Wash your dishes by hand for a month challenge

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cicy33

I just finished washing a sink load of dishes, I filled the sink completely up. I washed all the dishes. Rinsed with cool water at the end.

Can you please post step-by-step how you hand-wash dishes? That may sound like a strange question. I know it isn't a complex process, but I don't get how you can only rinse at the end. What do you do with a dish after you wash it? You can't put it back in the water because that's dirty? Do you put it on a rack of some sort until you rinse it? And aren't you rinsing while you're washing it?

We've never been able to figure out how hand-washing could be more efficient since the water needs to be running the whole time.

[sweeps]

Steve I think some people fill up one side of the sink with water and then rinse by dipping the dish into that side. Frankly that kinda grosses me out.

But regardless I have 2 young kids and if I washed dishes by hand, I would be doing them 24 hours a day. I'll stick with my dishwasher, even if it is slightly less efficient.

[cicy33]

I do find it a little strange but okay. I wash on one side and set the soapy clean dishes in the second clean sink next to it. (I have a double sink) Then after I am done or the sink is full, I rinse them and set them to dry. I don't hand dry. Not germ conscious, just lazy! It takes me less than 15 minutes to wash and rinse a full dinners dishes for 6 people, pans included. If I rinsed while I washed then either I would have to turn on and off on and off on and off the water or leave it running which one is wasteful and one is time consuming. How do you rinse yours?

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cicy33

I wash on one side and set the soapy clean dishes in the second clean sink next to it. (I have a double sink)

When you say "wash on one side" what does that consist of? You said you filled the sink with water and washed the dishes. How could you wash them if the sink is filled with water and dirty dishes? That's the part I've never understood when people talk about this.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Didn't think I'd get into this thread, but when I came to this point and saw that disneysteve doesn't understand washing the dishes, I, well, I don't understand not understanding. There are a few different ways to go about it.

I think that I wash them like cicy33 does. Fill one sink with hot sudsy water, put in a pile of dishes. Scrub them in that hot sudsy water. Set each scrubbed dish, one by one, as they are washed, into the second sink. Then add some more dirty dishes to the hot sudsy, water. Wash those, one at a time, adding them to the rinse sink. When I have a pile of clean ones in the rinse side, run the hot water on each piece individually and set each piece, as soon as it is rinsed, into the drying rack. If I have a lot of dishes, or the dishes are particularly greasy or otherwise dirty, I might have to dispose of the first sink full of wash water and refill with fresh hot sudsy water. Sometimes while washing the first, least dirty dishes, I have sudsy water soaking the inside of a pan over on the counter.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

I think that I wash them like cicy33 does. Fill one sink with hot sudsy water, put in a pile of dishes. Scrub them in that hot sudsy water. Set each scrubbed dish, one by one, as they are washed, into the second sink. Then add some more dirty dishes to the hot sudsy, water. Wash those, one at a time, adding them to the rinse sink.

That's what I thought. So you are "washing" your dishes by scrubbing them with dirty water. That's the part that never made sense to us. We know a lot of people do it that way. It just never seemed very sanitary.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Yes, but that water and any debris in it is all rinsed away. Check out how re-useable hard items things are sanitized in your hospital. I doubt you will see a continuous stream of water that flows a single time across the items being washed. Even in home dishwashers isn't the wash water recirculated several minutes? For that matter, a clothes washing machine uses the same water for all the items that are put into one load.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

Yes, but that water and any debris in it is all rinsed away. Check out how re-useable hard items things are sanitized in your hospital. I doubt you will see a continuous stream of water that flows a single time across the items being washed. Even in home dishwashers isn't the wash water recirculated several minutes? For that matter, a clothes washing machine uses the same water for all the items that are put into one load.

I guess. Neither of us were brought up that way so we both are used to doing it with running water. Plus, we've never had a double sink.

Of course, we do use the dishwasher for all the stuff that we can. Only pots and pans, knives, delicate glassware and oversize items get hand-washed.

[Brokemofo]

This thread has made me really glad I don't hand wash. Well, except for the pots and pans that my Wife said cannot go into the dishwasher. For those I fill each pot and pan with its own clean water to wash with. Like Steve, I never understood washing dishes in water full of stuff that just came off the dirty dishes. Besides, my dishwasher is NSF certified which means it actually sanitizes. I seriously doubt hand washing is sanitizing anything.

[pjmama]

I have a single sink, but because it's just me, I fill up a large bowl with my sudsy water and put the already washed dishes next to it in the sink. Then when I start running out of room, I rinse everything and put them aside to dry. I use far less water than I would with my dishwasher. My electric bills are definitely less too And I tend to have more clean dishes hanging around

[cicy33]

Generally the "debris" settles to the bottom. Also when I wash I usually only put a few at a time in the water and stack the rest next to the sink. If you washed with constant running water that would be a huge expense and waste. And as said above, the dishwasher recycles the same water. If it didn't you would use far more gallons than they claim it does. as well as the washer. Have you ever opened your dishwasher halfway through the cycle? I have. The water in the bottom of the dishwasher is gross and greasy. My water in the sink is not. If it starts to get icky, I drain it and refill it. I don't usually have to do that unless I have a ton of dishes. We do scrape our plates well here and in between washes rinse the plates to avoid having to soak.

