I've always been intrigued by the dishwasher. I have total respect for its function. After three years without one, I vowed I'd never complain about emptying it, because I'm just so grateful to have it.
Growing-up doing the dishes was a process. You scraped then washed with soapy water then rinsed THEN put the dishes in the dishwasher. I never even questioned the process.
Not even when I left my house for college. That's when I realized casseroles were indeed a viable meal not just a Mormon joke. Admittedly sometimes I try my hand at a casserole.
After watching others do dishes and really thinking about the job of the dishwasher I decided to drop a step - the soapy water. I still scraped and rinsed and scraped and rinsed repeatedly until there was nothing left to scrape or rinse. I felt pretty good about this for a long time.
About two years ago I read an article on going green. Growing up in Oregon these articles are typically second hand. No new info, I've been doing their recommendations for a lifetime. Imagine my surprise when I read that a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing!
Since that article I've considered dropping another step - the rinsing. I thought about it for two years, but couldn't trust my dishwasher to get the dishes clean and sterile.
Since that article I've considered dropping another step - the rinsing. I thought about it for two years, but couldn't trust my dishwasher to get the dishes clean and sterile.
Recently after considering how I could simplify my life I decided to drop the rinse. I put a couple scraped only dishes in. When I unloaded, I couldn't remember which ones weren't cleaned before I put them in the dishwasher. All of the dishes came out sparkling.
Little by little I've spent less time and used less water prepping my dishes for the dishwasher. It has earned my trust.
I still can't run it unless it is totally full. I know and love lots of people who can/do. However, that really isn't a problem considering my mini dishwasher.
3 comments:
Great post. However, I think I'll still be rinsing cuz I haven't had that same luck, dishes aren't always as clean as the rinsed ones. I've done the test. But I ought to be more green. True. Love the mini dishwasher.
Good job Suzy! Efficient and green. Works for me! =) Maybe I'll try it?
just an FYI..the Jensens (Jer) are thrilled with themselves that they have moved to the scraping/rinsing and now to the just load with not removing any food but the big chunks. Things to get excited about, i know so funny! we are somewhere in between.
xox
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