Rachael & John's Grocery-Cleaning Routine During The Coronavirus Pandemic

As you've probably noticed across social media, people have been taking extra care in cleaning and putting away groceries during the coronavirus pandemic — so Rach and John showed us how they're doing it.

(For the record, this is not meant to be instructional — just a peek at their process!)

"It literally takes an army to try and source and find the food that we need here to share food with you guys and our family and friends," Rach says. "Myself; my husband; my friend, Michelle; my sister, Maria; our friend, Steve — so many people are out trying to source things at different times. Most of it comes through the mail, and what Maria can find at the local grocery store, she leaves in Rachael Ray thermal bags on the back porch."

"We, in turn, try and pay them back with some of the food that we're cooking here," she continues. "We mark everybody's boxes and line them up for them, so they can pick them up at a safe distance every day."

How cute is that? 

"I don't know if I'd call it fun, but we thought we'd share with you part of our daily process, which sometimes drives either one of us or both of us bonkers," Rach says. "It's a couple hours of every day. We're actually showing you a light day."

Rach and John have a garden workbench (or what they call their "staging area") outside their kitchen backdoor, and that's where they leave food for friends and family, where they receive packages and where Rach's sister, Maria, leaves groceries from the local market. 

First, John puts on gloves to open the thermal bags or packages and take inventory of what's inside. Then, he takes the gloves off and uses cleaning supplies from the garage to wipe down packaged groceries, before handing them to Rach — who has clean hands, of course!

"I wipe down the package before it goes in our house," John says.

As for produce, Rach fills their sink with cold water — making a bath for fruits and vegetables. She then blanches some of her veggies, like green beans, broccoli, asparagus and peas. 

And most importantly, when it's all said and done, they wash their hands! 

Watch it all go down in the video above.