My sister called me out on pre-rinsing and now I'm second guessing everything

She was over last weekend and saw me scrubbing plates before loading the dishwasher, then told me I was wasting water and the whole point of a machine is to handle the food bits. She showed me her crusty casserole dish that came out spotless after a heavy cycle. Is she right that modern dishwashers actually work better with some gunk left on?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylanbarnes5d ago

Nah man, your sister's right about this one. A buddy of mine had the same argument with his wife a couple years back. He was a hardcore pre-rinser, scrubbing every plate like it was a crime scene. She told him to stop and just scrape the big stuff off. So he tested it on purpose with a lasagna pan that had baked on cheese and sauce. Ran it on a normal cycle without pre-rinsing and it came out cleaner than his usual method ever did. He said the dishwasher detergent actually needs some food particles to activate properly. Now he just scrapes and loads, saves a ton of water.

wesleyburns5d ago

See, I gotta push back on this though... I've been a pre-rinser my whole life and I just can't bring myself to trust the machine that much. That lasagna pan test is one thing, but what about when you have dried on egg or oatmeal stuck to a bowl? That stuff doesn't always break down the same way. I've seen plenty of dishes come out with that gritty film still on them when I've tried skipping the rinse, especially with older machines that don't have the fancy sensors. Maybe the new detergents work better with food particles, but I'd rather waste a little water than have to hand wash half the load after the cycle finishes. Plus, letting food sit in the bottom of the dishwasher for days until you run it? That's just asking for a smell problem...