Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

If you're a family of four and have a dishwasher...

227 replies

Comedycook · 01/04/2023 22:12

How many times a day is it put on? Let's say a weekend day when you're all at home.

Because mine has been on 5 times today...and it's like this most days. Is this normal or am I going wrong somewhere?!

OP posts:
AndrexPuppy · 02/04/2023 12:23

Why the heck aren’t you just wiping the baking sheet over in the sink and putting it back in the oven to dry off with the residual heat? It’d take seconds and save loads of room in the dishwasher.

Soontobe60 · 02/04/2023 12:24

Comedycook · 01/04/2023 22:17

Yes maybe!

At breakfast, DH may have a full English on the weekend and ds has pancakes. Dd has a bake at home croissant so I'm using lots of utensils.

Dd will often do some baking on the weekend

Then there's constant tea and coffees, snacks, lunches, dinner.

I must spend half my day loading and unloading it

Show quote history

For a cooked breakfast, only the plates / bowls / cutlery go in. The pans and cooking utensils get washed by hand then put in the cupboard straight away. Baking - same. Mostly washed by hand. The only time I’ve put it on more than once a day is at Christmas.

AndrexPuppy · 02/04/2023 12:25

Caspianberg · 02/04/2023 08:46

I also hand wash pans as I don’t have 100 different pans. I have small, medium and large. Plus frying pans. So if I make porridge for breakfast in small one, I wouldn’t put it in dishwasher as I might want to put soup in it for lunch, and veg at dinner time. So pans In dishwasher don’t make sense unless you have loads of pans or don’t ever use same pan multiple times in one day.

Pans wise, I hand wash them because it’s better for the longevity of the non-stick surfaces.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Home improvement
Soontobe60 · 02/04/2023 12:27

Comedycook · 01/04/2023 23:09

Yes everyone eats something different. To be fair I'm a sahm and kids are both at secondary school so I do have time.

Show quote history

I thought your kids were little, but theyre old enough to wash their own pots up!
Also, making different meals? That’s so wasteful.

randomusername03 · 02/04/2023 12:44

once day, sometimes twice. if i have been cooking 'proper from scratch' meals sometimes it can be 3 or 4 times, but thats once a week or fortnight.

derbylass81 · 02/04/2023 12:48

"It has lots of cycles but one is a fast one which takes 30 mins which I often use if nothing is really dirty"

If nothing is really dirty.

Jesus Christ. If nothing is "really dirty", give it a rinse in the sink, dry it and put it back in the cupboard.

Don't load up your dishwasher for yet another 30 minute cycle. How incredibly wasteful.

The human race really can be so depressing sometimes.

00100001 · 02/04/2023 12:52

derbylass81 · 02/04/2023 12:48

"It has lots of cycles but one is a fast one which takes 30 mins which I often use if nothing is really dirty"

If nothing is really dirty.

Jesus Christ. If nothing is "really dirty", give it a rinse in the sink, dry it and put it back in the cupboard.

Don't load up your dishwasher for yet another 30 minute cycle. How incredibly wasteful.

The human race really can be so depressing sometimes.

Surely 5 X 30m ins the same as 1 X 2.5h??

JulieHoney · 02/04/2023 12:56

I hand wash pans because it’s better for them, they last longer. It’s a 2 minute job.

Family if 5, and I would say 8 times a week - we always end up with one double dishwasher day in there somewhere generally with DH brings all the mugs and plates he collected in the office.

Your system sounds very wasteful.

Also, unloading the dishwasher is a job for your kids, not you.

AndrexPuppy · 02/04/2023 12:57

00100001 · 02/04/2023 12:52

Surely 5 X 30m ins the same as 1 X 2.5h??

Show quote history

No, I don’t think they are the same in terms of energy and water consumption. I think the ‘quick wash’ cycles are pretty water & energy hungry

Original poster
Comedycook · 02/04/2023 12:58

I agree I think the short cycles do use moe energy. I used the eco cycle las week and it took three hours. Nothing came out looking particularly sparkling

OP posts:
gogohmm · 02/04/2023 13:06

1-2 times per day assuming dinner at home, probably 9 times in an average week, 3-6 adults depending on which week (complicated)

ChrisPPancake · 02/04/2023 13:09

Ours is once maybe twice a day, but it's a slimline one as that's all we have space for.
I use the same mug all day which saves on washing up - dparents refer to theirs as the mugwasher because that's pretty much all that goes in it!

