If you’re a mom, you’ve no doubt heard of the 5 second rule: if your kid drops a piece of food on the floor, and you pick it up within 5 seconds, it’s still good to eat. Right?
My 5 Second Rule Story
At our house, we live by the 5 second rule. We have to. You see, I have a picky eater. He’s pictured above. He’s also very charming. And very smart.
At the dinner table, he refuses to eat anything he doesn’t like. Unfortunately for him, I don’t fix many dinners that consist entirely of chocolate and potato chips. This presents a problem for my young son.
Because he would just as soon starve than eat anything nutritious, we’ve had to institute a “you need to eat at least x number of bites” rule. That’s when he pulls out the charm.
He starts to poke his food with the fork. It takes him 5 minutes to get the fork to his mouth, and when it’s finally in the vicinity, he throws back his head with a big grin, closes his eyes, and pretends to try to get the food in his mouth. 99% of the time it lands on the floor.
That’s when the 5 second rule comes into play. Trying hard not to laugh, I pick up the piece of food, put it back on his plate, and let him know that he can now eat the food, plus the germs. Ok, I leave out the part about the germs. But I don’t let him waste the food.
Samantha Bee on the 5 Second Rule
Recently I had the opportunity to listen to The Consumer Queen interview Samantha Bee of the Daily Show about the 5 second rule. First of all, Samantha Bee is incredibly funny. Listening to the call brightened a busy day.
Samantha talked about her own use of the 5 second rule, as well as the results of a study by San Diego State University. The study, funded by Clorox, found that some foods picked up bacteria in less than 5 seconds. To read more about the study, visit SimpleandSurprising.com.
Study or no study, I’m unlikely to give up my 5 second rule ways. I hate wasting food (and wasting the money that paid for the food). Besides, my charming and intelligent son would quickly figure out that dropping food would get him out of eating dinner. And we can’t have that, can we?
The Giveaway
Clorox is supplying a Clorox surprise pack, valued at $20, to be given away to one lucky reader. To enter, just post a comment about the 5 second rule. Do you use it? Think it’s disgusting? What’s your best 5 second rule story? If you’re really ambitious, share a 5 second rule photo or video (post the link in the comments section). Clorox may use your story, photo, or video on their Facebook page.
I will close comments on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at noon PST. Winner will be drawn by a random number generator. Please only comment once, as duplicate entries will be deleted.
There’s also a chance to win a $50 Visa Gift Card! To enter, do the following:
Tweet @Clorox with the item you use the 5-second rule with most and you will have the chance to win a $50 Visa gift card. Use #smpl&surprising in your tweet! Complete contest rules can be downloaded here.
So, to recap: Leave a comment on this post to enter the giveaway for the Clorox cleaning products and tweet the above to be entered to win a $50 gift card. You can enter both giveaways.
Now, who wants some free cleaning products? Let’s hear your stories!
*I was compensated with a gift card for my time & effort in writing this post. Opinions are 100% mine.
{ 4 trackbacks }
{ 74 comments }
I am not scared of a little germs. ;) It’s funny- just yesterday I posted on not using soap! LOL
We use the 5 second rule around here. I have a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old and I have decided that they are going to get germs from so many places that in our house we use the 5 second rule. Sometimes leniently. But it can’t be too long or the dog would have eaten it anyway. :-)
We use the 5 second rule since a little germs can’t hurt my son too much. I usually have a semi-clean kitchen floor. LOL
Lynnae, my oldest son was a picky eater. His two foods of choice were hot dogs and peanut butter (at least there was some protein).
When he was 17 we went on our first cruise. He shocked my husband and I by ordering and eating escargot among other exotic foods.
As an adult, he’s more adventurous than we are often. It doesn’t help you know, but wanted to let you know this too shall pass.
P.S. I’m totally into the 5 second rule!
Yes, we use the 5 second rule or maybe it’s longer than that some times. We’ll use it on just about any food. My baby is 1 & will eat most anything off the floor. This I try to discourage but some times I haven’t had a chance to sweep, yet.
