To rinse a plate with water alone

[CrayonCritic5]

I’ll preface this with an acknowledgment that I’m a little slovenly at times, due to low energy due to health issues. I’m not the kind of person who cleans their sheets every week! And I know that many of you will have high standards when it comes to cleanliness.

I recently spent some time staying with a friend and I made us some smashed avocado for our breakfast. I scooped the inside of the avocado onto a plate and then smushed it. After transferring it to the breakfast plates, I rinsed the plate with water to remove the residue and placed the plate on the drying rack.

Seeing this, my friend told me to use washing up liquid. Then every time I went to wash anything up for the remainder of my week-long stay my friend would each time tell me to use washing up liquid, which of course I was always planning on. It got really irritating, as if I needed training on how to function in a household. They mentioned it so much that I have a feeling they will continue to mention it even now that I’m not staying there.

In the case of the avocado plate, it was completely fresh, not a meat or animal product, hadn’t been eaten off of, and wasn’t sticky. In my opinion washing up liquid wasn’t needed either for the purposes of loosening the food coating or for antibacterial reasons.

So tell me, is it reasonable to rinse a bit of avo off a plate with water alone. Or, am I a completely unhygienic disgrace?

I have the lowest of low standards but I don't think something is clean until it's seen hot soapy water.

I would have used hot soapy water too.

Avocado is oily.

Yes it needs soap to remove the residue

Rinse alone under water no, rinse and scrub with cloth / sponge under water for avocado, yes.

But avo is quite oily so I'd prob use soap for that I think. The soap doesn't kill any germs but it makes things more slidey and therefore more easy to remove.

I often just rinse a crumby plate under water if there's been nothing else on it

Thanks Doto! This makes me feel slightly less bad. I did scrub it.

I take on board multiple comments about it being oily and therefore needing the soap and stand corrected!

No.

Only acceptable 'rinse only' plate would be the toast plate (to serve from, not to eat from, and buttered on your own plate not on the toast plate) because it's only dry crumbs that pretty much brush off anyway.

Maybe a bread board too (if I had one).

Avocado needs a proper wash.

Well I wouldn't have used hot soapy water for the avocado plate either OP, so you're not alone!

I’d put advocate in the same realm as eg toast and would think just rinse too op!!

Definitely a bit more courteous to err on the side of doing things 'properly' when you're in someone else's home, even if you might not normally bother at your own place.

I do shit like this sometimes. I'm not dead yet 🤷‍♀️

I's use soap for avocado as it is oily, but I rinse with only water plates/bowls that had fruit such as strawberries/pineapple/apple/pear, also plain raw veg like carrot/cucumber/celery, anything watery. Crumbs of plain toast too, anything that doesn't leave residue, which is not many things!

Jeez...as long as there's no bits of avocado left on the plate does it seriously matter ?? Unless I'm mistaken, you can't catch a life threatening disease from a bit of avocado.....

I'd rinse dry crumbs off a plate without soap. But avocado is full of fat, and water, it will go rotten and stick to the plate. That's really unhygienic.
If you choose to do that at home for yourself then fine, but others would not find it acceptable l'd imagine. Honestly, I'm not a clean freak but that's just wrong.

I guess the thing is, what you do at home is not necessarily what you should do at someone else's home. I'd have washed up in the accepted way, hot water and dish soap , when staying with a friend. I hope she let's it go soon though as I'm sure you've got the message.

There is no excuse to ever rinse a plate. IMO if it’s out of the drawer it needs to be washed

I am glad to see these comments from others who also wouldn’t worry about quickly clearing a plate that hadn’t been eaten from. I suppose in my mind I likened it to moping up something with a paper towel.

Whilst most people agree the correct procedure in this case would require soap, my irritation is more around the repeated comments on the other occasions where soap was obviously required (and was being used!).

It could go rotten... if it was left. But OP rinsed it off way before it had the chance to either stick or decay.

I think you're getting a hard time here OP - I'd be willing to bet there are plenty of instances where other people's methods had been used but the plate was no cleaner than your way.

@TheTripThatWasnt there's a chance it would be clean but so much easier just use a wee bit of wu liquid on the sponge, it's not any more work really?

Thanks I did find that posters response a bit harsh. There wasn’t any avocado left on the plate, it slid straight off with the cloth and water. I guess they are saying there could particles remaining, which I accept. The theme emerging here from those more easy going seems to be that anything dry, like toast, wouldn’t retain particles but anything oily or watery would?

Using very hot water to clean the plate would be fine.

You keep plates in a drawer?

In a friend's house I'd always err on the side of caution when it comes to cleaning their stuff.

Could you not have just said "Alright Barry Scott, I'm going to use washing up liquid, you don't need to remind me every time!" to your friend? If I was close enough to be staying in someone's house and cooking in their kitchen I'd like to think we were also close enough to be honest with one another (and rip piss out of eachother a little bit!)

If you’re in someone’s else’s house or washing dishes that other people are going to use then you should use soap and water for everything that there’s been any food at all on.
In you live alone and you’re going to be the only one using them then you can let the dog lick clean if you like.

It was shitty of your friend to keep bringing it up the whole time though.

I would rinse it. Then stick it in the dishwasher.

I wish I had plate drawers. One day I will design my own kitchen and it will mostly be drawers!