need for separate boards.
maggieandrichard
8 years ago
Oh dear, not often but I do bleach it about once a month. My mother didn't have a cutting board (neither did my aunts) everything was cut on the wooden draining board with the same knife. Well, I am still around and so are all my cousins so the germs didn't do us much harm.
sizzlinghot
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I would love a butchers block built into my worktop but protruding to give it its own space and definition. I have a steam cleaner and can sanitize the boards. I bleach mine which are all different types of plastic but feel like corian. One only for Bread. One for veg. and one for Meat. The meat one is washed in the dishwasher or with a different scourer which is bleached soon after for hygienic reasons, to avoid cross contamination. I love the feel of a chunky wooden chopping board for chopping up food. Secure and stable. Pleasurable experience to use. I also love my long handled wooden spoons for using with ceramic pans.
User
8 years ago
One of my treasured possessions is the chopping board I inherited from my mother. She bought it somewhere near Smithfield market, before I was born, just after the second world war, when she was on a very tight budget; I recall her remarking with satisfaction on how little it had cost her. It now curves gently where sixty years of knifework have worn it away; sixty years of my mother skilfully preparing meals. Each time I use it I am reminded of her. I have no intention of ever changing my chopping board!
turquoisetree53
8 years ago
I like to hear about 'natural' disinfecting characteristics of wood. (I know my Mum always told me that putting sheets, and things to dry outside in hot sun, would 'bleach/clean' them.)

So, does anyone know the science behind the Wood Claim?

Emmeline, any chance to give us some research?
User
8 years ago
Turquoisetree, here you go!

http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm

"We have no commercial relationships to any company making cutting boards or other food preparation utensils. We have tested boards and cleaning and disinfection products, some of which were supplied to us gratis. We have not tested all of the products that have been sent to us, simply because there is not time. We are aware that there are other food preparation surfaces made of glass or of stainless steel; we have done very little with these because they are quite destructive of the sharp cutting edges of knives, and therefore introduce another class of hazard to the kitchen. We believe, on the basis of our published and to-be-published research, that food can be prepared safely on wooden cutting surfaces and that plastic cutting surfaces present some disadvantages that had been overlooked until we found them."
phnip
8 years ago
I'm with the wood chopping board folks. Mine was made to fit over one half of the sink and was installed with the kitchen in 1984. My large family have survived! A good scrub with very hot water is all it needs. I don't have any other chopping board.
turquoisetree53
8 years ago
Thank you Mrs Stem...I am just about to chuck my plastic board. It's got me thinking....goodness knows what nasties, ref plastic bits, it means we ingest.
keen bean
8 years ago
Never have replaced it in all the 5 1/2 yrs we have been married. Still alive and I believe all our guests are too. It is used only for meat but has medium and rare varieties chopped on the same board. I did buy some antibac chopping board oil from Lakeland a few months ago but never got round to it and it's sat in my cupboard ever since!!!

The plastic chopping boards are hopeless and need replacing regularly as they score badly.
lazyletters
8 years ago
I use a scrape to smooth back my wooden board whenever it's cut too deeply to clean and to remove any staining and that's coming up to 30 years old. Wood is very hygenic but I use a selection of thin colour coded plastic ones when I have a big cooking stint going on. It means there is no cross contamination. These are ones that don't heal so go into the dishwasher. When they get too carved up I can replace them cheaply enough but I've had them 5 years now and they are standing up well.
cocolori
8 years ago
3 chopping boards - one for meat (plastic, cleaned in very hot water each time), one for veg (also plastic, goes in dishwasher) one wood - bread board (wiped over with a damp cloth from washing up).

The obsession with cleanliness is a bit worrying - you don't need to use dettol to kill every microbe in the kitchen and there's some interesting evidence that the lack of exposure to different microbes is responsible for the rise in ashma and allergies, especially among kids. It's why having pets when you are young makes you less likely to get ashma (you still might but it's lower risk).

Ultimately it's good basic hygiene (washing hands properly with normal soap but between the fingers and drying properly, cleaning with hot water etc.) and cooking, storing and reheating food properly which makes the difference between a good kitchen and a bad one.

