Guide to Staying in: Online Food Ordering Tips for the Pandemic
Many adjustments have been made since we've all been under lockdown. We've all had to learn and experience many things during this transitioning period. People have been able to learn and enjoy new skills, one of which could be cooking. But there's only so many things you can cook without lacking certain ingredients. To keep your life interesting it's always fun to mix things up with different cuisine. This is where ordering food comes in. You have the freedom to order and enjoy whatever you crave. However like everything, COVID has changed things up quite a bit. So what are a few things to keep in mind when ordering food online while remaining safe and cautious during a pandemic?
Many prefer eating at home as opposed to restaurants as it is safer and doesn't go against social distancing regulations. Thankfully in our day and age ordering food from your favorite restaurant is very easy. It's important to take precautions as the delivery of your food requires the involvement of multiple strangers until the time it reaches your doorstep.
Only Order from Trusted Restaurants
When ordering choose to order from places you are familiar with. This eliminates chances of you ordering low quality food, or something that could make you sick. When ordering make sure the food is of high quality by checking online reviews. You can also check the websites of the food outlets to see what kind of precautions they take while preparing the food.
No Contact Delivery is the way to go
Choose no contact delivery and avoid the delivery person as much as possible. An option would be to ask them to leave the food on the doorway outside the house. You can leave a basket or carry a bag outside for them to place your things in. This eliminates any face to face contact and keeps you and your family safer. Another tip to remember is by using online payments instead of handing over cash, this will cut back on a lot of uneeded contact and exchange of anything.
Discard the Packaging
When you receive your food, it is our basic instinct to dive into our hot food as soon as possible. However if staying safe trumps your desire to devour your food you would take our advice. As the virus can stay on surfaces for up to nine days, it would probably be wise to get rid of the packaging immediately and transfer the food contents into another container. Get rid of the restaurant bags and the containers and the food came in immediately.
Wash Your Hands
As if there weren't enough steps between you and finally eating your food, don't forget the most crucial step; washing your hands. It is recommended to wash your hands with soap for a good 20 seconds to ensure your hands are squeaky clean. If soap and water is not readily accessible to you, then your next best bet would be to layer on some hand sanitizer. Try to resist the urge of touching your eyes, nose or mouth after receiving your food packaging.
Heat the food
Unfortunately, depending on the cleanliness of how your food was prepared, there are chances of the virus being in your food. Not to mention the food exchanging hands and going outside for a (sometimes) quick journey. It's not like vaccinating the food is an option, so heat your food for a good two minutes to kill the virus and make it safe to consume. Heat your food in a pan or microwave and then you should finally be ready to eat.
Delivery companies have altered their delivery services as well to accommodate COVID-19. Postmates and DoorDash have even stated on their websites the precautionary measures they've undertaken to protect their customers and employees. They introduced no contact deliveries which people can opt to pick when ordering their meal. With no contact, your deliveries will be left at your doorstep. This is not mandatory and Postmates has emailed registered users about their new option. DoorDash also has a strict mask policy on hand so that all consumers and employees must wear a mask or face cover.
It's true that Covid-proofing your food requires some added steps which may seem unnecessary to a certain degree, but this will prove to be essential and vital in keeping you and your family healthy.
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