Dishwasher- Do you pre-rinse?

[User246810]

So, for years I've just scraped food off and shoved in, (stuck pans get a pre-soak as mine are non-stick).

But my mum, who's nailed this housekeeping lark, rinses under the tap before putting in the dishwasher.

We have a Bosch dishwasher and I'd always though it was a bit rubbish but now I think I should have pre-rinsing.

So, is my dishwasher shit or do I need to pre-rinse?

stargirl exactly! DH loves to tell people how he checked the dishwasher he picked uses less than a bowl of washing up water each time and reuses the rinsing water but he uses more water rinsing than I would washing up because it takes longer to remove everything by finishing than it does with washing up liquid and a brush!

I do scrape but I'd rather put something back in the dishwasher a couple of times or hand wash than try to rinse out a scrambled egg pan for example.

This is a bugbear of mine - YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRE-RINSE DISHES IF YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF NEW DISHWASHER!! Sorry for the shouting but I've had this argument so many times. You're just wasting water and your time and effort. Some people pre rinse in the sink so much that they've basically washed the stuff already!

Technically you don't even have to scrape food off if you don't mind cleaning the filter a lot, but I would always just scrape any excess food off and leave it at that. If your things are coming out dirty or wet top up the salt, rinse aid and try a dishwasher cleaner (small bottle of stuff you leave in the cutlery bit on its own for one wash, costs a couple of quid)

Also I don't know what sort of dishwashers you're using but every one I've ever had gets rid of dried egg, weetabix, porridge etc no problems. Only thing I've ever seen not is sometimes with say a potato based pie dish some burn on bits round the edges can stay sometimes.

I don't pre-rinse. I just scrape any large excess into the my food waste caddy and that is all. Very burnt on oven dishes can need a short soak, but nothing else. All just stacked in the dishwasher with no further faffing.

My MIL used actually wash her dishes properly in hot soapy water before stacking them in her dishwasher. She then claimed that the dishwasher was still labour saving. I used to wonder why she actually had one at all.

Always rinse first.

Beware mashed potato, otherwise don't rinse.

If getting residue, check spinny arms are not blocked (rice crispies used to be the culprits blocking the little holes, but this week I found FIVE little plastic bits from the top of Frube yoghurts inside a spinny arm.

And adopt the mumsnet tip of putting the dishwasher tablet in the cutlery tray, not the dispenser (works way better).

and whatever my kids are currently experimenting with to make slime also seems to act as a good dishwasher cleaner

Absolutely not, what a waste of time and money. Scraping the plates is more than enough.

I clean the filter every couple of weeks and there's rarely anything in it.

If I put the tablet into the cutlery basket of my dishwasher it would end up used during the prewash rather than the main wash.

I learn so much from these threads. I have no idea how my dishwasher works, other than I scrape the plates well (if you are gone rinse you might as well wash??) put them in, I use a tablet, salt and rinse aid (but I have no idea why) and switch it on. It's clean inside, doesn't smell, and I know of no bits I'm supposed to regularly take out and clean??

Agree that scrambled egg doesn't always wash off but everything else seems to. I do pre soak burnt on roastie pans for example but that's about it. If it's not clean when the DW is finished I just leave it in for another go round

I mean individual items not all of it BTW