Do you rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher?

[CTyankee]

I don't. I just scrape off any food into the garbage disposal, but I think rinsing the plate is unnecessary...

[Kahuna7]

1. I do. nt

[Doodley]

2. Yuck!

[we can do it]

3. I do.

[ProudLib72]

4. Do you frequently need to clean the drain in the dishwasher?

[CTyankee]

5. No. As I said, I rinse but I remove the food first. No food goes into the dishwasher, except maybe

a little sauce.

[Butterflylady]

10. Ditto

[ProudLib72]

11. I rinse, too

However, sometimes you have food (like rice) that tends to stick to the plate and needs to be scrubbed off. My ex wife never even rinsed. She just stuffed filthy dishes in the dishwasher and ran it. That's how I know about cleaning the drain.

[demmiblue]

6. Yes.

I put dirty dishes in a sink full of soapy water, lightly sponge of the bits, then place them in the dishwasher.

[pamdb]

7. dishes

I do. When my husband does it he practically washes them.

[Phentex]

8. Generally no but if something was left out...

I might rinse it to get the grub off. I usually just scrape any food bits off and then put directly in to the dishwasher.

[safeinOhio]

9. I am the dishwasher.

I scrape then wash and then rinse.

[Kali]

12. a little, but not obsessively

scraps go in the chicken/compost bucket

husband tends to practically prewash before loading dishwasher - wastes a lot of water - but I don't complain when somebody else does dishes.

[handmade34]

13. dishwasher??

I have never used a dishwasher

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. I rinse the dishes that have stuff cooked onto them.

The dishwasher will not get those clean.

Scraps get scraped off.

[Lochloosa]

15. Depends on how many days they have been sitting out.

[Snarkoleptic]

16. I give them a quick rinse and sponge off any bits of food.

We had a repair guy out to put in a new motor (under warranty...whew!) and he said he often finds toothpicks, chicken bones, meatballs and whatnot inside machines.

[CTyankee]

19. That stuff I would scrape off into the garbage. Sheesh. Common sense would tell you not

to do that...

[Laffy Kat]

17. I think the dishwashers last longer if you scrape the food off.

Plus, you have to clean the DW drain if you leave food on the dishes and if you don't, it smells.

[CTyankee]

20. That hasn't happened so I must be doing something right...

I sure don't want a repair bill.

[CTyankee]

21. I've had this dishwasher for nearly 15 years and no problems.

We have a friend who is a retired plumber. I'll ask him.

He has plumbing stories you wouldn't believe...

[Laffy Kat]

22. I've had inexpensive DWers that lasted a long time and...

Expensive ones that only lasted a couple to three years. I dunno the trick. Seems like there's a lot of luck involved, too. I remember my parents' old Kenmore appliances that would last for a generation. They do not make them like that anymore.

[Ohiogal]

27. My Amana refrigerator

is over 30 years old. I would love to get a newer model but this one still works and I can’t see the point of getting rid of something that reliable. Salesman last year told us the new refrigerators only last 10 years if you’re lucky.

My Amana oven is 30 years old. We replaced the heating element about 10 years ago. Working fine ever since.

[Laffy Kat]

32. That's what I'm talking about.

Nowadays it's cheaper to buy new than to repair.

[sinkingfeeling]

43. Ditto. My side-by-side, almond Amana turns 30 this month. I have

a working Curtis Mathis color TV that will be 41 years old this year.
Guy at Lowe's talked me out of buying a new refrigerator, saying if it's not broke, why replace it.

[matt819]

18. Only when my wife is looking (nt)

[still_one]

23. Yes

[Polly Hennessey]

24. Yes.

Seems wrong to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. What? Oh, my god, what did I just say.

[PJMcK]

25. Yep. I also brush my teeth before I go to the dentist

But I've never worn a belt and suspenders at the same time.

Dishwashers last longer if solid food particles don't gunk up the works.

