How do you do dishes? Water?

[lauren08]

Yes, so they rinse quickly.

A good dishwasher should be able to clean them thoroughly with just a quick rinse. As you said, if you're having to rinse and soap, you're basically washing it yourself. I hate washing dishes so I toss as much as possible in my dishwasher, and washing by hand is a last resort, LOL.

I don't know about OP but I have really hard water where I am, and I don't have a water softener in the house (on the list but haven't made it happen yet). So "a good dishwasher" only goes so far when the water is so hard. We don't rinse and soap, but we rinse and scrape. We need to get chunks of food off of those dishes, including the silverware, otherwise the dishwasher doesn't clean it well. If you put a knife in with peanut butter smear on both side of it, it will come out with dried on peanut butter smear on both sides. So everything needs to at least be rinsed and wiped before going in.

LOL I wasn't trying to hate on anyone's dishwasher...was just saying it sounds like OP is essentially washing them before even putting them in, and I hate doing the dishes so was sympathizing with her We rinse all dishes before putting them in.

[lauren08]

Yes, so they rinse quickly.

A good dishwasher should be able to clean them thoroughly with just a quick rinse. As you said, if you're having to rinse and soap, you're basically washing it yourself. I hate washing dishes so I toss as much as possible in my dishwasher, and washing by hand is a last resort, LOL.

I have a mediocre dishwasher, and do not have the option to upgrade. And I would love to live in a perfect house where there is never dried food on a dish, but that's not happening, lol. So I developed this technique during my years of handwashing - I spritz the dishes with soapy water and wait five minutes and voila! Quick and easy rinse, but also, almost done anyway!

Oh I wish I lived in a house with no dried food on dishes too...we do scrape off food and rinse the dishes before putting them in. I was just saying it sounds like you are practically washing them before putting them in, which to me, as a washing-dishes-by-hand hater, sounds like more work than it needs to be

[Deleted User 2088]

Fill up the deep sink with hot, soapy water, let dishes soak. Scrub them, then stack them in the empty side of the sink. Rinse them all with water before you load them into the dishwasher. The scrubbing gets the food particles off but the dishwasher sanitizes them. If I didn't have a dishwasher, I would do it the same way except rinse with hot water, then let dry completely before putting them away.

[Traci_Momof2]

A good dishwasher should be able to clean them thoroughly with just a quick rinse. As you said, if you're having to rinse and soap, you're basically washing it yourself. I hate washing dishes so I toss as much as possible in my dishwasher, and washing by hand is a last resort, LOL.

I don't know about OP but I have really hard water where I am, and I don't have a water softener in the house (on the list but haven't made it happen yet). So "a good dishwasher" only goes so far when the water is so hard. We don't rinse and soap, but we rinse and scrape. We need to get chunks of food off of those dishes, including the silverware, otherwise the dishwasher doesn't clean it well. If you put a knife in with peanut butter smear on both side of it, it will come out with dried on peanut butter smear on both sides. So everything needs to at least be rinsed and wiped before going in.

LOL I wasn't trying to hate on anyone's dishwasher...was just saying it sounds like OP is essentially washing them before even putting them in, and I hate doing the dishes so was sympathizing with her We rinse all dishes before putting them in.

Oh trust me, I hate on my own dishwasher and water. LOL And my dishwasher is only 7 years old but it's always been inadequate which is why I put more blame on the hard water. But either way, it sucks.

[Anonymous 3]

I'd fill the sink with water and use that water to rinse the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher to be sanitized.

[lauren08]

I don't know about OP but I have really hard water where I am, and I don't have a water softener in the house (on the list but haven't made it happen yet). So "a good dishwasher" only goes so far when the water is so hard. We don't rinse and soap, but we rinse and scrape. We need to get chunks of food off of those dishes, including the silverware, otherwise the dishwasher doesn't clean it well. If you put a knife in with peanut butter smear on both side of it, it will come out with dried on peanut butter smear on both sides. So everything needs to at least be rinsed and wiped before going in.

LOL I wasn't trying to hate on anyone's dishwasher...was just saying it sounds like OP is essentially washing them before even putting them in, and I hate doing the dishes so was sympathizing with her We rinse all dishes before putting them in.

Oh trust me, I hate on my own dishwasher and water. LOL And my dishwasher is only 7 years old but it's always been inadequate which is why I put more blame on the hard water. But either way, it sucks.

Interesting about the hard water, I haven’t thought about that. We used to have a sucky dishwasher and I’d always have to put way too much effort into rinsing beforehand. Finally I thought there must be something better out there, and when we got it replaced, I was told that a dishwasher should not need such intensive pre-rinsing! Life changer!!

[Anonymous 1]

Fill up the deep sink with hot, soapy water, let dishes soak. Scrub them, then stack them in the empty side of the sink. Rinse them all with water before you load them into the dishwasher. The scrubbing gets the food particles off but the dishwasher sanitizes them. If I didn't have a dishwasher, I would do it the same way except rinse with hot water, then let dry completely before putting them away.

That is just how I used to hand wash for years. But, I found I could spray the dishes with a little soapy water instead of soaking. They can "soak" where they are on the counter, and this keeps the sink clear. This way I can do them a few at a time instead of all at once - I duck into the kitchen when I get a minute here and there throughout the day. And I don't actually have to put my hands in dirty dishwater. That's my kitchen hack, fwiw.

Funny, my hubby also says the dishwasher "sterilizes" the dishes, but we got by without that when we hand-washed, lol.

[Anonymous 4]

Hot soapy, bleach water. Wash. Put in dishwasher to rinse and dry.

[Anonymous 5]

You are either an idiot or you need a new dishwasher

[Anonymous 6]

I do the same as you, spray down dishes with soapy water, let sit, and then rinse with super hot water and dry before putting away. If meat or fish has been on the dish, I'll use a little bleach in the rinse water. I don't have a dishwasher but I do have grey water collection so reuse the water in my garden.