We have the 10 second rule in our house. In our busy house-hold something inevitably ends up on the floor! Ever cut up carrots? There’s always a jumper in the group. When my niece visits, she manages to make sure that a Cheerio or 2 or 10 finds the linoleum. I keep a fairly clean house – but a few seconds on the floor? No problem!
Most things get pitched in my house, but only because them come up covered in cat hair lol If items are retrieved from the floor with no visible dirt or hair? Still edible!
5-second rule?!?!
Strange, I always thought it was the “30-second rule”… and I am willing to stretch that a bit based on what hits the floor. (For a macadamia nut, it would be the 5-minute rule.)
We use it, but my house is clean. =)
We have a dog who gets to anything dropped in less than 5 seconds. My kids have been known to use this to their advantage often. :)
I am all for the 5 second rule- I have an almost two year old so about half her food ends up on the floor. however, I have two dogs that love my daughter more than ever…or at least they love her at mealtime. Most food that makes it off the table doesn’t make it to the floor, let alone do I have 5 seconds to pick it up! The dogs are getting very fat!
our “5 second rule” is a bit altered here as we have cats…anything dropped on the floor runs a high chance of getting (unsavory) cat hair on it. so we have the “if you drop it, go wash it off then eat it” rule. :-) thanks for the link on the clorox study as well. i haven’t read it (thought i would post first) yet, but i would be interested in knowing how long a clorox cleaned floor is considered ‘sanitary’ .
Love your blog!
-kim
I use the 5 second rule (only at home!), but I agree, only if the dog doesn’t get it first! I tried to do the tweet thing. Not so good at it, hope it worked! :-p
Funny! No, if it goes on the floor, it goes in the trash at our house. However, we’ve never had that many drops, so it’s certainly possible that I would change my mind if we did. I don’t know – we have dogs, so probably not!
I definitely use the 5 second rule. I’m less likely to use it at a restaurant or outside though. At least in my house I know the last time the floor was mopped and what has been tramping on it since. Mostly the 5 second rule applies to food, but I also use it if I drop a fork or knife. It also generally applied when my kids were still using pacifiers (unless I could actually see gunk on it). What busy mom has time to rinse a pacifier when it falls on the floor every 30 seconds?
Germs don’t scare me. In general, I don’t let the floor stop me.
My granny didn’t waste anything so she had this rule too, only she would hold the food up towards heaven for the angels to clean it off. I guess that might be even more effective than Clorox.
We definitely follow the 5 second rule…as long as I saw it hit the floor and can remember when it did, if the Little one will eat it, we blow it off and keep going. We try not to waste food (yet Cheerios and crumbs are a regular part of our day) and the floors are usually clean enough.
I’m not a big fan of the 5-second rule. I don’t keep my floors immaculate, and so consequently I’m not interested in eating ANYTHING that touches them.
I abandoned the five second rule because of pets in the house – I see what their feet walk through outside. Too icky to mention, but I wouldn’t to eat anything off their feet, therefore won’t eat it off the floor – and I keep my house as clean as you possibly can with dogs in the house!
I have 3 little ones and I hate wasting food as well. We absolutely use the 5 second rule!
Well, with animals in the house, the 5 second rule is hard to abide by! It’s more like 1 second and it’s eaten!
Well in our hosue we have a 120 pound Labador so if it’s still there then yes I abide by the 5 second rule! I agree! Hate to waste!!
I’m ditto with Jean. Because we have cats in the house, we don’t follow any “second” rule. And, if people wear shoes in the house, this would be the same. E-coli, etc. abound everywhere, and our bodies don’t get used to those bacteria. We’ve had several friends and missionaries who travel the world and live in one region for years on end, and they still get serious diarrhea problems from contaminated food no matter how long they live there, and no matter how careful they are to try to sanitize and cook the food long enough to make it safe to eat. And we’re talking about horrible parasites, giant tapeworms, and the like, too. Yuck.
Now, please don’t take this as an insult to your parenting, because since I know you personally, I know that you are an awesome mom! But I wholeheartedly believe that when children throw or drop food onto the floor, repeatedly, on purpose, no matter what age (8 months or 8 years), it is disrespect to the person who prepared the food. I’m sure you didn’t allow him to do this when he was a baby, and he will hopefully realize that the punishment for doing this won’t make it so much fun anymore.
