I do all of the dishes at home. Why? Because my GF does a shitty job of it.
Among the many issues that led me to become sole washer of the dishes is her insistence that dishes can go into the dishwasher filthy, sit in there for a week getting crusty, and then magically come out sparkling clean! This is not just a clever ploy of hers to get out of washing dishes. She believes in this wholeheartedly, despite my repeated demonstrations to the contrary, including the experiment involving her doing it her way and then me doing it my way. In case you’re wondering, hers came out still crusty and gross, mine (shockingly) came out clean.
Why do mine come out clean? Because I pre-rinse everything before it goes into the dishwasher. It’s just the two of us so it’s not like I can just scrape them off, toss them in and run it, that would obviously be a ridiculous waste to run the dishwasher every day for just two sets of plates, bowls, glasses and utensils; they’re going to sit in there for a week before it gets run, so by then they’re all going to have non-scraped off food dried and crusted onto it.
Nope, other than getting big chunks of food off. If my dishwasher required pre-rinsing, I’d throw it out and buy a new one.
That said, I don’t let it sit for a week. Rarely does a day go by that the dishwasher doesn’t get run. Many days it gets run twice a day. Two people, but we both work from home, and are pretty dedicated to made-from-scratch cooking.
We do in my house. Otherwise the dishware comes out yucky.
I’ve seen mixed results from other folks who report their dishwashers don’t require a pre-rinse. Some produce dishes with lots of stuff on 'em, a few don’t seem to.
I don’t lose sleep over it either way. Hot tub maintenance and functioning is more important at my house.
I’ve never done an experiment proving that I need to rinse the dishes, but I learned from the first dishwasher my parents got, in 1962, and back then it was necessary. We also lived in NY where the water wasn’t metered.
You didn’t include a “sometimes” option, so I didn’t vote.
If there are big globs of sauce or cheese or something left on the plate, then I’ll give it a quick run under the faucet. Usually, though, nah. The dishwasher does just fine.
I didn’t vote. I scrape off large bits of food, and if something seems to be clingy, like melted cheese, that needs to be taken care of before it goes into the dishwasher too. Some things don’t really need to be scraped or rinsed at all, and so they just go into the dishwasher with no prep.
First you scrape the chunks of stuff off, then we do a light rinse, then it sits in the sink for a couple of days (hey its only the two of us - I only run it when its a full load). Then finally into the dishwasher for a run. (Or it sits in the dishwasher after the rinse, until its full enough to run.)
My friend uses a soapy wash cloth, while letting the water run the whole time, rinses the dishes off and then puts them in the dishwasher. Which she runs every night. I was astonished that she put so much effort into washing the stuff first before letting the dishwasher do it, but also that she wasted so much water. We’re in Iowa, so its not like there’s a water shortage, but to my mind its all about being respectful to the planet and not using more of anything than you need to.
ETA: I just saw Moonliterial’s comment above, and yes, pots and pans are frequently either just handwashed that night - especially if its the pretty new not-dishwasher safe (thanks dear husband) Kitchenaid set. Or the pans are filled with soapy water just to soak until the dishwasher runs.
Only for a few things. If it’s the first couple of dishes going in and it’s going to be a while before it gets run, then things like cheese, pasta sauce or egg yolk get rinsed, but not much else. If the dishwasher is nearly full and likely to be started within the next day, then we don’t rinse. The dishes come out clean.
Our dishwasher is a 4 year old cheapie Haier, FWIW.
Currently, my washer sucks aardvark testicles, so I have to treat it more like a dish sanitizer, with me doing the heavy work prior. Newer washers should be able to handle dishes that are still visibly dirty, but for now it sucks.
I rinse only. My wife actually washes the dishes first.
When the kids were home we would run the washer every day so there was not itme to become dry and crusty. With only two people in the house I’ve been rinsing a bit more carefully, except when I know I’m about to run the machine.
Our dishwasher instructions say rinsing is not necessary, however I’ll rinse if there’s significant chunks of food on the plates (though I’m more likely to just scrape it into the bin.)
I wipe excess peanut butter off the knife, and I usually scrape the grease out of the grease tray from my electric griddle before I wash it, but that’s the limit of my pre-washing.
Washing dishes is the only gorram thing I ask it to do, it can damn well do that much.
All of you non-rinsers may soon be in for a shock. All producers have removed phosphates from their detergents. Since phosphate is what keeps foods from redepositing during the wash, you are going to have a problem with cruddy dishes. The two recommendations I’ve seen are pre-rinsing and running the cycle twice.
Personally, I pre-rinse. At first, I did it because my mom did. Then, my ex-husband insisted it wasn’t necessary and all of our dishes came out still dirty. Now, with just me, I pre-rinse/light wash since most dishes sit in the dishwasher for a few days before I run it. If it’s going to be run immediately, I just scrape the big stuff off.
I have a dishwasher, but I hand wash my dishes. I would think that every few weeks I run the dishwasher to make sure it doesn’t develop a leak.
While I understand not rinsing the dishes, doesn’t all that gunk get stuck in the pipes? I had a friend who said he never cleans off his dishes, but he buys a new dishwasher every year or so.