TO RINSE OR NOT TO RINSE: Washington Post starts debate on dishwashers and pre-rinsing

If your household consists of only one or two people – as is the case for most posters here on DL – you have no business owning a dishwasher anyway. Just wash those couple of plates yourself, you lazy fuck.

I use my dishwasher for storage.

R1 that's dumb and presumptuous. A one or two person household only uses plates? Standard food prep requires bowls, utensils, pans and other shit that need to be cleaned. I could get by without a dishwasher but it makes it a lot easier.

Off to a great start!

I hate rinsing dishes before the dishwasher, it's a waste of water and time but often they don't get clean enough if I don't.

Then I stumbled on a video that changed everything. The guy was some engineer nerd explaining how dishwashers work--the first thing that happens is water shoots out, a preliminary rinse. In the 'old' days that rinse included soap; people put liquid soap inside the closed space to be released later in the cycle, but also in the depression on the outside. With the invention of pods we use only one pod inside the container, so that initial rinse has no soap. This is less effective.

Now I put a pod in and a small of liquid soap on the outside, or you can use two pods, just throwing the extra in before closing. Our dishes fucking sparkle.

I don't have a dishwasher. I live in a city apartment so the kitchen is too small. But I do wonder if a dish sits for a little while and food gets hard and it's even difficult to hand wash how the washer gets it so clean.

r1, indeed

R6 Most dishwashing detergent has enzymes to help break down food. As R5 explained, part of the larger cycle of washing is the machine distributing that detergent and then letting it sit on a plate for a while to soak in.

We just bought a new dishwasher after 25 years. The installer said to rinse dishes right after use if possible, don’t use pods (they produce too much soap, don't disintegrate fully and bad for the environment) and to use powdered soap and a rinse aid like Jet Dry. Also, avoid Samsung and GE, but Miele are good. I’m just relaying what he said. So far my dishes are shiny and squeaky clean

We have a high end dishwasher (which I can't see is any better than a mid range dishwasher). I rinse. My husband doesn't and he always tells me it isn't necessary. I make sure to point out to him that a dish or utensil that he loaded isn't clean. It drives me nuts. Yeah, I'm that cunt.

What should you do with the pasta strainer?

Shove it up your prolapsed asshole, of course.

People that need to pre-wash usually have food/scum/mold buildup in their traps. Most people don't even know this part of your dishwasher even needs to be regularly cleaned.

R1 only eats take out on paper plates

I got a countertop dishwasher from my bf for christmas and it's the most miraculous thing on Earth.

I used to spend an hour cleaning everything after dinner like a scullery maid. Now the machine does it for me and it uses less water.

I don't use pods, they're meant for full size dishwashers. Though it's hard to find liquid dishwashing detergent.

Dishwashers are gross. They get nothing completely clean. Don't be a nasty pig and wash your dishes.

I rinse clean before loading the dishwasher because I usually only run it a couple of times each week.

One time I heard my pasta strainer crying in a darkened corner one night (apparently a closet DLer). So, I told it I was going to give it a nice spa day in the dishwasher. But I think I hit the wrong buttons because I heard such screaming 😱 that I can now not unhear it

I’m just one. I run my dishwasher once a week. I don’t feel the least bit sorry, r1.

P.S. I don’t pre-wash.

You can always use your dishwasher's "Rinse and Hold" setting to rinse off the undried food off your plates and glasses and then run a load later with detergent when you get a full load.

That's what I did when I had several people living here.

This is a handy feature most peeps don't use.

Common sense should tell you what you should pre-rinse and what you don't need to. In the end, do what you prefer and what works for you. Your life, your utility bill(s).

Make sure you clean the filter once a month, and run the cleaning programme (with those special tabs or liquids you place upside down in the cutlery rack) at least once every 2 months.

Dishwashers are racist. They permit the user to pretend they are back making others do the work on the plantation.

I don't. I would if I wouldn't use the dishwasher every day because it quickly gets gross in there.

I don’t fight with my partner about pre-rinsing the dishes, but he loads the dishwasher from back-to-front, and I load it from front-to-back. We have had arguments over such a trifling matter!

Does he wipe from back to front, too?

Maybe I was just too poor to ever have a good one but dishwashers have always seemed to do a crappy job to me. Having worked in restaurants a lot they fill sinks and buckets with this sanitizer mix. That stuff is magical, even at room temperature it'll destroy just about any mess with just a rag in seconds. As far as I know you can only get it physically from restaurant suppliers but you could probably order it online. With hot water coming out of the sink and a bucket of that stuff you could clean the dishes spotless faster than you could load the dishwasher.

