About a month ago, my dishwasher stopped heating the water. Without hot water, dishes don't get clean. I looked up the error message on the dishwasher's readout and figured out what needed to happen to fix it.
I also figured out that it was not a fix we were going to do ourselves.
I found a place in the city 100 miles away that will look at it, but I have to bring it to them. And that, I have not yet done.
So I don't have a functioning dishwasher.
This is not as bad as it might be, since it's summer. I don't work in the summer, and we're not running all over creation for school/sports/religious education/whatever. This means I have the time to do dishes twice a day.
It's been eight years since I've been without a dishwasher, but before that, I did dishes by hand at Blackrock for a decade. My handwashing skills were a little rusty, however, so I had to remember my method.
What, you don't have a dishwashing method? I definitely do. And here it is!
First, I fill the sink with soapy hot water and put all the silverware in the sink to soak while I wipe the table.
Next, I wash all the silverware, three pieces at a time. The MiL thought it was very funny that I always do three pieces at a time, but that seems like the right number to me. Enough that I feel like I'm moving quickly, but not so many that I can't properly clean and rinse them all.
Next, I put in the cups and mugs to wash.
Bowls next.
Next is plates.
Next are the miscellaneous cooking things, including pots and pans.
Last, I wash cast-iron skillets.
And when I'm all done, I microwave the dish cloth for a minute to sterilize it, since I can't just throw it in the dishwasher.
I will get the dishwasher in to be repaired before I start work in August. If it can't be repaired, I'll buy a new one. But until then, I hand wash, starting with silverware.
Do you have a dishwasher, or do you do dishes by hand? What's your method?
When we started renting after getting out of home ownership, we used the dishwasher in our rental until it stopped working. Our landlord was our neighbor, and was fighting cancer, so we decided to not bother him, and instead wash dishes by hand. DH had done this all his childhood and bachelor years, and even though I grew up with a dishwasher, we were still made to handwash dishes quite often, so it wasn't a hardship. Eight years later, we are still choosing to handwash, even though our rental has a (presumably) working dishwasher.
ReplyDeleteI noticed several things when we stopped using the dishwasher:
1. We stopped seeing as many ants in the kitchen. My theory is that the dishwasher just doesn't dry out thoroughly, being used every day, and that moisture attracts insects. In our first rental we'd get these large, horrid black ants, but once the dishwasher was unused for about a week, they stopped coming in. I'm sure dishwashers harbor food bits, as well, that can attract insects.
2. I felt like after the dishes were done, they were really done--there was no lingering thought, "Ugh, I'm going to have to unload that thing later, and put the dishes away, and they'll be a little wet still..." Dishes got washed, dried, put away, and it felt good.
3. The kids didn't mind helping out, and we spent more time chatting after dinner.
As for technique, I would save more money if I filled the sink, probably, and I do that sometimes. But we don't have a disposal, so I'd rather keep a fine strainer over the drain to avoid food bits going down, and wash under running water. Sometimes DH uses cold water if we need to run a hot bath soon after dinner.
We have a good, functioning dishwasher but we almost always wash all of our dishes by hand. As with so many household chores, it doesn't take that long if you just make up your mind and do it. We feel it's faster and uses less water than scraping the dishes, rinsing the dishes (supposedly you don't have to do that, but every dishwasher we've ever owned or used on a regular basis, including some new, very expensive name-brand models, has required scraping and rinsing to have a reasonably clean outcome), loading the dishwasher, cleaning up the mess from the scraping and rinsing, washing the dishes that don't fit/shouldn't go in the dishwasher, running the dishwasher, unloading the dishwasher, and taking care of the dishes that didn't quite get clean and/or dry. In addition, where there are only three of us, we don't ever create a full dishwasher load of dishes in one meal, and often not even in one day -- but then we run into problems of needing a bowl of a certain size, but it's in the dishwasher which hasn't run yet, so it has to be hand-washed anyway, and also problems of the dishwasher not being full, but not having enough space for another meal's dishes, so we either have to run a partly full dishwasher or wash part of the next meal's dishes by hand anyway. And, finally, my mom hates water spots on dishes ("because they still look dirty"). We have hard water and we've tried all the tricks (special soaps, special rinse additives, vinegar) and they help, kind of, but we still end up with water spots.
ReplyDeleteLong story short, we wash by hand. We do try to use the dishwasher every month or so to keep it in good working order.
As for the process, here's mine: Wash the sinks out. Run one sink of hot, soapy water and the other of hot water for rinsing. Put in as much of the silverware as is easily accessible to soak -- wash plates, cups/glasses/bowls, then pots and pans and silverware. Wipe table, all countertops, stovetop, microwave (inside too, if needed) while pots and pans soak, if necessary, or after they're washed. Drain water, make sure sinks are clean (bits of food left in the wash sink are disgusting), do a final wipe of the counter and faucets, all done.
--Karen.'s sister
For any handwashing, I have a dish pan in the sink I fill with hot soapy water. Fill pans that need soaking with hot water and put to side. Scrape and quick rinse to side of dishpan before washing. Cups first, followed by plates, then silverware, then pots and pans. If somethings really messy, I might wipe out grease or debris with a paper towel first. Wipe down counters and run the disposal at the end. I hang dishcloth/sponge up to dry. I try to use a new dishcloth every time. I do the laundry in the house,so I don't mind doing 3 dishcloths and dish towels a day. (Or more if needed!)
ReplyDeleteWe do use the dishwasher most days. I do wash up my baking or cooking stuff right after I'm done. I don't like dirty bowls or utensils hanging around attracting bugs.
Not surprisingly, since I spent 98 percent of my waking hours growing up doing dishes with my sister, my method is somewhat similar.
ReplyDeleteRun a sink of soapy water. Put away dishes from previous washing and wipe down the table, take care of leftovers, etc., while water runs. Coffee pot and basket first. Drinkware second, with silverware at the bottom to soak. Plastic dishes, then glass storage dishes and bowls, then plates, then glass bakeware, then silverware (sharp things first, and then a fistful at a time), then pots and pans.
I rinse with running hot water for two reasons — having an open sink drain is handy for, y'know, half-filled water bottles and that three tablespoons of water from the corn dish, and so on; and our sink is cast iron, so almost as soon as you run hot water, it and the sink are all the same temp, which is not actually all that hot, even though we do have the hot water heater turned up well past scald.
Also, I drain to dry. Years of being lazy led to that, and I'm OK enough with it. I have a really great stacking method that ensures practically all dishes dry themselves, but you didn't ask about that.
Sometimes I am good about making sure kids do the dishes, but again, I'm lazy enough about hollering at people that I do a lot of them all by myself.
I do not have a dishwasher. It's totally fine. However, the full cafeteria service of college was better.
I grew up washing dishes by hand (there were nine of us) and kept on washing by hand after I got married. But now I have a dishwasher and I feel it saves a lot of time. I don't rinse the dishes and they get clean. However, I think that's partly because we have great well water (just lucky. We don't treat it). When we lived in Michigan the water was as hard as a rock and the dishwasher didn't get things very clean. There are some things I wash by hand, like the pots and pans and anything with a wooden handle. And I wash by hand when we're camping. I just heat the water on the campstove and use a plastic dishpan with pretty much your system. I will have to try washing three pieces of silverware at a time though!
ReplyDelete