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by Brokemofo

This thread has made me really glad I don't hand wash. Well, except for the pots and pans that my Wife said cannot go into the dishwasher. For those I fill each pot and pan with its own clean water to wash with. Like Steve, I never understood washing dishes in water full of stuff that just came off the dirty dishes. Besides, my dishwasher is NSF certified which means it actually sanitizes. I seriously doubt hand washing is sanitizing anything.

How does it sanitize? With hot water or a solution? The reason I ask is this. My daughter for a time was a fanatic about using the germ x. And for those that do, I have no issue, and from time to time can see the purpose. However, to satisfy her I checked with my doctor and he says those sanitizing solutions and gels are overrated. They kill good germs and bad germs. and with normal handwashing, keeping ones hand from ones face, you are fairly safe anyway. I have personally never worried to much about it. I have never used it, ever and won't. I rarely if ever get sick. I do rinse my dishes with hot water to make them dry faster. And most people I have found turn off the extra hot water option and the heated dry to save money so obviously they aren't getting that benefit either.

[Brokemofo]

Not sure, but some dishwashers meet NSF guidelines to sanitize. I"m sure a google search will return a wealth of info, but I'm too busy right now.

[sweeps]

Dishwashers sanitize by using very hot water. Theoretically hotter than you'd be able to handle washing dishes by hand. Also you're not using a sponge or washcloth which is notorious for being a petri dish for germs.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cicy33

How does it sanitize?

It sanitizes with heat. Ours is also NSF certified. I know that when we open the dishwasher at the end of the cycle, we have to let everything cool for a while because the dishes and silverware are too hot to touch when we first open it.

sweeps - Good point about the sponges. We put ours in the dishwasher every time we run it to sanitize it. If you don't do that, you can also put it in the microwave on high for a minute and kill germs that way. That's what I do in our office kitchen since we don't have a microwave.

[Gailete]

I wanted to check before I mentioned this (so I did), but I think many of you don't understand the meaning of the word sanitize.

Per the on-line dictionary:
san·i·tized, san·i·tiz·ing, san·i·tiz·es
1. To make sanitary, as by cleaning or disinfecting.
2. To make more acceptable by removing unpleasant or offensive features from

Sanitize does not equal sterilize. Remember the days of toilets in motels with the the strips around that said sanitized for your protection? that merely meant they had been cleaned.

What does that mean to those of use who hand wash dishes vs. dishwasher? Depending on how well you clean and rinse your dishes, they will be every bit as germ/dirt free as those that have run through the washer which does recycle its water spraying the dirty water all over the dishes to clean them. Hot water is great as it helps cut the grease on dishes, but there is no way you can wash dishes by hand with water hot enough to sterilize them without inflicting horrible burns on your hands.

I personally wash all by hand as when we built this house I chose not to have a dishwasher. I found that when I had one previously, half the stuff wouldn't fit our would be destroyed. Plus I ran into the dishes 'checking' from the detergent and shaking against each other so that my glasses became etched with lines and or broke constantly no matter how careful I was when filling up the dishwasher.

I have a double sink. I wash in hot soapy water on one side and rinse by turning the water on and off over the wash side and then put in the drainer on the other side. Doing dishes this way helps me know that even only doing dishes every couple of days (just 2 of us) I never even fill up the one sink with water which would be a lot less than a dishwasher uses.
We are on a well so except for the electric to pump the water up and the propane to heat the water, we have minimal expense. I have been using the same bottle of detergent for 9 months now.

I'm not sure where we all came up with such germ fetishes, but it seems to me that since everyone is trying so hard not to get near anything 'nasty' we have raised a crop of people with horrible allergies as their bodies have never had to learned to fight off germs. Just my humble opinion as I'm old enough to have been around when the only way to dishes was by hand.

[Brokemofo]

Yes, dishwashers don't "sterilize", but some do sanitize.

[Gailete]

>>Yes, dishwashers don't "sterilize", but some do sanitize.
<<

If your diswasher doesn't sanitize, it is broken. Sanitize means to clean. Something sterilized is also sanitized (clean), but something sanitized (cleaned) is not necessarily sterilized (extremely high heat autoclaving that kills germs--body parts can't survive the high heat).

[cicy33]

So, basically, the big hype, this dishwasher sanitizes! is just that. hype. They all sanitize. I have also experienced the too hot to touch thing when I open my dishwasher when it is done. As far as the washing goes. I use a clean rag every single time I wash dishes. I do not reuse from the day before or even earlier in the day because it tends to get an odor to it and also I use it when I am done to clean the counters and the stove and I don't want the cleaner that I am spraying on the counter on my dishes. All I can say is that we live in an area that was hit very hard by the flu this year, the really bad one. Nobody in my family of 6 got it. nobody. So I would say I am probably cleaning the dishes fine. Matter of fact I can't recal the last time one of us got sick.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Sanitize, sterilize, PASTEURIZE. I imagine dishwashers do pasteurize, which would mean they reduce microbes by about 99.99%. A similar effect can be had by adding a small amount of household bleach to the hand-dishwater, an action I have rarely resorted to. Of course, as soon as you open the dishwasher and the room air comes in, whammo, your dishes have germs again. It is not a sterile world.

I know an older woman who raised children through the polio epidemics of the previous century. She never got out of the practice of hand washing and rinsing their dishes while a huge pot of water comes to a boil. The cleaned dishes are rested in the dish drainer and then boiling water is poured over them all.