Safe Cooking 101: Safety Tips for a Kitchen Knife

For both professionals and food enthusiasts, spending some time in the kitchen establishes excitement and freedom to express yourself through the dishes you make. Some even say that cooking boosts their overall mood and relieves stress after a long day at work. But that said, there are still various kitchen safety tips we have to take to ensure a safe and comfortable cooking time in the kitchen.

When talking about cooking, the first thought that comes to mind is usually the dish you want to prepare—from the recipe down to the ingredients you need. And then, there's food preparation, which includes washing and slicing ingredients. In this article, we will give you a run-down of safety tips for a kitchen knife to help you cook with ease and safety.

The Kitchen Essential

What's the first tool that comes to your mind when you think about cooking? For most of us, it's a handy (and sharp!) kitchen knife. Many home kitchens are equipped with kitchen knife sets, each piece serving a specific purpose, like a serrated knife for bread and a paring knife for peeling small fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, however, not all of us know how to handle these tools properly.

Safe Cooking: Kitchen Safety Rules

Whether you're preparing food for your family or at a restaurant, knife safety is one of the most important measures you must implement in the kitchen. This includes the very basic habit of sharpening your knife and keeping it from growing dull, which might cause inconsistent cuts and possible injuries.

Perhaps you already have this common rule ingrained in your kitchen-loving household: Never use a knife to pry open sealed containers or use it in any way apart from cutting ingredients and their intended purpose. It makes your life easy if you don't have a screwdriver or lever lying around the house, but it could also potentially cost you a trip to the hospital if you're not careful! 

And, if you do cut yourself, don't panic—just run the wound under cold water for fifteen minutes and then see your doctor immediately.

Here are some more basic kitchen safety rules to give you a safer cooking environment for your meal preparations!

• Always wash your hands before using any cooking utensil; bacteria can spread quickly on unwashed hands and make their way onto the blade when handling it without gloves.

• Never cut towards you or anyone else. When cutting, keep the knife in front of your body and use your other hand to hold down what you're cutting. Rest fingers on the top of the blade only when necessary since this can lead to injuries. Make sure your other hand is far away from the knife.

• Wash all of your knives by hand instead of using a dishwashing machine. A good way to clean knives is using a kitchen towel drenched in hot water and soap. Then dry thoroughly by hand.

• Store knives in a knife block or on a magnetic strip to keep them accessible to children. Be sure they can't fall into any drawers or off any countertops. It's not good to store knives with other tools because this puts everyone at risk for injury. An alternative is a plastic sheath that covers the blade.

• If you need to store knives in a drawer, place them at an angle so they don't rest against each other and can't slide forward when the drawer is opened and closed.

• Always stand up when cutting food with a knife. This reduces your chance of falling and injuring yourself or someone else in the kitchen.

• If you want your kitchen knife to maintain its sharpness, you should sharpen it regularly. A dull knife is both unsafe and unpleasant to use, especially when chopping raw meat. You can sharpen a knife blade using an electric grinder or sharpening steel. Additionally, you can invest in custom-made kitchen knives to fit your preferences.

• Never run a knife under running water. This can cause the blade to slip and injure you or someone else. Instead, clean it off with a damp sponge. If necessary, use sharpening steel to remove any food from the blade.

If you’re planning to add a new set of knives to expand your kitchen collection, you can also check this kitchen knife buying guide to help you through.

The Takeaway

Cooking is a fun and healthy way to spend quality time with the people you love. As long as you follow some basic safety rules, your kitchen can be an enjoyable place for everyone in the family. In addition, handling your cooking procedures by following safety tips to avoid cuts can make the entire food preparation process much easier. We hope these tips gave you better insights into how important it is to conduct safety cooking measures in your kitchen.