It would be sad, though, if he got e-coli or some other parasite (since you have animals in the house) from eating food off of the floor. That would be a punishment he would never forget! Oh, sad.
When our dog was alive, nothing went to waste and we didn’t have 5 seconds to retrieve the food that had fallen to the floor. toby was always under our feet ready and waiting for falling food. we are currently dog-less and if something falls, it probably gets eaten, except for things like yogurt and other saucy stuff.
My husband uses the five second rule and I will if it is something I really wanted to eat :)
With 3 dogs in the house, we do not use the 5 second rule. When we move out in a few weeks and only have our one dog in the house, we probably will!
I started to follow the 5 second rule yesterday and saw a hair…*shudder* Its just going to depend on which floor and how recently it was cleaned!
Yes, I have used it.
We use the five second rule. Susan
Not everyone should use the 5 second rule. One of my dearest friend’s has the dirtiest house! It’s clean to the look, but walk on the floor with bare feet or socks and they’ll be black within an hour. That being said, the 5 second rule is used in my house, however the dog usually gets to the food before we do, so I can’t say it’s used very often. Our min. Schnauzer has a well balanced diet of dog food, bread, crackers, pasta, gum, candy, lettuce, tomatoes, and whatever else happens to land on the floor that day! It’s a crazy life, but it’s mine!
We use the rule at home only, but it’s more like the 30-second rule!
I don’t worry about the 5 second rule because my Dachshund gets anything in 2 seconds!
One of the problems in our oh-so-sterile cleaning-frenzy world these days is that kids do not get enough dirt, ie, germs… and their bodies do not learn to deal with it early on and build up their immune systems, thereby giving them stronger immune systems when they get older.
I think I had the healthiest kids in town…well just as healthy as all the other farm kids anyway, in that eating down at the barn things were never sterile…. and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or hamburgers while milking, (their choice to eat them) with cow tales (and other ‘stuff’) flying, led to ingesting stuff that was not really on the edible listing… lol…. However, the kids were healthy, with healthy immune systems, and rarely were sick, and then only for a very short time compared to the other kids around.
Yes, we had a 10 second rule…but you had to beat the dog to it :) and yes I am sure my kids built up an immunity to e-coli at a very young age…at least to the e-coli strains on our farm. E-coli is only a health issue if your body’s immune system can’t fight it off itself. We all have E-coli within us, and we deal with it on a daily basis… normally healthy immune systems have no problem with it.
As I grew up hearing, “A little bit of dirt never hurt anyone!” :)
It depends. My husband is waaaay more finicky then I am. So if he is present, we do not use the 5 second rule (not even if something falls on to the counter or table). If he isn’t, I use the 5 second rule unless there is pet hair on it.
I just did the 5 second rule the other day. I picked my daughter up from daycare and as we were leaving she dropped her nila wafer and was very upset. I grabbed it up blew on it and said 5 second rule. My daycare provider just laughed at me. Plus when we are home it is a 1 second rule because the dog is usually there in about 2 seconds after he hears food drop.
PS – We call them “Thank you bites”… meaning they must taste everything so many bites…. for politeness sake :)
And growing up each of my kids had 2 things (their choice) that they absolutely did NOT have to taste… but only two… they were allowed to change their “selections” every 6 months if they wanted to. Put an end to fighting over it. The kids let ME pick two things also – mine were beets (which the rest of my family loved so we had them a lot) and okra :) One kid picked sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts, another was asparagus and liver, etc….
The 5 second rule depends on whether the dog gets it first in our house. LOL
I like our rule better than the 5 second rule: “As long as it didn’t land in a puddle.” As in, I dropped this on the sidewalk, floor, in the car, etc,… can I eat it? My response is, “As long as it didn’t land in a puddle!”
sylviarj at yahoo dot com
My husband does not use the 5-second rule, but I do if it’s something that can be rinsed off, like a raw carrot.
Yes, I use the 5 second rule but then my daughter is a bit clumsy.
My question is – how do you not laugh when he does the routine? I use the 5 second rule often and I am sure that most of the food already has germs on it when you open up the package!
