Pre- rinse, pre- wash, or throw it all in?

[dustin92]

I was wondering, what do you do, and what is the *right* way ? Do you pre rinse dishes before washing them in a dishwasher, do you pre wash them (with soap and a washcloth), or do you just throw everything in as- is? My mom and dad used to pre wash everything (with dish soap and a washcloth) BEFORE washing them in the dishwasher! I think I talked them out of that, now they just pre rinse everything very thouroughly. I think you just need to scrape the food off and clean burned or stuck on stuff, but my mom complains if she catches me doing it this way. How do YOU do it and what do you think is the *correct* way?

 

[cphifer5115]

well since i used to work in a dishwasher factory (Maytag) I would say why would you spend all the money on a top of the line dishwasher (assuming that you have a top of the line and not a cheap stripped down version) why would you pre rinse or wash your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher. I never pre rinse and I never wash my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. And if it were my mother who was complaining i was simply say "who pays my water bill you or me?" cause you realy are using excissive water when you pre rinse or even wash them before putting them in the dishwasher. And always use all of your wash options on your dishwasher and always keep the rinse aid dispenser filled with rinse aid and use a good detergent. I use finish quatinum, i know it cost a little more but it does what it claims it will do.

 

[lordkenmore]

This whole question is one where there may be a whole bunch of correct answers. It depends on the circumstances of the user. For example, a person with a cheap modern BOL dishwasher will need to be more careful than someone with a top-quality vintage KitchenAid.

My preference is do a little as possible. A fast scrape of the dish, if needed, and fling it in. (Well, maybe flinging isn't a good idea with china!)

I honestly cannot understand the logic of people who wash dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. What is the sense in in washing before washing?

I can understand a quick rinsing of the dish. I don't like doing it, and in my cranky moments (not like I have any other type of moment), I think that if water saving is so important that we are supposed to all buy a front load washer, than we should also quit wasting water to rinse dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. But there may be situations where pre-rinsing may be advisable.

Actually, the best pre-rinse situation I had was when I had a roommate a couple of years ago with dogs. Those dogs did a wonderful job of "prerinsing." The dish would go into the dishwasher visibly clean, only needing to have dog slobber removed.

 

[dustin92]

actually,

Our dishwasher is a low end GE, with only a soft food grinder and no filter, and my parents pay the bills (except my phone, car insurance and gas), so that line wouldnt quite work LOL!

 

[DADoES]

 
Scrape, yes.

Pre-rinse, no

Pre-wash, no!

This (cherry cobbler dish) is what may typically go in my dishwasher ... and I have one of those gnasty DishDrawer toy-thingies.  I'm sure a real dishwasher can do at least as well.

And this is how it comes out.

 

[ronhic]

mmmm.....

....well dishwashers typically sold here don't have any 'grinders' at all in them. Better dishwashers do tend to rinse and then backflush the filter...

Personally, even in a cheap dishwasher here, I scrape food off plates only.

If something is baked on or caught on the bottom of a pan, I soak it, hit it with a nylon brush and then stick it in the dishwasher.....

 

[laundromat]

I never pre rinsed anything!! I bought a dishwasher to eliminate my precious hands from getting and wrinkles from dishwater.Ivory liquid or no.The GE tritons (Tall Tub) were the absolute best and not real expensive. I use Electrosol tablets (Finish) and Jet Dry liquid getting excellent results everytime.

 

[maytagbear]

Scrape, YES, Rinse?

Rinse..NO-WAY-ON-EARTH!

Rinsing wastes water, and just as much, time. In fact, I've seen glass damage come from rinsing, and not giving the detergent enough to remove. In fact, an older woman friend, after years of having a bol dishwasher, got a tol one a few years ago, and she had glass damage because she kept rinsing. I got her to stop rinsing, and no glass damage since.

I've never rinsed with my GE Nautilus, and I get very good results. Like cp (handsome guy in the blue shirt up there,) I have the "Pots and Pans" button poked, and the water heat boost button poked.

In Peg Bracken's delightful book about housekeeping, she says (not exact, but close!) "Trust the hot water, the machine, and the potent detergent." I do.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[mrb627]

Pre-Rinse

The only time I will pre-rinse something is if it contains a tomato based sauce. Better to rinse the bulk of that away rather than stain the racks in the dishwasher and/or any other plastics.

Malcolm

 

[polkanut]

Oy!

Don't get me started on this subject. My Mom, younger sister, and wife are all pre-rinsers to the point of washing. I told my wife that we might just as well rip out the dw because the dishes, glasses etc. are practically washed before they even go in the machine. She has a phobia about the machine not being able to handle whatever food particles are left after they're scraped and put in the dishwasher.

