CV-19 Carry a Zip Loc Bag With You

[Bruce Wrenn]

Most stores that have shopping carts have a tube of sanitizing wipes located near the door, to wipe down cart handles. Take a zip loc bag with you, and place used wipe in it. Upon finishing shopping, and returning cart, before entering car, remove wipe and again clean your hands. Wiping down the handles before using cart, rather than after, is like wiping back side before toileting.

[Brian Elfert]

The Menards store near me doesn't normally have wipes for carts. They had them for a few days, but nothing last night. They were just using consumer sized containers of wipes. I wouldn't be surprised if someone took the container that wasn't locked down, but maybe they just don't have any more.

[Prashun Patel]

"...is like wiping back side before toileting."

Now you tell me.

[Lee Schierer]

Wiping down the handles before using cart, rather than after, is like wiping back side before toileting.

Not exactly...If the cart is contaminated and you touch it your hands are contaminated. Anything else you touch in the store, including your own body will also get contaminated. I would suggest a better option would be wiping the cart and your hands down both before and after shopping.

[Erik Loza]

We're due for a Target run soon. Thinking I may soak a microfiber towel in quaternary ammonium (virucide) and bring with me. The ziploc bag is a good idea. Maybe bring the soaked towel in the ziploc bag and just discard the whole deal once out of the store. Keep the tips coming.

Erik

[Bruce Wrenn]

We're due for a Target run soon. Thinking I may soak a microfiber towel in quaternary ammonium (virucide) and bring with me. The ziploc bag is a good idea. Maybe bring the soaked towel in the ziploc bag and just discard the whole deal once out of the store. Keep the tips coming.

ErikThe liquor store has plenty of 180 proof (90%) alcohol. You don't even need to buy "the good stuff." Yes you should wipe cart before and after, but it you don't wipe after use, its pointless as you have handled everything in the store. Think about the cashiers handling the money.
"

[Mike Henderson]

I don't know if they have any left, but I purchase denatured alcohol at Home Depot. Probably cheaper than drinking grade alcohol.

Mike

[Mel Fulks]

Our Costco is doing great job. Signs to stay 6 feet apart ,a crew of cart cleaners working in sight of customer "inspectors",
just a couple of customers in a line and they open another register. COSTCO: keeping our nation SAFE !

[Matt Day]

Denatured alcohol shouldn’t be used for hand sanitizing.

I am getting pumped up to leave the house tomorrow for the first time in a week and go to the grocery store. I’m planning to wipe the cart first thing and bring a small bottle of hand sanitizer to clean my hands after I put the cart away. If they don’t have wipes I’ll use the hand sanitizer on the cart handle.

I’ll also sanitize the little handheld scanner thing we have at Payless/Kroger. Those are great for this pandemic by the way: bag the groceries yourself and no line to wait in.

[Andrew Joiner]

Good tip Bruce, thanks. We have a sign on our door reminding all family members to wash hands as soon as you come in. Soon we'll have an alcohol spray bottle outside the door as well.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Good tip Bruce, thanks. We have a sign on our door reminding all family members to wash hands as soon as you come in. Soon we'll have an alcohol spray bottle outside the door as well.

Earlier this week we were out at grocery store, and I thought, why use two, when one will do. Plus if you go somewhere which doesn't have hand wipes, you have one in your baggie. Good as long as the alcohol doesn't evaporate.

[Kev Williams]

I was reading the other day where any alky used for sanitizing must be between 60 and 80% strength to work- below 60%, effectiveness drops rapidly, and above 80%, the alky-to-water ratio is too high for the necessary chemical reactions to occur...

Me and my better half have been notorious over-buyers for years. We had cupboards and garage shelves stocked with canned goods, 2 fully stocked fridges and their freezers, a stuffed 17 cu.ft upright freezer, over 100 rolls of TP, 2 half-gallons of hand sanitizer plus a standing Purell dispenser in this place before we ever heard of covid-19. Last weekend I put our old 19 cu.ft freezer back in service, and it's nearly full now. We hardly go anywhere because of the hours we work, so this self-quarantine thing is a no-brainer for us. I've been out of the house lots more the past two weeks just searching out supplies than normal...

so as to shopping, I put on a pair of nitrile gloves and put a small bottle of sanitizer in my inside jacket pocket. When I get to the store I squirt a dab on the gloves and rub it all around, and wipe my face and nose. I go to the produce aisle first and grab a couple of veggie bags, which I use to grab food, or 'test' food (bread, etc). Soon as I'm done checking out I throw the bags, sanitize the gloves and face again, and head for home. Gloves are used to put the food away, then discarded, THEN we use sanitizers on our actual hands. Since we have customers coming to the door, our hands get sanitized a lot so the gloves help. The customers appreciate the sanitizer too...

