Rinsing / washing plates and pans .....

[EuromumAussiekid]

Before you put them in the dishwasher?? Is this weird?

I do this all the time and my sister in law finds it really strange. I always thought you are supposed to rinse off you plates and pans and either wash or soak those that have tough to shift food stuck on.

My sister in law simply scrapes off food and then put them in the dishwasher. Doesn't this just make the dishwasher struggle to clean everything efficiently?

Genuinely curious question.

It's pointless to rinse beforehand. The detergent needs something to work on. I just scrape food off too

Weird, pointless and wasteful. The dishwasher blasts all food residues into tiny tiny particles that are then rinsed away. No need to rinse.

I just scrape and everything comes out sparkling clean. What's the point of rinsing, soaking etc? You are just doing half the work of the dishwasher and may as well wash up by hand if your doing that.

No rinsing here either, just a waste of water surely?

My Nan rinses everything but then she also will only use the quick cycle and sits there watching it until it has finished so that she can open the door before she goes to bed. She is a bit odd though!

Actually thinking about it I rinse the pan after a bolognaise, otherwise DS's skippy cups can take on an orangey tinge but that is the only thing!

I just scrape the food then make sure to empty the filter at the bottom regularly and run a wash every so often. It does seem a bit wasteful and counter productive to wash rinse first, but if it works for you!

I have family that use a pan scrubber before putting in dishwasher. Bonkers.
I just scrape

Really?? I always thought it was normal to rinse or wash before hand

Rinsing makes dishwashers less efficient

Just scrape here, no need for rinsing or pre-washing.

I rinse mine and soak things that have burned on grime, then scrape it off before putting in dishwasher.

Another rinser here and everyone takes the piss out of me for it. But DH has come round to my way of thinking after having to replace several dishwashers at our rental property for tenants who clearly just chuck everything in whilst ours is going strong years later. He's had to fish out broken glass and sweetcorn kernels in the past so he now gets why I like to do a pre-rinse.

Scraping would get bits of food off.

A local plumber commented to me that most his business comes from unblocking dishwashers because the owners don’t rinse off leftover food

If you're going to the effort of washing beforehand, don't bother having a dishwasher. I can possibly understand rinsing certain things- I don't do it, but wouldn't be shocked if I saw someone else doing it.

I rinse quickly under the tap. Bits of food build up and block the jets etc otherwise.

Food won't build up if you scrape properly. The detergent won't work effectively if the dishes are too clean

We got a new dishwasher last year - a Bosch. So I watched their online tutorial on how to load the thing. (I'm a little nerdy like that). The Bosch lady said rinsing stops the dishwasher detergent from working effectively. Just scrape. So I proudly told my OH. He then asked my why our dishwasher comes with a rinse program.......I was silenced! Lol.

I rinse, partly to get bits off and partly because I only run the dishwasher every two or three days and old food gets dried on in that time (and doesn't smell too great in Summer).

What is the magic ingredient in food particles, without which dishwashers and DW detergent won't work?

Maybe grease, if there's caustic soda in the detergent - oil + caustic soda = soap. But without grease there's no need for more than a tiny amount of soap. The dishwasher just swishes the water around, it doesn't matter whether there's anything in it or not.

I run my dishwasher about once every four days, and never rinse anything. It all comes out lovely and clean, even plates that have been sat with curry residue on for days.

Some people say they use their dishwasher every 2-4 days. How? I use mine once a day sometimes twice

It will all be to do with how often you cook and what you cook.

Cook a meal with multiple pans, add in breakfast dishes, packed lunch boxes, pet plates etc and it's full in a day.

Just plates and eating something cooked on a single oven tray, combined with lunch out of the house and it takes much longer.

Also some mad people wash their baking trays and pans by hand, largely defeating the object of having a dishwasher in the first place.

I wash baking trays by hand as the dishwasher seems to bake the oil onto it and it goes sticky. Pots go in the dishwasher

@BarbaraofSevillle
I would never do that I'm the mad person who washes trays by hand and then puts them in the dishwasher