The Five Second Rule

[Andy M.]

I follow the rule. If I'm too slow, I just count slower, especially if no one's looking.

When we had kids in highchairs and a dog, he would camp under the highchair and saved us a lot of time and effort in cleanup after dinner.

 

[FrankZ]

For me it just depends on what it is and how well the cats have been shedding lately.

What's the time limit on something dropped into food? This morning the girl dropped some of my change into my coffee. The look on her face was great, and she just got me another cup of coffee.

 

[Sprout]

Mostly I use it for dry food or food that can be rinsed, but if it's something really good that's moist but can be brushed off, I make exceptions. We have no pets and take our shoes off at the door. I only use the rule at home, not in public places.
When my daughter was first crawling, like most babies, she put everything in her mouth. I even saw her licking the carpet once or twice. The way I see it, my immune system is far more advanced than hers was, so if she survived it along with millions of other babies, I will too. Though I agree, I would never serve something to a guest that I dropped on the floor unless it's something like the example of a whole roast (then they get fair warning). If I dropped it, I'm eating it.

 

[Barbara L]

For me it just depends on what it is and how well the cats have been shedding lately.

What's the time limit on something dropped into food? This morning the girl dropped some of my change into my coffee. The look on her face was great, and she just got me another cup of coffee.

Did you get your change back?

I'm pretty much like most of you. If I am at home, it is just for me, and it can be wiped or rinsed off I will eat it. I probably swallow a ton of cat and dog hair when I'm sleeping (eww!), but I won't knowingly eat it!

 

[FrankZ]

Did you get your change back?

Actually, no. Mind you it was just a couple of pennies and the look on her face was worth the price of admission.

 

[Alix]

I just beat the dog out in a race for a piece of bacon I dropped. HA! I mean come on...BACON! He was mighty ticked at me and stomped off to his bed. Heh heh heh.

Barbara, I don't even want to contemplate the amount of pet hair I've ingested in my lifetime.

 

[FrankZ]

Barbara, I don't even want to contemplate the amount of pet hair I've ingested in my lifetime.

It just adds that je ne sais quoi...

 

[Alix]

It just adds that je ne sais quoi...

Indeed it does! I think perhaps we should do a GCC Pet Hair challenge!

 

[LPBeier]

I used to observe it until culinary school. No, they didn't teach us how bad it was, quite the opposite.

In the restaurant kitchen a tray of prepped chicken Parmesan fell face down on the kitchen floor. Chef picked the tray up, threw all the chicken back on it and barked orders to fill in any coating problems and add new eggplant and cheese.

And no, I was on the vegetable station that day so it wasn't me!

Even though we have the kitchen blocked off from the dogs, I still don't use the 5 second rule, though if a raw veggie falls I will thoroughly wash it off and stick it in the pot!

 

[taxlady]

I just beat the dog out in a race for a piece of bacon I dropped. HA! I mean come on...BACON! He was mighty ticked at me and stomped off to his bed. Heh heh heh.

Barbara, I don't even want to contemplate the amount of pet hair I've ingested in my lifetime.

Bacon cooking smells so good, that we have a rule at our house. You aren't allowed to cook bacon unless you cook enough for everyone to at least get a taste, four legged friends included. Weirdo Shreddy (my cat) doesn't like "people food", even bacon! -

 

[CraigC]

I really had never been around cats until I met Karen. She had this DLH named Mitty (short for Mitzubishi). I don't remember what I was making, but I was peeling and deveining some shrimp at the kitchen sink, when Mitty jumps onto the kitchen counter. Mind you she has full armour. Didn't get the chance to apply the "rule". In the blink of an eye this cat snags a U-10 out of my hand! Before my shock was over, she had most of it gone.

Craig

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I really had never been around cats until I met Karen. She had this DLH named Mitty (short for Mitzubishi). I don't remember what I was making, but I was peeling and deveining some shrimp at the kitchen sink, when Mitty jumps onto the kitchen counter. Mind you she has full armour. Didn't get the chance to apply the "rule". In the blink of an eye this cat snags a U-10 out of my hand! Before my shock was over, she had most of it gone.

Craig

I have to hide behind a door to get any chicken or pastrami, Latte' really likes pastrami. I have to watch my food every step of the way! She's much faster than I am.

 

[PattY1]

I never heard of the "5 second rule" until a few years ago. A friend and her toddler were having Spaghetti with me one night and he dropped his fork. She asked me if "I" had the 5 second rule in my house, as if I did she would have given that fork back to her baby. After she explained it to me I got up and got that child a clean fork.

 

[roadfix]

.

 

[Barbara L]

I have to hide behind a door to get any chicken or pastrami, Latte' really likes pastrami. I have to watch my food every step of the way! She's much faster than I am.

We had a cat, Mr. Frodo, who would practically go into your mouth to try to get chicken!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

We had a cat, Mr. Frodo, who would practically go into your mouth to try to get chicken!

The only reason Latte' can't help herself to butter is...she doesn't have opposable thumbs.

 

[buckytom]

I just beat the dog

omg, that's terrible!!!

lol.


there no real time limit here, i guess. 2 or 3 seconds tops, but that depends on how moist and/or washable something is. also, where it dropped and how hard or soft the food is.

lots of individual variables.

for instance something like a hard boiled egg is washable, but if it falls hard on a surface, bits of dirt might get pushed into the soft white and you get that tooth cracking crunch later on. yummy. and we ate many meals on the beach. i could probably poop out a sand castle if i wanted.

my mom used to say that we'd eaten whole animals worth of hair in our lifetimes, and we were only kids at the time.

i wonder what more"primitive" people in africa and australia think about the 5 second rule as they cook their food without removing hair, directly on the logs of the fire?

lol, or the burning dung.

 

[Alix]

and we ate many meals on the beach. i could probably poop out a sand castle if i wanted.

Well that's a talent you don't see every day. If you ever try make sure someone has a camera!

roadfix, OMG, I LOVE that flow chart. Perfect.

I will also admit to dropping a steak on the grass in front of the grill, brushing off the grass bits, etc and slapping on the BBQ and noting it will be "mine". (Incidentally for anyone keeping track, the BBQ is nowhere near the dog's biffy )

I feel like sending out an invite to dinner now and watching everyone's faces turn a bit green! LOL

 

[taxlady]

.

Great flowchart!

I don't know about the raw steak. if nothing is embedded and can't be wiped off, why not. It's going to be cooked, which would kill anything that got on it. Raw ground beef on the other hand ...

I hope everyone knows that they can click the pic to see a bigger version of the flowchart. (Old fogeys like me need the bigger version to read it.)

 

[FrankZ]

Great flowchart!

I don't know about the raw steak. if nothing is embedded and can't be wiped off, why not. It's going to be cooked, which would kill anything that got on it. Raw ground beef on the other hand ...

Cooked could be a matter of debate...

I am, generally, in the very very rare category with mine...