[Bert Kemp]

Yea I follow Kev's routine I have box of black nitrate gloves put a pair on when I get to the store, small spray bottle of germ x in my pocket, leave store throw gloves away. when I get home I spray my veggies with Hydrogen peroxide and rinse good .

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I am baching it as the wife is in California baby setting our 3 youngest grandkids whose schools closed earlier this week. I need to go grocery shopping. I plan on taking a Ziploc bag with a Clorox wipe in it. I will wipe down the cart handle before and after I use the cart. I don't know if the person before me wiped the handle down after using it. The latest I saw said that on some materials the virus could last 72 hours.

When I get home I will wash my hands thoroughly.

[Erik Loza]

Kev, your new avatar photo is hilarious.

Erik

[Matt Day]

Was at the store this morning 5 minutes before it opened at 7am. There were about 30 people standing outside waiting for it to open, standing 6 ft from each other. When the doors opened people seemed to forget to stay 6ft away and it was a mad dash for carts, then everyone went straight for the TP. There was nothing to fight about bc there was none there.

I then went to the items I thought would be low stock - milk, OJ, bread. I got some of the last milk (1/2 gallon only), the last pump free full strength OJ, and bread was slim pickings. The grocers should take note that the bread that was left aren’t big sellers!

Frozen veggies were 90% gone, fish sticks and chicken nuggets were basically gone.

Most everything else was there, just maybe not the make i usually buy. Produce was surprisingly well stocked. Guess people aren’t eating enough fruits and veggies, at least fresh ones.

Spent $330 and hopefully will be set for the next couple weeks with normal-ish meals.

Wore nitrile gloves, store had wipes (had one in a ziplock too) and i wiped the cart and the scanner. Tossed the gloves after I put the cart away.

A hard part is paying. I bought some alcohol (for drinking, not sanitizing) so needed my store card, ID, and CC. Keep those separated so you don’t have to wipe your whole wallet down at home.

When I got home, my wife washed all the fruit and wipes down refrigerated items, and we left dry items in the garage which will be there for a couple days until any potential viruses die.

I put my clothes in the washing machine when I got home and washed my hands and forearms thoroughly.

[Jim Koepke]

The parking lot at my regular grocery merchant was rather empty compared to my usual shopping trip. One of the store employees was in the shopping cart area cleaning the carts that are equipped with large plastic surrounds for kids to pretend they are driving a race car.

After wiping down my cart yesterday, the wipe was placed between the wires in the child seat area. This came in handy for dampening my fingers when getting the plastic bags in the produce department open. My store is doing well at keeping most of the produce stocked.

It was obvious before getting to the paper products aisle the toilet paper was all gone. People would turn into the aisle, sigh and turn around.

It looks like a lot of people are buying a lot of soups among other things. My consumption of soup has been trending downward due to all the sodium in most soups.

Milk in gallons was on sale. There was plenty of 2%. The whole milk racks were empty.

Some of the different varieties of cat food were sold out.

Some of the dry dog food shelves were empty.

Bread was spotty.

Many of the aisles were not checked since those items were not on our list.

jtk

[Bruce Wrenn]

Today, went out twice. First trip was to take daughter to pick up her car from repair shop, Aldi's, bank, gas station (gas for small engines,) and Walmart. Got every item on my list. Second trip was to pharmacy (wife has sinus infection,) Walmart, Food Lion (self rising flour for biscuits,) and Pizza Hut (take out.) When wife called doctor's office this morning, they said they would call in her prescription. As for TP, about a month ago, I bought a bale at Costco, not realizing I still had an unopened one here. My wife has always told me I was a hoarder, but now that isn't such a bad thing. Last summer bought five boxes of dust masks, as with five shipping was free. Got my hair cut last week. So we are basically set for the duration.

[Brian Elfert]

I won't be bringing my own disinfecting wipes anywhere as I have never seen a need to have them at home so I don't have any. It is pretty much impossible to buy disinfecting wipes now unless you happen to hit a store that just put a fresh shipment on the shelves.

The wipes with bleach dry out your hands and the ones with hydrogen peroxide turn your fingers white. My employer bought a few dozen containers of hydrogen peroxide wipes right as the hoarding was starting to wipe down surfaces on electronics like touch screens on printers. Hydrogen peroxide is supposed to be safe for electronics.