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True if you do dishes the "city" way, under a constantly running stream of water, with a soapy sponge. I start with some hot soapy water in the dishpan, as I rinse the washed dishes, the water goes into the dishpan to fill it more. I don't believe my way uses more water than a dishwasher. I have one but never use it, except for storage (rental apt.)
ETA, I am the only person I know who does NOT use a dishwasher, even single people like me. In other news, my sister and her husband who use a DW, their dishes look like crap, all etched and dull. I use a set that is 70 years old and still in perfect condition. Only been through a DW once, when I took them out of storage.
Me, I shy'd away from the dishwasher because it got to it wasn't cleaning like it should, filter changes really weren't working, and hand washing has its benefits in that it handles the job of the day and it is a kind of therapy.
As it is, being old Navy, I am not one to keep the water running for just about anything, lots of Navy showers here. To say nothing of it all comes out of the well and has to be conserved.
I often use yesterday's Cowboy coffee to presoak the kitten and other bowls. I try to wash having gotten rid of the pet food scraps before filling the sink. I run a pretty full sink when there are lots of dishes (my daily therapy doesn't always happen) and those that didn't make it into the sink on this day are saved for the next day. As previously said, I am not running a rinse.
I prefer washing my dishes by hand. By the time you rinse the dishes, put them in the dishwasher, and have to clean many of them again when they come out, handwashing is much easier. Plus you don't have the issue of smelly dirty dishes with food hardening on them sitting around in the dishwasher.
I fill a plastic dishpan 1/2 full with hot soapy water, and start with my glasses first, then silverware, then plates. I have a divided sink, so everything goes in the rinsing side, and gets rinsed with running hot water. I'll dry and put these away before starting on the serving pieces, if any, and the pots/pans. Once these are rinsed, dried and put away, I'll wash the cat bowls by emptying the soapy water on them and using a paper towel to wash them. I let these air dry until their next meal.
The whole process doesn't take long, and I find it very relaxing.
Me, I shy'd away from the dishwasher because it got to it wasn't cleaning like it should, filter changes really weren't working, and hand washing has its benefits in that it handles the job of the day and it is a kind of therapy.
As it is, being old Navy, I am not one to keep the water running for just about anything, lots of Navy showers here. To say nothing of it all comes out of the well and has to be conserved.
I often use yesterday's Cowboy coffee to presoak the kitten and other bowls. I try to wash having gotten rid of the pet food scraps before filling the sink. I run a pretty full sink when there are lots of dishes (my daily therapy doesn't always happen) and those that didn't make it into the sink on this day are saved for the next day. As previously said, I am not running a rinse.
I was an M-division MM2. During water hours after a watch change we would arrange to have the water turned back on long enough for us engineers to take a quick shower before hitting our racks. Some guys would take a sponge bath in the engine room before watch change. That was before women were serving on combat ships.
I've told people I don't want a dishwasher. I'd hate to see what they'd do to our styrofoam plates! lol
Seriously though, with just two of us in the house, a lot of my dishwashing is done with Dawn Powerwash. Just spray it on what's dirty, let it set a minute and wipe clean with a warm dish cloth, then rinse. That Dawn is great for cleaning the stove top and the counters.
A visit to a younger relative made me realize some people don’t know how to wash dishes by hand. Not every home or apartment have a dishwasher so hand washing is a requirement. But there are ways to do so efficiently. First off, there’s no reason to completely fill the sink with hot soapy water. Depending on the size of the sink, half full should be enough. For pots and pans, pour a few drops of dish soap and fill with hot water to cover food residue to pre soak. Don’t fill the sink with all your dishes. Divide your dishes by type. The first three types can be done in any order but wash them separately. I tend to start with silverware (not including sharp knives) followed by drinking containers and dinnerware (plates and bowls). I rinse the soapy residue with cold water turning off the water after each use. Once these are done I dry and put away the cleaned dishes and move onto the cooking utensils and sharp knives. DO NOT PUT SHARP KNIVES IN SINK! Place each sharp knife in sink to wash one at a time. This is a safety issue. Putting a bunch of sharp knives in the sink increases the chance of accidental cuts. Once cooking utensils are done then do the pots and pans.
By filling the sink to roughly half way and running cold water as needed to rinse off soap you are reducing the amount of water used as well as reducing the electricity or gas used for hot water.
