The basic dishwasher ‘rule’ that has completely divided the internet
If there is one thing that gets people on the internet really riled up, it’s the frequency and methods of other people’s washing habits.
Whether it’s how often we wash our sheets, our kids, our legs or our bras – this is a topic where people have BIG opinions.
And apparently now it’s the dirty dishes turn.
The topic of whether we rinse the plates before they go into the dishwasher or not was discussed as a segment on a British morning TV show and the answer from expert Katie Mortram of Good Housekeeping was divisive.
“To rinse, or not to rinse?”
After describing the right way to stack a dishwasher, This Morning co-host Cat Deely asked Katie about the “age old debate” of whether to rinse, or not before placing our dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
Katie replied there is no point in pre-rinsing, and that simply scraping them first is adequate.
“Rinsing is basically a waste of water, time and money,” Katie tells Cat and the audience.
“Dishwashers are advanced enough now that they’ll basically remove all greasy residue or sauces in a single cycle anyway, so you’re just wasting time and effort [if you rinse].”
Controversial.
The comments section had plenty to say about the rinse or not to rinse debate as hundreds of people weighed in on both sides.
“Load of crap!”
“Load of crap,” said one unhappy viewer.
“Of course you need to rinse. If you have certain foods on plates or bowls, it needs rinsing. Otherwise it takes a few goes in the dishwasher to get the stubborn foods off.”
Another was equally perplexed at this no rinsing command: “Always rinse because you can imagine mashed potato going down through the filter? That’s what blocks drains and leaves marks on glasses,” they commented on Facebook.
“Also what about the smell of curry or garlic, beans, eggs? I give all my dishes a quick rinse and it’s much better.”
Many more agreed: “She’s talking absolute nonsense, always rinse, prolongs the life of the dishwasher, its not getting choked up on giant lumps of food!”
But others felt that the Good Housekeeping expert was on the right track and there was science to back the claims.
“I was told by an appliance tech that if you’re using an automatic cycle the dishwasher needs dishes to not be rinsed in order to detect how much water to use and how long to wash for,” she wrote in support of the no rinsing advice.
“The dishwasher does its own pre rinse cycle then analyses the water that comes off, so if you rinse first, the dishwasher thinks your dishes are already basically clean and does less of a cycle.”
“We try not to rinse, but we need to scrape.”
Some felt the point of a dishwasher was not to wash the dishes.
“If you have to wash your plates before putting them in a dishwasher, what’s the point of having a dishwasher?”
Another viewer added: “I’ll try not to rinse but we need to scrape. The trouble is dried on food becomes residue and ends up all over the other crockery in the washer. Bits of carrot etc do not always go down the drain.”
And then other’s felt that their dishwasher needed an extra helping hand to get rid of the most stubborn of food types.
“Dishwashers still can’t handle porridge or dried on Weet-bix,”concluded another.
