Football season is upon on us, and in my family that means one thing – tailgating. And for us, the food comes first, and then the game. It’s a tradition for us, starting back in the 1980s before Northwestern football games. And, today, we all still enjoy feasting on the not-everyday foods without the everyday concerns for crumbs, cleanliness and calories. Yet, proper hand hygiene should be in your tailgating playbook.
The food comes first is a tradition started in 1981 while one of our kids attended Northwestern. They didn’t win a game that year and were even beaten by Iowa, 64-0. Tailgating got much better for us at Chicago Bears’ games in 1985 as our daughter was a cheerleader, a “Honeybear.”It was the peak of our tailgating, even for a Packers fan – remember it’s about the food; not the Super Bowl!
Most of our family has taken enough biology to have a healthy respect for raw foods and all the living organisms that come along for the ride. Our secret ingredient for flavor-filled foods for tailgating is our folding Thermopen meat thermometer. We always cook to the numbers needed to kill the uninvited but not one flavor-killing degree more.
Whether brats, burgers or hot dogs are on your menu, it is important to remember that hands become contaminated when handling raw meats. So after putting the items on the grill, it’s time to wash your hands! But where? Across the field by the grungy gas station? Or the sink outside the port-a-potty?
Alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the rescue! But this time with a twist.
Take a tip from the deserts of the Middle East where hand sanitizer is used by our military like soap. Follow these steps:
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Put an excess of sanitizer on your hands and scrub vigorously as if it were soap.
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After 20 seconds, wipe with a paper towel, adding plenty of friction.
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Toss the towel and now reapply your sanitizer.
According to peer-reviewed research, this method of waterless hand cleansing is as effective as a traditional soap/water wash. Some call it SaniTwice®1 .
And when it comes time to pass the chips and dig in to the dips, make sure to pass the hand sanitizer just in case someone is coming down with something. Unfortunately, the football season follows the school calendar. Students not only fill their heads with knowledge but also load up their hands with the cold and flu viruses. According to the CDC, practicing good hand hygiene, which includes using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, helps to reduce the spread of illness.
Several hot and cold beverages later, it’s time for one of the day’s most dangerous of duties. It’s time to skip to the loo. After using the port-a-potty, don’t wash your hands at that water-scarce version of a handsink. Be sure to touch nothing until you get back to your car and then repeat the SaniTwice “wash.”
Our family does relax their at-home standards when tailgating but with the aid of a thermometer and trusty alcohol-based hand sanitizer, we compete and beat the worst of the ball-game bugs.