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?

Yes, I'm hearing that I should have done it properly because it wasn't my house. I did everything else properly (as I do anyway) and with extra care, but I didn't think about just rinsing a bit of fresh uneaten-off non-meat food from a plate. If I'd drunk directly from a glass of water, I would wash it with the liquid.

I don't think so. Everyone who says dirty plates need washing up would be correct. This commenter said that it was "so slovenly and grim" to rinse some uneaten avocado off a plate. That is not logically the same thing. It seems reasonable to me that that is over the top.

I'll happily just rinse under running water a teaspoon that's been used to stir tea/coffee, and pre-kids my sheets would have been changed once a week-fortnight, but I would have wiped that with a hot soapy cloth before rinsing.

That would be quite a level of unacceptable behaviour. In this case, there was hot water and the plate was visibly clean.

Needs hot soapy water. Loads of fat in avocado. I might rinse a knife under the boiling water tap if I've only used it to slice, let's say, a cucumber, but anything more needs proper hygienic washing

And this was a case in this instance where it was very much the opposite of 'really dirty' - just a tiny bit of fresh food that slid straight off. I always clean my coffee cups with washing up liquid. In fact the friend's coffee cups were all covered in stains! So going by the miniscule particles of residue theory, the friend's standards were worse than mine as at least nothing was 'visible' on the avocado plate! 😂

That’s how I’d see it, if you don’t use washing up liquid for plates maybe you don’t use soap for hands etc. I wouldn’t say anything but might wait until you weren’t there and rewash everything. DP is always telling me I’m OTT about germs so I fully accept I might be!

Thank you. This is the kind of response I am after. If the oil is the deciding factor, then I accept the appropriate procedure would include washing up liquid.

I always wash everything with hot water & washing up liquid. After 3 of us getting food poisoning at a Harvester once where we'd all eaten different things I'm assuming it was cutlery or plates that hadn't been washed properly. I take no chances now and I'm not a clean freak by any means

I've continued to reply to responses on the thread stating my taking on board of what's being said. I do 'like' the reasonable responses. I have 'continued to do basic things properly'. I've engaged with most people on this thread, and you're kind of the only person who's been rude. All I said was that your opinion was over the top. I think it is.

That's completely valid. Sometimes in these places it can be stuff like unwashed lettuce.

Sorry but I don’t care that you think my opinion is over the top.

Hi OP, I’m shocked at the responses on here tbh… I have rinsed tens of thousands of plates/bowls etc… with just water and a scrub with a cloth for over 30 years. No one has ever got sick etc… what you did was fine imo. Many washing up liquids are not even antibacterial. Water alone is fine if the item you’re cleaning is cleaned quickly after use and any residue is wiped away. I wonder if these people think about washing up liquid residue? You can’t consume washing up liquid as it would poison you, yet it is rinsed off with nothing other than… water. Food for thought lol

And you'd be right! If I got avocado on my hands, I would rinse them with water. I would only wash my hands with soap if I'd gone to the loo/done something dirty, or was about to eat/handle something. Or handled animal products.

I'd do the same, probably not at someone else's home though. Not when they could see me at least

Also depends on the plate

Thanks. This is why I said that the previous poster's opinion is OTT.

This is a discussion forum. I said what I thought and it was relevant. Telling me you 'don't care' isn't relevant. Just stop participating.

I did it without thinking, because I'm not a doom-monger. I get it it's not the accepted standard, thoroughly accepted and I won't do it next time at someone else's house. It was a very glossy plate and everything slid straight off.

This wouldn't bother me if the plate was going to be used again the same day for dinner/tea. It would bother me if it was put away like that for another day though, in that case I'd have hot soapy washed it.

@FluffyJellyCat

Do the people you live with not mind drinking out of a glass you've had your mouth all over & left growing bacteria until it's used again?

it's one thing to share a glass of something with your family, it's quite another to leave it growing bacteria for the next person to use.

even for yourself to use later it's unhygienic. How hard is it to wash a glass?

@CrayonCritic5 it was a bit rubbish of your friend to keep on about it. I try not to let guests wash up, because I'm very fussy about how it's done. If they do. I can mostly accept I've eaten at theirs & not died yet. I dog sit for one friend & avoid using their cutlery particularly as they use it for fishing up their pet food and it turns my stomach. If I'm going to be there a few days, I give the things I'm going to use a damn good wash & keep them separate 🤣 & the pets get a dedicated fork (I'm vegetarian too so additional ick factor)

I wouldn't have felt the plate was clean enough to put back in the cupboard but I'd happily have rinsed it to use it later that day.

I prefer to rinse plates quickly after use even if they still need a proper wash, I tend to do one big wash up session and dry and put away after dinner And it's easier if there's no residue left on them.

If I had a judgey friend I'd probably have not popped it on the drier while they were watching over me!

Soap does kill germs. Germs include viruses and bacteria. Surfactants such as soaps and other cleaning products such as dish and laundry detergents disrupt the lipid layers of viruses and will kill them on contact. Most washing up liquids these days contain antibacterial ingredients and will kill many of them too.

As I've said a few times now, I came here willing to take on board the correct procedure and the reasons for it. I didn't come here ready to change into an over the top clean freak. I actually think it is a healthier lifestyle (and also more sustainable) to only use cleaning products when they are needed. And yes the plate was left out ready to be used again at the next meal. I am wrapping up with the knowledge that I didn't do it right, but the reassurance that I didn't make the biggest of faux pas' on the planet! Thanks everyone 😂

Washing up liquid is designed to leave no residue on non porous surfaces and when rinsed with water