Ariela · 02/04/2023 13:14

Mine goes on every other day but ONLY if the sun is shining AND it's full. (solar) 3 of us. Reuse same cup all day. Large size dishwasher, can go 2-3 days without needing anything out of there.

SkyandSurf · 02/04/2023 13:25

derbylass81 · 02/04/2023 12:48

"It has lots of cycles but one is a fast one which takes 30 mins which I often use if nothing is really dirty"

If nothing is really dirty.

Jesus Christ. If nothing is "really dirty", give it a rinse in the sink, dry it and put it back in the cupboard.

Don't load up your dishwasher for yet another 30 minute cycle. How incredibly wasteful.

The human race really can be so depressing sometimes.

The rinse in the sink likely uses more water than running the dishwasher.

gingercat02 · 02/04/2023 14:02

Only 3 here and we were out for dinner last night but ours was emptied when DH got up yesterday (Saturday) and I have just put it on again now.
We have eaten pancakes, toast, boiled eggs, salad, porridge, various hot drinks, several glasses (water squash) sandwiches and cereal.
Plus all assorted cutlery and utensils.

I filled the gaps with the food waste caddy, liner and lid.
I hand wash pans and good glasses.

greenacrylicpaint · 02/04/2023 14:10

also be smart about using pans.
a pan used for pancakes can be used for bacon & eggs after.

00100001 · 02/04/2023 14:24

Comedycook · 02/04/2023 12:58

I agree I think the short cycles do use moe energy. I used the eco cycle las week and it took three hours. Nothing came out looking particularly sparkling

Still can't work out how your getting 5 full loads in a normal day

00100001 · 02/04/2023 14:26

OP take a photo of your dishwasher when it's just about to go in for a wash. And we can critique 😁

shelbaba · 02/04/2023 14:40

That's crazy! Usually once a day sometimes it might go to day and a half. I don't think it's ever been on more than twice in same day and that might be at Christmas or a birthday when there ends up with lots of dishes!

ElfDragon · 02/04/2023 14:43

Family of 4. Dishwasher goes on once a day at most. Some days not at all, and very occasionally (eg Christmas, or if we do a lot of baking) twice a day.

id say it goes on 5 times in 7 days, generally.

longtompot · 02/04/2023 15:16

Once, maybe sometimes twice. At Christmas it could go on three times

Topseyt123 · 02/04/2023 17:14

Comedycook · 02/04/2023 11:19

So it's been on once today so far. I realised that my huge baking sheet takes up 3/4 of the top shelf as i have to lie it down. It can't be stacked vertically.

Show quote history

A baking sheet of that size is something I would wash in the sink. It is such an inefficient use of dishwasher space and it literally just takes a couple of minutes by hand.

Also, baking sheets are usually non-stick, and I find that anything non-stick is better not put in the dishwasher. If you do then it comes out each time just a little bit less non-stick than it was when it went in. That is because of the slightly abrasive nature of dishwasher detergent (which you must be using tons of). Far better to wash them in hot, soapy water using a gentle sponge. They last much longer that way.

bussteward · 02/04/2023 17:32

2-3 times. I reuse my mug and water glass, encourage DC to do the same, but DP is a “use everything in sight including non-kitchen equipment” kind of cook. He could fill a dishwasher just doing oven chips. We had croissants at breakfast - done on a baking tray that would have served perfectly well at lunch to do garlic bread and mini sausages (party lunch!) but no, separate trays for the bread and the sausages, so three trays dirtied enough to need cleaning but not so dirty it couldn’t have been one. He also does annoying stuff like plonk a peanut butter knife on the breadboard so suddenly that needs washing instead of just dusting off the crumbs.

Then smallest DC will play the “not the purple bowl, are you trying to kill me! please, you must put the yoghurt in the blue bowl! oh god but not with that spoon!” game…

Though we tend to serve meals from serving dishes rather than the pan/plating up, so a few extra dishes and spoons at every meal.

Thursa · 02/04/2023 17:40

Family of 5. Dishwasher runs once a day/once every other day. I don’t put pots, pans or baking dishes in there though. And I fill the wash hand basin with hot soapy water when I’m cooking and wash bits by hand as I go. (Old habit I can’t get out of even now we have a dishwasher).