Do you wash your dishes before you wash your dishes?

[southerngale]

Ok, I see people stick dishes with dried on food in their dishwasher and expect the dishwasher to get it all off and sanitize them. I'm not one of those people. I get the food off before putting them in the dishwasher and let the dishwasher concentrate on sanitizing them. I just can't stick those nasty dishes and pots and pans in there covered in food. What do you do?

[Tstormwatcher]

I don't use my dishwasher, I wash all of our dishes in the sink.

[CajunMama]

I rinse my dishes but i don't scrub them. Todays dishwashers are powerful enough to get all the crud off plus most have 2 wash cycles so i feel confident that my dishes are clean.

[Skywatch_NC]

Folks and I scrub our's...and then in the dishwasher on sanitize.

Eric

[CajunMama]

Anyone here just use paperplates...like that woman in wifeswap?

[Skywatch_NC]

Folks and I use paperplates occasionally along with styrofoam cups.

Eric

[southerngale]

I use paper plates sometimes. I guess it depends on the meal or if I think about it.

[wxmann_91]

I don't use my dishwasher, I wash all of our dishes in the sink.

[HurryKane]

I rinse, unless it looks particularly challenging for the dishwasher and then I might give it a light scrub. After that it's all machine, baby!

[gtalum]

I quickly rinse off "major" solids into the garbage disposal, but that's it. Many modern dishwashers these days are actually so powerful that they're designed to be used with very dirty dishes. If you put mostly clean stuff in, the dishwasher can actually etch the finish on yoru dishes.

[Skywatch_NC]

I quickly rinse off "major" solids into the garbage disposal, but that's it. Many modern dishwashers these days are actually so powerful that they're designed to be used with very dirty dishes. If you put mostly clean stuff in, the dishwasher can actually etch the finish on yoru dishes.

That's interesting...never knew that until now.

[Miss Mary]

Here's my order:

Scrape off any food into the garbage can (not disposal).
Rinse off any residue such as fried eggs or spaghetti sauce.
Then put the dishes into the DW.

I learned the hard way not to put food scraps in the disposal. Major clog, over a holiday weekend, at holiday rates. I was doing dishes in the laundry room sink and drying dishes on top of the washer, until we could get Roto Rooter here, at regular rates. I joked my husband said you should never put food scraps into a disposal, hoping the repairman would say my husband was nuts. He sighed and said and I quote - "your husband is correct, maam." So as to avoid a future repair bill, all food goes into the garbage can!

Mary

[arkess7]

yea i rinse them off before i put them in the dishwasher...........has anyone tried that cascade complete? that stuff works wonders!!!!

[Terrell]

I rinse my dishes but i don't scrub them. Todays dishwashers are powerful enough to get all the crud off plus most have 2 wash cycles so i feel confident that my dishes are clean.

What she said.

[southerngale]

Miss Mary....I thought that was what a garbage disposal was for.

[Skywatch_NC]

Miss Mary....I thought that was what a garbage disposal was for.

Same here. We just don't put down anything oil-based...butter, fats, etc.

[HurryKane]

I put the neighbors' kids in my disposal and it works just fine.

[kevin]

[HurryKane]

Pssst...it was a joke. I was making fun of the crazy things people actually do think are ok to put down a disposal, resulting in the disposal's death.

[Miss Mary]

Miss Mary....I thought that was what a garbage disposal was for.

Nope! Roto Rooter guy told me a disposal doesn't liquify everything. So you end up with chunks of food sent into your pipes. The worst - pasta! He said never, ever put cooked spaghetti down a disposal. What happens is it spits it out into your pipes, but they're mostly horizontal. At a slight grade. The grade or slope isn't enough to move the food along, so you end up with a narrowed opening in the middle of your pipe, over time. And then it completely clogs up and you're stuck. In my case, we couldn't even run the DW - it came out onto my counter tops, via that emergency drain on top of the sink. What a mess. That was our first clue we had a clog.

He also said it's okay to rinse off very small pieces of food, and using your disposal, a few peas, gravy, etc. But never raw carrot or potato peels, cooked pasta and bones (my SIL used to grind up pork chop bones in her disposal, running the water of course, but the sound was horrible!).

One more suggestion - at the end of every meal, when you're about to run the DW, run hot-hot tap water, full force for about 2 or 3 minutes. This will send any just displaced food particles from the disposal along their way, out to the curb, where they should go! This is the part my hubby hates - all that waste, all that hot water, down the drain. I beg to differ - ya wanna hire a Roto Rooter guy?

Long story short - our disposal gets used but hardly any food goes in it. And uh no neighborhood kids get put in it either (knew you were kidding HurryKane).

Mary