Plus throwing out your chopping boards every 5 mins is extremely wasteful and bad for the environment.
carthiefintexas
8 years ago
I'm another of the wooden board owners. Bought mine from a local market easily around 20 years ago. It is literally a slice of tree, growth rings, bark remnants and all. Everything gets (and has been) chopped, diced and sliced on it. I clean it by either washing down or wiping down, every so often I give it a scrub with salt and lemon, stick it outside in the sun to dry, then re-oil.
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I tend to chop straight on to my butcher's block which I have had for over 15 years, I don't intend on swapping it out for at least the next 15!
Claire Hitchen
8 years ago
I only use wood and never change them. I scrub them with salt and washing up liquid. Sometimes I spray them with bleach.
maggieandrichard
8 years ago
I quite agree that we are too concerned with disinfecting everything. As I said in an earlier post my mother didn't have a chopping board and used the same knife for everything. We also always had pets who slept on my bed. I have never had asthma, breathing problems, upset stomach, food poisoning, ADD, etc, etc. I guess we're were tougher 70 years ago.
timiduser
8 years ago
Agree on the excessive reactions about disinfecting things. As a parallel, I was rather dismayed by a discussion on an American site (the American branch of Houzz?) a while back, where the contributors got quite incandescent about how disgusting it was to have carpets in the house, because they would harbour dust!
User
8 years ago
Recalling my childhood, a few things pop up instantly....
1) Staying outside all day in the summer, coming inside only for lunch. Trusting my cap and shirt to protect me from the sun
2) Sleeping cuddled up to a dog and a cat in a twin bed, with no respect for personal space shared by any party
3) Making mud pies and building forts in the woods
4) Eating an ant once, on a dare. Yep, picked it right up off the dirt and ate it!

I survived.

Humans are tougher organisms than we think, I believe. And maybe it's like growing plants...small stressors strengthen an organism. Perhaps the trick is finding the balance?
Jan Johnson
8 years ago
I have used wood for over 50 yrs. i have a native Rimu wood round one for bread and reverse side for veg. Just use a pine one for meat. I have a bamboo one too which cant be soaked. I cut a lemon in half and scrub with that. all the boards get a run over with a lemon. i never cut raw chicken.
milfordmaid
8 years ago
I'm with maggieandrichard - I haven't managed to see anyone off with my chopping boards - yet!
Fred Wonder
8 years ago
I never, ever change mine. I use a butcher block and a huge thick wooden cutting board, only taking care to keep my fruits from suddenly tasting like onions or garlic. Studies have shown that a wooden cutting board is naturally resistant to bacteria, so I scrape and then wash mine off with soap and water after use. All this absurd paranoia about cleanliness is the product of marketing, not science, and the supposedly more sterile plastic ones are actually much better petri dishes for bacterial growth, which is why they must be cleaned and disposed of regularly. Fine if you want to keep plastic cutting board manufacturers in China working, but not at all safer or cleaner.
User
8 years ago
I use the nylon IKEA ones which go into the dishwasher at least once a day on a 55 deg wash. We don't have meat in the house, so my chopping boards are only used for vegetables, fruit and bread. If I'm preparing fish, it goes on a large dinner plate and straight into the dishwasher. If we ate meat I would be neurotic haha!!
monochromegeometry
7 years ago
I dont like plastic ones. They cut deep, discolour and hold onion etc smells often even after going through an industrial dishwasher. Never feel clean to me. I use wood ones from ikea, only had to replace if they've been "left to soak" too long by family members. You can also sand them to get the cuts out, and reseal with oil... On the todo list...
bc_8
7 years ago
I use glass. Easy to clean.
PRO
Kinedo
7 years ago
I'm going shopping this weekend for a new shopping board. Thanks for the prompt!
rzanuk
7 years ago
I was about to ditch wooden boards for plastic. After reading the above I've changed my mind and will just give them a sanding and oil treatment.
Kirsty Jenkins
7 years ago
I have always used wooden and recently took great delight in inheriting my mothers one that is probably at least 50 years old. Great memories of cooking at home with my mum. Give it a scrub with hot suds and all will be well.
PRO
Ecoflap
7 years ago
I rarely buy new ones, just clean the ones I have, but we have to keep boards for separate uses anyway as one member of the famiy is coeliac and two are vegetarian.
happydays28
4 years ago
I have 3 cutting boards - For seafood , Meat and Greens .
E D
4 years ago
Nearly 5 years’ old thread, but still interesting.

Someone here said wooden boards kill 99% of bacteria in 24 hours.

I hope that‘s true, but is it scientifically proven?

POLL: How often do you change your cutting board?

Comments (40)

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