I have a two year old. I have given up on preventing her from eating food off the floor.
I guess it depends on where it falls and how much dog hair it has on it.
Definately use the 5 second rule!!
If it’s chocolate, I use the 5 second rule. Otherwise I tend to let it go. As a teacher, though, I’ve seen some pretty gross things be eaten. One student ate a skittle that was stepped on during the 5 seconds. It wasn’t even a dare!
Yeah 5 second rule. I don’t mind germs either.
I use the 5 second rule with gusto!
Of course, the length of my 5 seconds is largely determined by my level of desire to eat the food, the cleanliness of the surface, and the food type.
For instance, soup dumped on the floor of a bathroom, the 5 seconds is in reality 2 milliseconds. The last chip in a bag of chips dropped on a cleanly mopped kitchen floor, the 5 seconds could be up to an hour or two. :)
We too love the 5 second rule. My doctor friend she even uses it!
I’m laughing at all the dog comments… Our dog has gained 10lbs since our toddler started eating solid food! Food doesn’t last 5 seconds on our floors :)
I always thought it was the 3 second rule. Anyway that’s what I abide by at home. At work we have the 3 inch rule: if it comes within 3 inches of the floor you DO NOT EAT IT!!! Yeah, the floor is kind of disgusting.
I think that the 5 sec rule is DISGUSTING and I never use it! When something hits the floor, it is trashed! My husband, however, uses the ‘it doesn’t matter how long it is on the floor if I want it’ rule. Yuck!
Like most of the commentors, I grew up healthy in a dirt-friendly house, and I’m WAY too frugal to give up on a morsel before at least a ten-count. I do have some additional criteria: wet foods must be left to lie, but dry foods are fair game. If the mice haven’t eaten it by the next morning, we probably should pass, too :)
We have a three week rule at our house. I hate wasting money… can you tell? My kids goof off at dinnertime so food ends up on the floor. They pick it up and eat it. And they hide candy and sweets in their rooms (I’m not sure where because when I clean their rooms, I don’t find any). Amazingly, they don’t get sick.
WE HAVE THE 5 SECOND RULE HERE AT MY HOME TOO. I AM FORTUNATE TO HAVE 2 BOYS AT HOME THE WILL EAT JUST ABOUT ANYTHING. MY OLDEST WAS PICKY BUT THAT IS HIS WIFE’S PROBLEM NOW. LOL MY BOYS ARE NOT CRAZY ABOUT LEFTIES SO IF THEY DON’T EAT IT TODAY THEY WILL TOMORROW EVEN IF IT FALLS ON THE FLOOR.
We use the “if the dog doesn’t get it first” rule, as many have said. But only at home. And only hard, dry foods, or things that can be rinsed.
My kids are not picky eaters. I have always allowed them to eat their food or not, their choice. But if they didn’t clean their plates, no seconds of anything (so if they eat all the macaroni but not the broccoli-they can’t get more macaroni). And I never tolerate playing with food or being rude (telling my food is yucky-they can say “I’m not a fan” or “I don’t care for it”-but no insults). And if they do they are promptly sent away from the table. I am a firm believer that this is why my kids aren’t picky eaters. You should watch this episode of “The Doctors”: http://www.thedoctorstv.com/main/show_page/D1171
My grandfather dropped a piece of chicken on the floor almost five years ago to the day. He picked it up and put it back in his mouth, but not before saying “5 second rule!”
God knows I tried to stop him. “Grandpa,” I said, “That was six seconds – not five!”
He just laughed at me. Then he chewed up that piece of chicken he rescued from the floor and happily swallowed it.
Thirty-six hours later he was dead.
Was it because he left that piece of chicken on the ground for one second too long?
I’ll never know for sure, but now I only eat food that has dropped on the floor if I am certain it has been there 3 seconds or less.
You never can be too safe, you know.
Best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Hi Lynnae! Just found your blog via an old article in the Mail Tribune when I Googled looking for someone local who wrote about couponing! Imagine my surprise to find someone I know!
