The Five Second Rule simply states that any food dropped on the floor is perfectly fine to eat as long as you pick it up in less than five seconds.
The rule has many variations, including The Three Second Rule, The Seven Second Rule, and the extremely handy and versatile The However Long It Took Me To Pick This Food Up Rule. But whatever version you use, there’s just no denying why it’s great:
- Makes you look less disgusting. Because now when you eat that wet grape that rolled into the corner by the heating vent and collected some cat hair and a few old, dry toast crumbs, you’re not disgusting. No, you’re just a law abiding Kitchen Citizen. Big difference.
- Saves time and money. Wait, wait, wait, don’t pull the peanut butter and jelly out again and make a whole new sandwich. No, we’ll just blow the floor spice off this one and maybe tear off the wet, soggy piece of crust that landed in juice puddle. It’s all good.
- It’s scientifically proven. Well, actually it’s scientifically proven that if a floor is covered in salmonella or E. Coli, your food will be covered in salmonella or E. Coli, even if they touch for a split second. But, and here’s the kicker, the same study showed no significant evidence of contamination on public flooring in general. Good save, Science.
So people, I give you a friend and savior in these tough times: The Five Second Rule. Know it. Love it.
Live by it.
AWESOME!
Give the Gift of AWESOME this Christmas!
The Book of Awesome is #2 on the bestseller list (right behind Ellen!) and has racked up over 120 weeks since April, 2010. It’s officially the #1 selling non-fiction book in Canada for the past two years and features 150 of the most popular posts from this blog and 50 new entries written just for the book. You can get it for 45% off at Indigo.ca or 32% off at Amazon.com.
The Book of (Even More) Awesome was on the bestseller list for over 20 weeks this year. It’s basically part two of The Book of Awesome and features hundreds more awesome things as well as a space to add your own awesome things at the end. You can get it in hardcover or paperback at 24% off at Indigo.ca or 27% off at Amazon.com.
The Book of (Holiday) Awesome is available in shiny, gold hardcover if you’re looking for a holiday-themed gift. It is a national bestseller and is a smaller book than the other two with more color and photos. Although it’s sold out at Indigo.ca, it’s still available for 32% off on Amazon.com.
Lastly, there is the 2013 Calendar of Awesome and The Journal of Awesome, too.
Thanks as always for your support and have an awesome holiday,
Neil
This always works for me and no food poisoning yet! Wet food absolutely must be rinsed, though.
The 5 second rule saves a lot of tears when kids drop stuff on the floor. My daughter was always upset when she dropped something, but I taught her this rule. My son…doesn’t care. Its food. He’s gonna eat it.
We were even contemplating this rule at work during a party. We decided that our floors are probably too nasty for the 5 second rule, so we changed it to 3 seconds.
My dad tried to use the 5 second rule on some popcorn. Little did he know that it got some of my fallen out hair strands stuck to it (really really long hair strands by the way). He just about threw up when he realized there was hair in his mouth along with the rescued popcorn. That was the last time he ever used the 5 second rule
…I’m a little concerned that someone could not only drop their entire sandwich on the floor and eat it… But could also have said sandwich land in a “juice puddle”.
What the heck is a juice puddle doing there? :P
The Five Second Rule is like the Laws of Physics. You just don’t question it.
Precisely, Max!
I feel so much better about the 5 second rule now that you’ve told me that there’s “no significant evidence of contamination on public flooring” – I thought eating any food that had been on the floor was gross (yes, even the last of my favourite chocolates would HAVE to be discarded if it’d fallen on the ground) but from now on I can pick it up and wolf it down without fear! Thank you! Have an AWESOME Christmas!
Phew, as long as there’s no significant dirt!