Think back to when you put those dirty dishes from Christmas dinner into the dishwasher… or other recent days you’ve used the dishwasher. How many dishes did you pre-rinse before putting into the dishwasher. If you rinsed any, you rinsed too many!
Dishwashers today (those manufactured since 1995 or so) are designed to clean dishes even when they haven’t been pre-rinsed to “look” clean. Now think about how much water you used to rinse those dishes… that was just wasted water, not to mention how much money that cost you, especially if you are in the habit of pre-rinsing dishes with hot water.
Are you certain that your dishes won’t come out looking nearly as clean? Do a test run one evening without rinsing anything, and see the result… chances are pretty good that everything will come out just as sparkly clean as if you pre-rinsed too. And don’t forget that many dishwashers also have a “pots and pans” or “heavy duty” cycle… and yes, these cycles will still use less additional water than pre-rinsing would use!
It is also worth hauling out the manual to check and see what the optimum loading instructions are – sometimes dishes that aren’t getting cleaned well enough in the dishwasher is simply because the dishes aren’t loaded correctly to provide optimum dish cleaning performance. This is especially valuable if you tend to go through a lot of bowls.
Do you not use enough dishes to run a load every day? Check to see if your dishwasher has a “rinse and hold” cycle on it that will do a quick rinse of the dishes without running a regular cycle, giving the dishes a pre-rinse to prevent the dishes from become crusty with dried food.
Following these tips will keep you from wasting water when it comes to cleaning your dishes. Try it and become convinced, and stop the extra work pre-rinsing routine today!
Yeah right! I have owned two houses in the past 8 years and both have come with a new dishwasher. They are builder grade appliances, but NO, not all dishwashers are made to clean all the gook off of your dishes if not prewashed. My manual even says to clean off excess food. My mil also believes that dishwashers should clean all dishes even with food on them, but she buys the very high end machines. I would love to someday own one of these supper dooper washing heros, but alas, not in the near future. Until then, I rinse, but I found that if I just fill the sink with some lightly soaped water instead of letting the water run endlessly I can save money.