According to my upbringing, this is the proper way to load a dishwasher:
1. Thoroughly rinse every dish.
2. Use an abrasive scrubbing device to remove any microscopic food particles.
3. Occasionally (like, really occasionally) squirt dishwashing liquid on particularly tough areas before scrubbing.
4. If egg or cheese touched any of the surface at any time, begin the process over just to be safe.
5. Silverware: if you can’t see your face in it, it ain’t goin’ in yet.
6. Once you have thoroughly scoured each and every item with soap and water, and your fingers can run smoothly across every surface, your dishes are ready to be loaded into the dishwasher.
Surely, you can understand why I always felt the need to go to the bathroom for a long period of time the nights I was assigned to dish duty. I figured that if I spent a long enough time in the bathroom, the poor sucker at the sink would get through at least steps 1-4 without me.
My parents were always talking about our neighbor’s, the Goffs, dishwasher(s). The Goffs never rinsed their dishes, and apparently they went through a new dishwasher every three days. It’s as if my conservative, skeptical of all things magical, parents couldn’t believe the theory. Dirty dishes go in and clean dishes come out? Sorry, that’s impossible. Clean dishes go in and clean dishes come out? Now, that’s more like it!
My own grown-up dishwashing experiences have followed in their path. My first dishwasher at our old house was a hundred and fifty years old. Every day I expected it to break. I tried not to make it work hard at all. Basically, all it had to do was spin around a little water, blow some hot air, and let out a steamy, exhausted sigh when I opened it up as if to say, “I didn’t think I had it in me, but the good Lord has blessed me with one more day.”
When we moved into our new house, complete with new dishwasher, I decided to dip my toe in the dark side of dishwashing. Occasionally, I put in a fork without rinsing it. One time I put in a bowl with a little bit of yogurt in the bottom. Twice I put in the beaters covered in brownie batter. I was never very happy with the results. It seemed as if there were always bits and memories of what once was.
My dishwasher died thirteen months after we moved in. The warranty covered it for twelve months. As much as I didn’t want it to be true, my parents were right on this one. Dishwashers are not for washing dishes. They are more of a day spa for clean dishes to go to for relaxation.
The other day at the grocery store, I needed to pick up some more dishwashing detergent. I didn’t have my kids with me, which is a blissful and rare experience. I think their absence gave me the time and clarity of mind to look over the vast array of dishwashing detergents. Did I want lemon-flavored dishes, or should they be rinsed in Cool Arctic Rain? My eyes finally rested on the packages of Cascade with Dawn gel packs. I picked one up. I was immediately intrigued because obviously I believe it takes dishwashing soap as well as dishwashing detergent to get a dish truly clean. I decided to give it a try. I mean, it wasn’t like I was going to stop pre-cleaing my dishes anymore, but it seemed like it might be fun to try something new. And it didn’t hurt that these little babies are adorable:
Max really wanted one for a snack.
I’ve been using them for a few days, and they’ve done an amazing job cleaning my already clean dishes! Everything comes out extra-shiny and squeaky.
I’m not saying that I’m going to go all Goff on you, but yesterday I loaded a lightly rinsed dish, for a simple test, and the preliminary results were impressive to say the least. My dishwashing manual assures me that somewhere inside is a decent garbage disposal mechanism that can handle a fair amount of debris. I’m not sure I can fully trust that information, but I’m thinking that if there is help for people like me, it might just start in the shape of a squishy orange and white cube.
Now, what about you? How do you load a dishwasher?
Exactly the same way. I think it’s biological. The girl who helps me clean my house, occasionally helps with my dishes. She always says, “What’s the point of a dishwasher, if you have to clean the dishes before loading them??” Then, I remind myself that she’s only 16, and ignorance is bliss. Maybe by the time she has her own new dishwasher, they’ll have advanced to the point that you really can load dirty dishes and actually have them come out clean.
I love the Cascade gel packs! And I am thoroughly convinced they work better than powder. Especially after a recent event in which I had to use the box of Enviro-something dishwasher powder my building gave me when I moved in (in theory I approve of it but the marketing people at Cascade suck me in with the adorable jelly nuggets) because I was out of the little gel pods and when I opened the dishwasher, half the powder was still stuck in the compartment in a giant glob and my dishes were spotted and hardened remnants of my past meals were stuck to the plates. I feared my dishwasher was failing me after two years of tossing lightly rinsed, rarely scrubbed dishes in and pulling out sparkling clean ready-to-lick crockery.
You see, I was not raised this way. I was raised to believe a dishwasher is strictly for sterilizing, the sink was for scrubbing and cleaning. But newer, fancier dishwashers have spoiled me and now I fear mine is turning on me but I’m hoping it is just the powdery stuff it doesn’t like. I just need to remember to pick up some more gel packs on my way home tonight because I think they are the magic ingredient to do away with pre-washing – thanks for the reminder!
p.s. as a sort of FYI tid-bit, I think I last ran my dishwasher last Sunday or possibly Saturday and the little green light is still on indicating the dishes are clean and ready for removal. I haven’t really spent much time in there this week.
Man…I wish I had a dishwasher.
You are so cute! I eat, toss any napkins and large hunks of food into the garbage pail, and in they go. Sometimes I rinse them in a thin stream of cold water if I know they’re going to have to sit a day or three before I turn on the dishwasher. Perfectly clean dishes every time!
Dear Tiffany,
You and Bryant ought to get together. He can tell you all his theories
about using the disposal since they go right along with your theories
about loading the dishwasher. Which theories point to that neither
one of you should own a dishwasher or a disposal. Bryant says you can put water down the disposal. Isn’t that what drain pipes are for? Anyway I have had one dishwasher in my old house and one dishwasher in my new house. Between the two they lasted me about
15 years. I sort of rinse sometimes. Case Closed. By the way my dryer has lasted as long as my oldest daughter is old. 21 years. The appliance gods much be watching over me. I’m glad someone is….
I will also never use the powder junk again. I bought the big canister thing at Costco that each little square has a ball of Jet Dry. They really are adorable. My dishes usually go in dirty and always come out clean. Bless the person who invented the dishwasher, and Jet Dry balls.
I load it as fast as I can…no questions asked.
ok, i have bad news.
my mom has been using the little gel packs for years. last month her dishwasher broke so she called the fix-it guy. he pulled hundreds of little non-dissolved gel pack corners out of her drain. the gel packs BROKE her dishwasher.
she has a secret formula. powder cascade and lemon shine powder.
sorry to burst your bubble!
i got a new dishwasher recently. it has a garbage disposal in the bottom so i RARELY rinse my dishes well. it’s wooooonnnnnndddddddeeeeerrrrffffffuuuulllllllllllll!
I love my daughter, however she is blonde. She is very smart (graduated from Bingham this year with a 3.7 GPA), athletic (3 State Drill Championships, and 1 National Drill Championship), but again, she is blonde. I am sure that I am the only parent that asks their children several times to load the dishwasher… we are way past the ‘lets rinse the dishes’ first discussions… just getting the dishes into the dishwasher is a miracle in of it’s self. With that said, my daughter had the responsibility to load and unload the dishwasher once it was done……. for several nights in a row…. She said, and I quote “I hate this fricken dishwasher, it never cleans the dishes”…. as a dutiful parent, I never tried to find the ‘root cause’ of the problem until complaint number 5. When I went to look at the dishwasher, I found 7 unwrapped dishwasher tablets (non gel) in the bottom of the dishwasher….. again, my daughter is a blonde and I love her…. this helped me to get my ‘funny back’……..