We use the 5 second rule – mostly on dry things like crackers and the like. But the testing I like to refer to is what Mythbusters did! They proved that the 5-second rule was a-ok. I think the only thing that even grew any cultures was some bologna or something wet like that.
See you at URHE!
We use the 5 second rule all the time at home. You just have to be quick with 2 dogs and 3 cats around! Thanks for the giveaway!
I don’t eat anything that landed on the floor. I do sympathize with those that have picky eaters though. My 17 year old would not eat meatloaf or a fish stick for years(they still aren’t his favorite) and my 12 year old hates oatmeal(which really sucks for him since its eaten 4 days a week here) or rice. Anyway, the 17 year old eats unbreaded fish now so there is hope that someday that charming son of yours will eat what you put in front of him.
Christine
dazed1821@aol.com
I never heard of the 5 second rule until after my children were grown! Could have used that one, especially with my youngest son who was/is still a very picky eater at age 25. jgs0925 at gmail dot com
Skip the 5 minute rule and go straight to the, “if you don’t eat your dinner you can go straight to bed rule,” my oldest has never used this option, but my youngest does quite frequently. I always put his plate in the fridge because he will go to bed a 5:30pm but quickly realizes he is hungry and does want to eat his dinner. My mom used to have to eat her dinner for breakfast if she refused to eat it the night before.
In our house, it’s the 3 second rule.
Of course, it doesn’t often come into play. Our yellow lab, Pebbles, has an uncanny ear for anything that hits the floor. Before you can bend down and pick it up, she’s got it. We have to be careful she doesn’t get things that are bad for her!
I try not to think about the germ factor. I was once draining the fat off the start of a pot of chili- 2 lbs ground hamburger, green peppers, onions, garlic. Although I aimed for my over-the-sink strainer, I ended up dumping half the meat into the sink! I quickly scooped it up into the strainer..burning my hand in the process.. When the chili was finally done, I could barely bring myself to eat it. I ended up only eating a little and wasting the majority anyway because I couldn’t stand the thought of “sink chili.” Yuck!
Isn’t exposure to germs supposed to build a healthy immune system? And doesn’t over-sanitizing cause allergies? I don’t know, but I don’t have that big a problem if someone eats something off of the floor I keep clean myself. I do lather my kids with hand sanitizer every time we walk into our house.
The 5 second rule sometimes stretches to how ever long it takes them to pick up the food they dropped. Oops. Would love to win!
We definitely use the 5-second rule. I can sympathize, 2 of my boys are picky eaters. I must say, though, if it’s tuna that lands on the floor, it won’t last 5 seconds. Our two cats get it first!! (And I have found the kids “accidentally” dropping the tuna just for that purpose!!)
I only use the “five second rule” with dry food, never anything wet or sticky. I am sure either pick up germs, etc. but the dry food doesn’t bother me as much! If it’s something small I may just leave it for my dogs. :)
I use the 5 second rule too. I do not like to waste anything. I also believe that everyone actually needs a few germs. Thanks,
My son, daughter and I had gone to the mall one day and decided to have ice-cream sandwiches as a treat since we had been shopping all day. We walked through the mall while eating our ice-creams. My son and I were finished ours when my daughter dropped hers on the mall floor. My son scooped it up and declared it fit to eat! “5 second rule” he said. He is 15. LOL I was horrified at this and slapped it back out of his hand just as he was going to pop it into his mouth!
It depends on what the food is – but about half the time I’ll use the five-second rule and eat whatever was dropped and half the time I’ll just throw it away.
My youngest is very very picky. So yes, we do use the 5 seconds rule. If it’s something the kids really like, they don’t care how long it is on the floor. If it’s wet, that is just gross and it goes in the trash.
I am a firm believer in the 5-second rule; just check for doggy hairs first! Years ago, I was making sandwiches for a baby shower and the entire stack of sandwiches crashed to the floor minutes before I needed to leave. I didn’t have any indoor pets at the time, so I didn’t even have to perform step 2 of the 5-second rule! I did give them a quick look-over anyway, packed them up, and never let the cat out of the bag about my little mishap once I got to the party.:)
Tips for choosing Bridesmaid Dresses online
Comments on this entry are closed.