I'm get so frustrated I could just SCREAM! ARGHHH!!!

P.S. We have a 5y/o Whirlpool Gold w/ the high temp option in use.

 

[countryguy]

I scrape but never rinse, even when the dishes are going to be sitting for a couple of days until I have a full load to run.

Gary

 

[amyswasher]

Tomato sauce

When I make spaghetti or tomato based dishes. I will run a pre-rinse with bleach, then run a normal wash. It only used maybe two gallons of water, way less then if I rinsed all the dishes in the sink. Other loads are scraped and place in sink. A week ago I was having a problem with tiny pieces of food being left on dishes (looked like sand). I removed the bottom of sprayer and the filter, and found there was a one inch piece of plastic stopping the rubber stopper from opening and letting out the food particals, after that was fixed, the machine worked fine.

 

[dj-gabriele]

I'm a no-rinse person too

Unless you're putting in the dishwasher salmon and tomato sauce along with something plastic!
In this case I use the automatic pre-rinse in the dishwasher along a glass of white vinegar that removes the stench of the salmon, if it's only tomato I simply use the automatic pre-rinse.

Said this, I eat salmon once a month usually and I don't eat tomato sauce (so it's only for the guests) so I'm definitely a not pre-rinse, pre-wash person! I only scrape the plates with the paper towel I'm going to throw away if there are large residues.

Even baked on burned stuff goes straight into the machine and everything is spotless all the time... unless I forget to refill the salt tank!

 

[passatdoc]

Scrape, yes. Rinse, no.

I have a BOL Bosch and it gets just about everything clean. If I had a very heavy baked on soil, say a casserole dish, I might pre-soak that in hot soapy water, but minus baked-on soil, everything goes in unrinsed and comes out sparkling clean. I use Finish (neé Electrasol) 3-in-1 powerball tabs.

Now, my old 1988 vintage POS GE Potscrubber couldn't clean very well, and with that DW, yes I did have to pre-rinse, or at least use Rinse/Hold if the DW wasn't full. Now, my Bosch doesn't even have Rinse/Hold, there's no point to have it on a good DW because it can clean even a week's accumulation of unwashed dishes.

 

[washerboy]

scrape/rinse

I have a GE Profile DW; the issue of not rinsing the gunk off dishes and flatware is I remember well growing up and going to someone's home that did'nt rinse and getting a drink only to discover the bottom of the glass had dried funk on it. It always grossed me out!!! Although I no longer have glasses that have an indention in the bottom; when I did I would wipe the bottom with a paper towel before removing them from the rack. Maybe folks want to avoid dried on food?

 

[rp2813]

I'm a reformed rinser and only scrape now. I let the dishwasher do the rinsing, as it can sometimes take a few days to fill the machine enough to run full cycle.

 

[joe_in_philly]

I have a fairly low level Bosch dishwasher, and we only scrap off heavy food. No pre-rinsing, except for tomato sauce or acidic foods on cheap flatware. I find that excess tomato sauce can cause clear plastic containers to discolor slightly. Also, I have some cheap spoons I use when cooking, and if something acidic like mayo sits on them for a while, then it can cause discoloration. If something is burned on, I will scrap it off before loading.

I try to use as few dishes as possible when cooking, and since it is just to two of us, sometimes we go several days before running the dishwasher. Luckily, the Bosch gets everything clean on the regular cycle without the need to pre-rinse. It doesn't have a pre-wash detergent cup, but there is no need to use extra detergent. It gets everything clean with detergent in the main wash cup. The wash portion of the cycle lasts about 35 minutes.

I have noticed some of the new Bosch dishwashers don't even have a rinse hold cycle. I will use rinse hold on occasion if we have fish - that does not smell good after sitting a few days!

 

[whirlcool]

Since we run our DW everyday (19 month old Maytag)all we do is pull off any bones or large left over food chunks and into the DW it goes.

I used to soak pans with burned on debris in hot water and Dawn before putting in the DW, but several times I missed this step and the burned on food came off without a hitch. So no more soaking.

Karen once asked a neighbor about her washing her dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. The neighbor replied that the dishwasher doesn't clean the dishes, it only sanitizes them!

 

[joe_in_philly]

Everyone's situation is different. Different dishwashers, water, detergents, etc. With the old Caloric dishwasher that was in my house when I moved in, I would have to rinse most things or they wouldn't get clean - or I would get that "grit" in the bottom of glasses. When the pump self-destructed and needed to be repaired, I was then able to justify to myself buying a a new dishwasher.