If you have a double sink, you just fill the “rinse side with very HOT water” and let the dishes soak after washing
I prefer to use two dishpans if you have one bowl (farmhouse sink)
Stack dirty dishes in one side and try to fill it, add soap but not too much, then add some very hot water (the water’s temp goes long way to killing germs so you don’t need as much soap) and cover the dishes—let them soak a while…
Add hot water to other pan for rinse—
Use gloves if water is good and hot
I agree about being careful with knives
The thing is, when it comes to handwashing, whatever works for us. Me, for the way I do it, I have found, for some reason, that I have never really needed to rinse. Just shake whatever I am doing in an area of no suds and that works.
Gross! Whether there are noticeable suds or not, all the food material you just scrubbed off your pots and dishes is suspended in the wash water! Ingesting dirty soap residue is a good way to give yourself GI trouble.
Last edited by Parnassia; 08-20-2023 at 04:05 PM..
With the water rates and the water rationing in California when I lived there, I tried an experiment. I heated up 2 gallons of water on the stove. Let’s just say it took a while for my water to heat up, from the water heater. I put that in the sink with stopper and soap, put my dishes in to soak, and put water in the same pan to rinse. I think it’s very hygienic to wash and hot water, rinsing I don’t think matters so much. By the time I hit the total of four gallons it was warm.
So, that day I washed my dishes and rinsed my dishes in that big pot, using 4 gallons of water. The next day I repeated the this — with about a gallon and a half of wash water. I put the pot back under the faucet, and rinsed like normal, but caught the water in the pot. I actually used far less water rinsing as needed and turning the water off send the day before when I put 2 gallons in the pot to rinse.
I confirmed it for a few more days, because my cooking is pretty generic, I pretty much use the same cooking vessels every day to cook. My results were the same, I only needed about a one and a half gallons to wash in, and used about a gallon to rinse.
And I had a lot more cats back then. I’m down to two now — that’s a lot less dishes.
.........And I had a lot more cats back then. I’m down to two now — that’s a lot less dishes.
Cat dishes are the major contributor here for a few reasons.
They don't clean their dish, so there are left overs to dry on to the dish.
Cats are nibblers so the dishes are out for hours.
Each day, the same thing, so what ever the base number of the needed dishes Times the number of days.
Around here, for now, it is 5 cats a day on canned food, one doesn't like canned food. Three cans and a soup. The biggest cat gets a can in a dish with the soup mixed in (using up my Pate supply). One of the small cats gets half a can in a private dining room in "kitten china" (some kind of French dipping sauce bowl now used for that). The Black Cat Gang, 3, get half a can in a bowl, and the two half cans not emptied, and the Friskies soup container for breakfast.
In the morning when I get up, pick up the dishes from the day before, pour the dredges from yesterday's stove top coffee pot in them to let them soak and let me get, after a while, my fingernails into it to toss the remains down the disposal.
An issue about letting many of my cat dishes soak in a sink submerged is that many are the woven salad bowl set I inherited. Not quite sure how they would stand to that.
Finally, about maybe using dishes designed to be such, more suitable to the job? Well, three things. First, use what you have without getting more. Secondly, what plays into my spirit. Third......those kind of dishes can be fragile and that's what generated the Breakage thread the other month.
I never thought such a mundane topic would make for an interesting discussion. As others have noted, I find washing dishes somewhat therapeutic and relaxing. Not that I love cleaning, but it's satisfying to look at a rack full of clean dishes. DONE! I always make it a point to make sure my kitchen is clean if I'm going out of town. Coming home tired to a sink of dirty dishes is defeating.
I haven't had cats for a few years, but they always had dry kibbles in whatever thrift store ceramic bowls were handy. Regarding wet food - are paper bowls too expensive or wasteful? Just toss into the wood stove or burn pile when done.
For normal families yes. Absolutely. For one person, no.
I run my dishwasher twice a week, three times a week on occasion. My dishwasher uses three gallons per cycle. If I were handwashing dishes every night, I'd use a lot more than 6-9 gallons of water a week.
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Gross! Whether there are noticeable suds or not, all the food material you just scrubbed off your pots and dishes is suspended in the wash water! Ingesting dirty soap residue is a good way to give yourself GI trouble.
Solly says — Be nice!
