Here is Why You Should Stop Rinsing Your Dishes Before Putting Them in the Dishwasher

Do you pre-wash or rinse your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher? Well, apparently you’re doing it all wrong! Go ahead and sit back, relax, and take a break. I am here to tell you that it turns out, we don’t need to work that hard! I know, it sounds a little gross, but it actually doesn’t make them cleaner.

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In most cases, it does the total opposite. The Wall Street Journal recently provided a “helpful refresher” on how to use dishwashers the right way, and you guessed it, it doesn’t involve any extra work for us. So, time to dust off those old habits and enjoy a good morning bowl of oatmeal.

The article stated that pre-rinsing doesn’t let detergents do their job since some are designed to cling to food particles. Some dishwasher detergent brands, such as Cascade detergent, are made to clean by sticking onto a surface, so if it has nothing to stick on to, it wouldn’t wash it thoroughly. I know, Cascade scientists are genius!

Another point made against pre-rinsing dishes is that modern dishwasher (over $500), especially if purchased within the last five years, won’t wash your dishes for a long time if the sensors in the machine don’t detect much dirt in the water. When this happens, the dishwater gives them only a light wash with a shorter cycle, and items come out “less than sparkly”. So, you’re better off just dusting off food scraps of loose food and throwing it in the trash or garbage disposal rather than sweeping everything off.

Everyone talks about going ‘Green’ …

According to Consumer Reports, on average, a person wastes 6000 gallons of water a year by pre-rinsing. So, not only do we save time by not rinsing, but we are saving the environment. Most dishwasher machines use 3 to 5 gallons of water for a full rinse, while the average person uses around 27 gallons when washing dishes by hand! Also, did you know that the average flow rate of a kitchen faucet is 2.2 gallons per minute! Meaning, just spending five minutes rinsing dishes you are wasting more than 10 gallons of water. Yikes!

Just think about all the time and water you will save by not doing it! I mean, it sure is a win-win for us, because who likes hand-washing anyways? But, always remember that you should regularly clean your dishwasher’s filter, so all the food doesn’t cause a clog. So feel free to just sticking in that casserole dish, press start, and it’ll be nice and clean when it comes out.

What do you think?

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