R5, I may have seen the same video, or at least I saw a similar one. The guy says pods are stupid because that pre-rinse in the dishwasher only works to clean the dishes if you have powdered detergent in the extra cup. I always use powder, though it's relatively hard to find. There are usually just a few boxes on the shelf. I've never understood how to use the rinse-aid/Jet Dry cup. It's time to come clean about that, ha ha.

All my cups and mugs that I use for tea are clean but tea-stained, and they won't look clean unless I scrub them by hand. Anyone know what to do about that? I once asked a salesperson from a porcelain, and she guessed, "Bleach?" Great advice to clean dishes with a household poison.

And, on the topic of this thread, I live by myself and use the dishwasher once or twice a week.

*porcelain manufacturer

I lived for a time where the civic water supply was very, very soft.

After 2 or three years, all the clear glasses would become etched.

Anyone else have this happen to their glasses?

So what does the dishwasher do?

I don’t own a dishwasher.

Properly used a dishwasher is very convenient and efficient

R1. You are aware that dishwashers use much less water thanhand washing and do a much better job?

R16. Oh, you are seriously deluding yourself. It is virtually impossible for you to get dishes as sanitary as a dishwasher will and you will waste gallons of water in the attempt.

I do feel I use a lot of water had washing my dishes, cups, and utensils. What is this countertop dishwasher? Dies it really work well and does a one person household have to use it after every meal?

Looking at them on Amazon it doesn't look like they take pots. I only see dishes and cups.

R15 which one do you have?

We have a family of 3 and not that many dishes so we rarely run the dishwasher. That's for when we have guests or literally, TONS of dishes that can't be handled by one clean drainer full.

If we do use the dishwasher then, we pre-rinse. And use pods and use Lemi Shine dishwasher booster.

It's not necessary to use as much water hand-washing dishes as most people do. I get the dishes wet, soak and soap up a sponge, and turn off the water. Wash each piece and put it aside, then rinse them individually. You can use the runoff water from each piece to start rinsing the next one. I don't think it uses as much as a dishwasher with its constant deluging and cycling for a half-hour or so. That said, I also do use a machine. It's 50/50.

By the way, this thread has the makings of a new "pasta draining" thread. Exciting!

When my grandmother had her house built in 1949 she had a dishwasher installed. No one was allowed to load or unload it. She made sure that almost everything was off the dishes. You loaded it in the bottom and then another piece fit in over the bottom and you loaded that. I can't remember if there was a third piece. When she died in 1986 the dishwasher was still working so I have just followed her routine. Mostly the dishes pretty much get sterilized because they are in hot water longer than you could handle them in those temps trying to hand wash them.

R23 - My friend from Los Angeles, when his family lived out there, would have Hattie McDaniel over for dinner as a guest on occasion.

I need to ask him if he can remember her helping in the kitchen after dinner, and what his impression was of that.

R39 sponges are very unhygienic. If you just wash by hand, use a cloth. Most dishwashers use less than five gallons of water. Unless you have a very small amount of dishes, it’s usually more environmental to run a less than full load.

I think that’s a full load of crap

My sink doesn’t have a draining board to the side so I have to put down drying mats if I hand wash. It’s much easier to use the dishwasher. I rinse beforehand to get the bigger food particles off though.

If you see the movie The Wind with Lillian Gish directed by the great Victor Sjostrom it takes place in Texas and there is so little water Gish washes the dishes with sand.

It’s strange. American dishwashers are quite water efficient while most American washing machines are huge water wasters . Yet you have tons of people who insist on hand washing dishes. On the other hand, no one hand washes his clothes.

It’s purely psychological—-I doubt anyone gets sick from inadequately washed dishes—-but hand washed dishes are so gross, especially when you consider how poorly most people hand wash.

I'm surprised this hasn't started an epic debate to the death.

Like the pasta and mayonnaise threads.....

I have been telling you this since 1953 bitches..... get with the program

[quote] you have tons of people who insist on hand washing dishes. On the other hand, no one hand washes his clothes.

When my daughter got married to her first husband (spit) she said she wanted me to give her a dishwasher. I gave her a washboard, ball of clothesline, a pack of clothes pins, and a large aluminum bucket.

You're right. She didn't use them.