Do you use the 5-second rule at your house? You know where you drop something on the floor, if it doesn’t sit longer than 5 seconds you can eat it. I did this at dinner with a grilled cheese sandwich my 3-year-old daughter. I have also done this while eating a sandwich in my shop. Granted I do try and keep my floors swept clean.
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Oct. 26, 2008 6:26 p.m. porksboy HalfDork
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Oct. 26, 2008 6:35 p.m. EastCoastMojo HalfDork
Nope. I know where my floor has been. Besides, with three dogs in the house whatever hit the floor is not there in five seconds anyway.
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Oct. 26, 2008 6:41 p.m. Volksroddin Reader
5-second or less thats rule of thum. It also depenn's on what it is, what it land'ed on aswell.
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Oct. 26, 2008 6:54 p.m. Grtechguy SuperDork
I have 3 kids and 2 dogs. nothing last 5 seconds on the floor.
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:08 p.m. Dr. Hess UberDork
Ya'll know that the bugs are transferred instantly on contact, as in miliseconds, not 5 seconds, right? When you plate something out in a microbiology lab, you just streak the q-tip of bug sample back and forth over the agar-agar stuff. The agar-agar is in contact with the "floor" for a miliseconds. Let it grow and you will see bugs in exactly the streak pattern you made.
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:25 p.m. Duke Dork
Ted the gay food expert proved that 5 seconds is about 4.95 seconds too long to prevent contamination.
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:32 p.m. bluej HalfDork
the way i see it is i'm preparing my body to deal with all the superbugs we're going to have from over antibioticizing ourselves. it's like doing exercise for your immune system. (yea, i just made up antibioticizing. catchy though.)
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:33 p.m. carguy123 HalfDork
Alton Brown/Good Eats had a show that showed that there was nothing to the 5 second rule. The moister the food the worse it was.
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:37 p.m. foxtrapper SuperDork
Depends on the food. The drier it is, the tastier it is, the longer I extend the time.
Cashews for example, I can find them sweeping days later and I'll still eat them. Ice cream, and I'll probably only scrape the top back into my bowl.
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:47 p.m. EastCoastMojo HalfDork
I remember watching an episode of Julia Child, which was live TV, and she had made something large like a roast and had it arranged on a serving plate. She dropped the roast on the floor while picking the plate up to show the camera. She put the plate down, picked up the roast, put it back on the plate, wiped her hands on a towel and looked into the camera and said, "Remember, when you are in the kitchen, you are alone."
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:48 p.m. maroon92 SuperDork
most of the time.
there are extenuating circumstances.
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:55 p.m. PHeller Reader
So does the rule depend upon the surface to which the food falls?
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Oct. 26, 2008 7:57 p.m. DILYSI Dave PowerDork
bluej wrote:
the way i see it is i'm preparing my body to deal with all the superbugs we're going to have from over antibioticizing ourselves. it's like doing exercise for your immune system. (yea, i just made up antibioticizing. catchy though.)
+1
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Oct. 26, 2008 8:17 p.m. Duke Dork
PHeller wrote:
So does the rule depend upon the surface to which the food falls?
Nope. The food that fell on the test kitchen floor was actually worse than the food that fell on the sidewalk outside the studio.
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Oct. 26, 2008 8:50 p.m. SVreX UltraDork
foxtrapper wrote:
Cashews for example, I can find them sweeping days later and I'll still eat them.
I have hesitated on the hairy green ones found under the seat in my car, but other than that...
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Oct. 27, 2008 12:31 a.m. MitchellC Reader
At my house, yes. Exceptions: Bathroom (I don't eat in there, sicko) and back porch. More than once a delicious juicy brat straight off the grill rolled off the plate straight into the dirt. I just consider them sacrifices to the grill gods.
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Oct. 27, 2008 7:56 a.m. 16vCorey Dork
It depends on the food and the surface for me, but I agree with bluej's theory on gradually building up antibodies. It seems like the germophobes that I know get sick WAY more often than I do.
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Oct. 27, 2008 8:10 a.m. Luke Dork
Huh. I've always known it as the '10 second' rule. 5 seconds seems far more hygienic. Regardless, as others have mentioned, the retrieval of fallen food depends solely on two variables: deliciousness of the food & disgusting-ness of the surface.
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Oct. 27, 2008 8:26 a.m. neon4891 Dork
i remember my B-in-law and his version of the 5 sec rule from his airborn days, when out in the feild, you have 5 seconds and then it is fair game.
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Oct. 27, 2008 8:37 a.m. aussiesmg HalfDork
Dog hair overrides the 5 second rule
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Oct. 27, 2008 8:47 a.m. JmfnB UltimaDork
I had a patented "Mofo-Moment" this weekend.
I made chikkin on saturday and during cleanup I spilled the chikkin spooj all over the floor in front of the trash can. Now my trash can is in an area we call "the Bat Cave" and it also houses our cleaning supplies. The affected area blocked me from getting to the industial cleaners so I reached up around the blind corner that usually has the Lysol and the furniture polish... I swear the bottle said Lysol before I sprayed the snot out of all that salmonella infected goo... I realized it wasn't when I attempted to wipe the mess up and it started gleaming with the luster of lemony fresh Pledge... awww fuxxors... out comes the industrial stripping agent and floor protector.
5 Second rule works in our house because Leann keeps the floors too clean.
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Oct. 27, 2008 9:32 a.m. CivicSiRacer Reader
Also depends on the food and surface.
If it's a dry food like a cracker or M&M I don't mind. If it's a moist/damp food like ravioli or grilled cheese no.
If it's a $9.00 steak hell no I'm eating it no matter what :)
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Oct. 27, 2008 9:34 a.m. GameboyRMH Dork
Nope. Especially with pets in the house. Mythbusters did this also.
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Oct. 27, 2008 9:45 a.m. bastomatic Dork
No way, our rabbit sheds so much anything that drops to the floor is coated in a fine covering of fur before it even hits the ground.
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Oct. 27, 2008 9:58 a.m. confuZion3 Dork
I thought it was five minutes!!
