You may be shocked (and even disgusted) at how clean your plates and bowls are after you have given them a quick rinse. It can actually do the opposite in many cases. MyRecipes.com has recently offered a refresher course on how to use your dishwasher correctly.
Pre-rinsing is a bad idea because some detergents can stick to food particles. This was what Cascade detergent company informed The Wall Street Journal back in 2015. Your dishes won’t be as clean if there is no surface to adhere to.
Consumer Reports has another explanation. Consumer Reports state that dishwashers made in the past five years won’t wash dishes very long if they don’t detect dirt in the water. Consumer Reports’ Ed Perratore stated in 2016 that when this happens, the dishwasher will give dishes a light wash and your dishes will look less sparkling. To avoid poor results, do not rinse. Instead, scrape any food that is still on the surface.
You should also consider the environmental impact. Consumer Reports has a mind-boggling statistic that states the average person uses 6000 gallons of water per year for pre-rinsing. According to The National Resource Defense Council, dishwashers use only 3 to 5 gallons per load while hand washing dishes takes 27 gallons.
You can think of the time it will save you by not rinsing. You can still scrape large amounts of food off your plates or wash your eggs’ yolk-tinted plates in hot water, but you don’t have to rinse everything before you load your dishwasher.
What are you going to do with all this extra time? You’ll be happier if you spend less time doing chores.
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