[CTyankee]

28. Me, too. I think dentists expect that.

As I said, I don't leave solid food particles on the plates. Just sauce or gravy. Tonight was pasta night and I left tomato sauce (not a lot) on the plates when I put them in the dishwasher. I'll run the dishwasher tomorrow after breakfast. It is hubby's job to unload the dishwasher, for which he needs constant thanks.

[PJMcK]

35. We have a kitchen deal

We both love to cook. But we both don't like to clean up.

So, here's our deal:

The dishes and kitchen are cleaned by the person who did not prepare the most excellent meal.

It seems fair and it's working for us!

[MaryMagdaline]

26. Yes

[Blue Owl]

29. Mostly

n/t

[Luciferous]

30. Yes but other people in my house don't

[csziggy]

31. Usually, yes, because I only run it about once a week

And I don't want to leave food to dry on the dishes, smell, and attract bugs. If I have guests and the dishwasher will be full quickly, I scrape the food into our organic bin and just stick the dishes into the machine.

My organic bin gets thrown out into the field for the birds and varmints to have a taste.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. Sometimes. It depends on how gunked up with food the plates are.

I recently bought a new dishwasher, years after the old one broke and I couldn't be bothered to fix it.

I am gobsmacked by how amazing my new dishwasher is. MY DISHES ARE CLEAN, REALLY CLEAN!!!

I know, I'm shouting, but I'm quite overwhelmed.

Here's something else for those of you who won't use the dishwasher that's in your kitchen (if you don't have one at all, never mind): the high heat it uses will tend to sterilize the dishes. Many years ago someone commented to me that ever since she started using the dishwasher she and her kids had stopped getting so many colds. Hmmmm.

My sister has rarely used her dishwasher and, surprise, surprise, her kids got sick a whole lot more than my kids ever did. Coincidence?

I currently live alone so sharing germs or viruses isn't an issue in my one person household, but I'm incredibly happy at how much cleaner my dishes are with so much less effort.

So what if it's not jammed full before each cycle?

In other Poindexter News, I recently bought a new washer and dryer, replacing ones that I don't know how old they were, but weren't at all new when I bought this place ten years ago. Here's the very best part: the washer has a vastly greater capacity than the old one, so I do half the loads I used to do. Before I washed towels and sheets separately. Now, one load. I wash clothes maybe every five or six days, instead of every three because a three day volume of dirty clothes was all the washer could take. Plus, the spin dry cycle is far more efficient and drying takes less time.

Hooray for modern technology!

(Brought to you by Poindexter Oglethorpe, who still refuses to buy a smart phone. )

[GP6971]

34. We do. n/t

[PennyK]

36. Don't rinse -- SCRAPE!

I just had to have the plumber here to clear out a big clog with a 20' snake. He confirmed to me that gunk from the sink OR the dishwasher could have been at fault -- and if you're rinsing, that debris is going down the drain. I never worried too much about pre-cleaning what I put in the dishwasher, but now I'm scraping as much yuck off my dishes as possible.

[Iggo]

40. A normal person scrapes then rinses.

[Fla Dem]

37. Yes I do. I may not run my washer for several days.

So I don’t want dishes with stuff on them sitting there for 3-4 days.

[benld74]

38. Yes We rinse

Dishwasher sanitizes them

[Iggo]

39. Yep.

[sinkingfeeling]

41. I do. I'm by myself so I only run the dishwasher about once a month. So, I

always rinse my dishes well before putting them in the dishwasher where they may sit for weeks.

[MarvinGardens]

42. No, that would generally defeat the purpose of having one.

I scrape the bigger chunks of food into the trash, and then load the dishes in. Trust me, it works. Go ahead, try it once if you don't believe me.

I do make exceptions for burned on eggs in a frying pan, and burned on food in a baking pan. Those get a soak with Palmolive and trisodium phosphate. Everything else, the dishwasher completely removes, as it was designed to do.