Chopping Boards – non plastic options

We need some new chopping boards. I’ve never really liked plastic ones as they go grubby really quickly. Also they obviously shed plastic into your food.

What are the other options beyond wood (wood being the obvious choice)? Metal? Bamboo?

I’ve seen some that look like MDF (epicurean)… not sure I fancy these as there’s going to be quite a bit of whatever is bonding the wood fibres present, i.e. are these any better than plastic?

Just use wood. It’s the best option by far.

Just use wood

Does that include Bamboo?

I think technically bamboo is a grass but it’s probably still a fairly good option for a chopping board 🙂

We’ve got a big thick bamboo board with a lip which hooks over the work surface so it stays in place really well. It looks good so sits there all the time, no need to pack it away. I would never go back to plastic.

What you want is an end grain wooden board. I want one of those too and hopefully Santa is listening…?

an end grain wooden board

Yes I think so. I’d also like something kept specifically for meat/fish too. Possibly not wood

IKEA do some great wooden boards.

Speaking as someone who is incapable of making simple decisions without asking STW, I think you’re overthinking this.  Nip to B&M and get something of a convenient size which isn’t glass.

… also, “obviously”?  Are you sure about that?  Would a wooden board not obviously shed wood into your food?

Plenty of good ones at John Lewis or check out TK Maxx.

For breakdown of bones or cutting meat just get a thicker chopping boards.

For Fish you can use medium thickness chopping boards.

For veg or fruits, just by the lightest one like Epicurean Cutting Board (Made from recycled wood fibres).

Well I’ve seen ads for titanium chopping boards on the internet. One of their ‘selling’ points is that they will not blunt your knife as they are softer than steel, so I don’t know how that works, isn’t titanium harder than steel?

Oh end grain wood for me

Just get a nice wood one and a separate plastic one for raw meat.

I chop chicken and meat with a scissors, no dirty board to clean and scissors go straight in the dishwasher

Just get a nice wood one and a separate plastic one for raw meat.

Why on earth would you want a plastic one for raw meat?

isn’t titanium harder than steel?

Shirley you’re thinking of tungsten….

To ensure you have full distribution and growth of bacteria right ?

To ensure you have full distribution and growth of bacteria right ?

I have a plastic board that I use for most of my cooking, plus several other plastic boards for bread or secondary things. I scrub it with detergent and rinse it between each use (i.e., if I cut chicken, I scrub it immediately, then I cut onions and scrub it, then I cut potatoes and scrub it, then I cut carrots and scrub it.) Each night I scrub it again and pour boiling water over it and hang it up to dry. I’ve never had food poisoning from freshly cooked food (waking up drunk and microwaving leftovers of unknown age is another story.) A wooden cutting board won’t make any difference to food poisoning if you don’t constantly clean it when you’re cooking.

“I have a plastic board that I use for most of my cooking, plus several other plastic boards for bread or secondary things. I scrub it with detergent and rinse it between each use (i.e., if I cut chicken, I scrub it immediately, then I cut onions and scrub it, then I cut potatoes and scrub it, then I cut carrots and scrub it.) Each night I scrub it again and pour boiling water over it and hang it up to dry. I’ve never had food poisoning from freshly cooked food (waking up drunk and microwaving leftovers of unknown age is another story.) A wooden cutting board won’t make any difference to food poisoning if you don’t constantly clean it when you’re cooking.”

Steady on! That’s a bit OCD!

I use an old Teak chopping board, with a lovely patina, that gets washed after I’ve chopped all the meat and veg for a meal. No need to clean it after every carrot! they’re all going in the same pot…

I’ve never had food poisoning either!

Just get a plastic chopping board – pro ones don’t get plastic bits in your food, and they’re colour coded for different foodstuffs…

alternatively, a wooden one is fine. No need for endgrain on display unless you’re doing some serious chopping with a big cleaver, or you like a heavy 2″ thick board on which to peel your grapes

Why on earth would you want a plastic one for raw meat?

So you can nuke it in the dishwasher? Wooden boards don’t appreciate that..

Shoot me down if it’s nonsense, but don’t wooden boards have natural anti bacterial properties?

Shoot me down if it’s nonsense, but don’t wooden boards have natural anti bacterial properties?

Yes.

isn’t titanium harder than steel?

Steel’s hardness is variable depending on what heat treatments you’ve used making what ever steel object you’re making – which is why try can cut, file and drill steel with steel tools. And with a bit if care you can drill and cut titanium with steel tools too.

A good place to look for wooden chopping boards is larger Chinese supermarkets – you can sometimes get boards made of a big single slab of endgrain for a few quid

Shirley you’re thinking of tungsten….

No, I was thinking of titanium, but apparently I was wrong 🙂

if I cut chicken, I scrub it immediately, then I cut onions and scrub it, then I cut potatoes and scrub it, then I cut carrots and scrub it.

I can sort of understand cleaning after chicken, (I wouldn’t personally, the cooking temp of the veg will kill any germs, and I’m not using them all day) but why would you waste your time scrubbing between different veg? That’s crackers.

Personally, I just have a collection of plastic IKEA boards.

No, I was thinking of titanium, but apparently I was wrong 🙂

Steel is typically ‘harder’ than titanium.  Titanium has a higher tensile strength to weight ratio.  (AIUI)

I’ve been overthinking this subject for a while, as I’ve worn into the centre of the my main wooden one we have, so it’s no longer flat, & there a lots of advise on YT. Plastics encourages bacteria to hide in the groves you create but can be throw in the dishwasher, bambo blunts you knives, & lets not even talk glass. As for wood, end grain maple is top end, but there lots of oak or walnut ones around too, at much more reasonable prices, but I don’t know how the compare. Still overthinking it…

I could sell you a gravel specific one for £80.

I’ve got a wooden board I’ve had for years, a mate used to work in the packing shed at Westinghouse Brake & Signals, they had lots of quality hardwood available for packing the high-end equipment. My board is a chunk of European Beech; it’s 20” long, just shy of 12” wide, and 1 1/4” thick – it’s not something you’d want to drop on your foot!

I’ve got another smaller square one made from cubes of end-grain bamboo, which is handy, and a couple of thick plastic boards from IKEA, which could do with replacing, really. It’ll give me an excuse to have a trip around the Bristol branch, get lost in the maze and try the meatballs in the café.

Apart from anything else, a big, solid wood board is a very good thing to put dishes and pans on that are straight from the oven; not really something you’d want to do with plastic ones… *raised eyebrow emoji*

Steady on! That’s a bit OCD!

A bit?! It’s completely batshit crazy 🙂

Wood. Kind to knives. I believe it’s anti bacterial too. How often do you wash the wooden breadboard ever been poisoned by it?

https://hardwoodreflections.com/is-wood-naturally-antibacterial/#:~:text=Wood%20is%20Proven%20to%20be,wooden%20boards%20the%20next%20da

no doubt someone will claim that’s fake news.

Beech has typically been used for Treen, (chopping boards, spoons etc) for yonks. Yes, it has anti-microbial properties. And it won’t dull your knives unduly, like those nasty glass boards. Just don’t dishwasher it (spoons yes, chopping boards not so much). Bonus, it’s not plastic, and since the decline of furniture making in the UK, there are lots of Beech trees available.

I’ve got one of these These  from IKEA. It must be at least 10 years old and the price hasn’t changed in all that time!

It will soak up water if the worktop is wet but I just prop it up on its lip to dry and it doesnt warp.

 why would you waste your time scrubbing between different veg? That’s crackers.

Because I often use half a carrot or half a lettuce and then wrap the rest up and put it back in the fridge. Veggies can spread bacteria. Potatoes are covered in dirt and lettuce grows in soil. If lettuce is harvested by cutting it with a knife that has touched soil, bacteria can get inside the lettuce and grow there. Then, if you use that lettuce in a salad with cold meat or cheese, etc., you have a perfect incubator for a bout of food poisoning. Same with that carrot that I cut in half and put back in the fridge, if my knife or cutting board was dirty, bacteria can grow inside the carrot and then infect a salad if I put raw carrot on it.

The basic rule is that any food can be infected and spread bacterial to other food. So, just give your cutting board and knife a quick scrub and rinse between every use. It takes about 2 seconds and it stops any infected food spreading bacteria to other food. Keeping your kitchen clean is going to do a lot more for your safety than any nonsense about anti-bacterial cutting boards.

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/ss/slideshow-food-poisoning-most-common-foods

In an attempt to limit the number of dancing girls / only fans pages on Instagram. I took to searching for carpentry videos. My Instagram is constantly littered with fancy pattern end grain chopping boards. If you want one that looks super ornate, that’s my search suggestion

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/ss/slideshow-food-poisoning-most-common-foods

Not sure I am going to take advice from a website that insists eggs should be in the fridge.

Not sure I am going to take advice from a website that insists eggs should be in the fridge.

Not sure I’m going to take advice from an internet rando who doesn’t know basic stuff about storing food.

Store bought eggs should be kept in a refrigerator. They are washed, so that removes the protective coating that fresh eggs have. Fresh eggs don’t need to be kept in a refrigerator if they haven’t been washed. If you’re not sure, best to keep them in the fridge.

Store bought eggs should be kept in a refrigerator. They are washed,

No they’re not. In the UK, anyway.

Store bought eggs should be kept in a refrigerator. They are washed, so that removes the protective coating that fresh eggs have

Where you buying your eggs. ? The USA ?