JFF Poll: Rinse BEFORE Loading into the Dishwasher?

Always prewash unless dishes have no residue on them. I'm sorry no dishwasher is that good. And I have had more than a couple.

I have to rinse and/or scrub them (with water and scrub brush) before they go in (with the exception of a water glass or a plate that held a sandwich only, etc). I feel like if I can get them relatively clean with a rinse, the heat of the water in the dishwasher and the cycles it runs gets them REALLY clean. I don't trust mine either to do the complete job. Now, if I could only remember to run the dang thing right away so I have clean dishes when I need them...

I asked this once before...http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/1027295935539052545

I have decided to basically wash mine prior to putting them in and use the dishwasher as a sanitizer...

Why prewash though? I mean, whats the point of prewashing, why not just wash them and dry them, rather than washing them again?
I scrape, do a cursory rinse and put them in. Without a little food residue to work with, the enzymes have nothing to work with.
That's my excuse anyway...

I NEVER pre-wash ~ what's the point of a dishwasher then? SOMETIMES we rinse. I was actually told that when you wash in the dishwasher, it's actually GOOD to have some stuff on the dishes. Soaps made for the dishwasher are made to "grab" the dirty stuff off, if there is nothing on the plate, there is nothing to "grab" & in the long run could damage your dishes.

Lol. I get a kick out of this question.

When I was staying at my uncle's house, they wouldn't rinse anything off their dishes. Their thing was that they are not going to wash something to wash it again... and what would be the point in having a dishwasher in that case? They had a decent dishwasher, BUT we would have to check everything before putting it away, because there was often food dried onto the dishes.

Now... I am staying with my in-laws, and they are the opposite. Everything gets washed until there isn't anything on it, then put into the dishwasher for sanitation and a double cleaning.

I fall in the middle, personally. I like to rinse the dishes and get most of the stuff off, but I am not too fastidious about getting them completely clean.

It depends on the quality of your dishwasher and the type of water you have in your area.. And if you are washing them right away.

Older dishwashers did not have a way to dispose of the food products and the sprayers were not strong enough..

Now the better quality dishwashers are really powerful and can really clean the dishes really well. Make sure you purchase good dishwasher soap.. It will say "heavy duty.".

If you have hard water.. it will tend to leave spots.

Remember the heating cycle of the drying cycle uses a lot of energy, but can help get rid of the spots..

Still, remember with hard water, you will need a special rinse added to your washer each time to not have spots.

You can just use a small amount of water in the sink maybe just 2 inches. and rinse the dishes with a scrubber. . Does not matter if the water gets yucky, the dishwasher is about to wash and sterilize them.

Nope. Not me. I scrape the plates, but no pre-washing. But I cashed on a sale and state rebate program to get a really, nice, no pre-washing needed dish washer. I hate dishes...it was worth the expense to me!

I scrape off any solid pieces of food and then in it goes. I see no point in having a dishwasher if I have to actually wash the dishes before putting them in. I do make sure I clean my dishwasher on a regular basis in case it gets gunked up with food bits.

I have to at least get the old food gunk off.

Our dw won't take off anything stuck on dishes.

We rinse, quickly, the stuff that's stuck on or has pieces. Otherwise our stupid dishwasher puts it back on the cups and plates and we end up rerunning the load or handwashing. I also find that I MUST keep up with the rinse agent in our DW now or it won't rinse well.

Scrape and toss in. Our dishwasher is about a year old and this is what it said to do; prewashing not needed. We're always in a drought here in So Cal, so I also appreciate using water frugally!

I pre rinse. I fill the sink up with hot water and when were done eating we all put our plates/bowls in there and rinse in that water.
Hope this helps

I toss them all in:) My husband hates it!

yes, i rinse. scrub anything stuck on and light rinse for the rest. mainly because i dont want food sitting in the bottom of my dishwasher, so i rinse all into the disposal

Our dishwasher is ancient...we have to rinse before. Drives me crazy...our old house dishwasher was SUPERB!

Yikes! You're going to spark a war! :) Seriously, a group of my friends fight over this all the time.

Supposedly, the new dishwashers are capable of washing away all the residue. However, I can attest first-hand if you overload a dishwasher, not everything gets washed away.

Personally, I only run my dishwasher a couple times a week, so I always rinse a bit so the dishwasher doesn't start to reek of rotting food. However, if you run it every night and not too full you can probably get away without rinsing.

It depends on your dishwasher, if it has the food grinding mechanism. Most newer ones it is better to actually not prerinse for various reasons. But mine is about 20 years old, so I need to prerinse otherwise it won't get clean at all and any food particles will ruin the washer.

I rinse. I found that if I don't, some of the stuck on food doesn't come off and after the dry cycle, you have to almost chisel it off, especially rice!

Had to rinse very well with my old dishwasher. Now I just scrape off the food and put it in with the new one. I even put a soup pot in it last night without rinsing and it came out so clean even though I forgot to run it until this morning. I don't even have to rinse the mac'n'cheese pot anymore! Which is great since I hate dishes more than laundry.

It depends on what is on the dish. Some stuff you just know the dishwasher isn't going to get off without some help. Those I rinse and pick at a bit. Everything else goes in as is. Your dishwasher has a mini garbage disposal for the purpose of the stuff that comes off in the wash.

You mean the world's largest hidden drying rack? I never use my dishwasher for anything other than as a drying rack. I have never had one clean dishes properly so I always found myself practically washing the dishes prior to loading it. Not very water conscious at all. Now I just roll up the sleeves and get after it.

NO! My husband hates it, but I say it's a dishWASHER. I expect appliances to do what their name suggests, despite how unreasonable that might be. I also expect the thing in the sink to disposeALL, which makes me very unpopular when it backs up ;o)

we always pre-wash :-)

Yes, I do a quick rinse and sometimes wipe and then throw into the dishwasher, I sometimes think, geez, I might as well just wash them by hand! But then I wash them on the light wash cycle so I'm kind of saving there.

Because of the way they've changed the soaps (not allowed the harsh cleaners anymore) I always wipe the food off using as little water as possible; by the time my dishes are loaded they aren't actually real dirty. I basically just run the diswasher to sanitize them. But I always make sure it's full thereby not wasting water on a half-loaded dishwasher. I live on well water so I know about saving water everywhere I can. Good luck!

i used to scrub them, but i recently decided i can re-wash the dirty ones by hand AFTER the dishwasher tries. I only end up with one or two dried on banana or peanut butter per week, it's totally worth the time and energy it saves not having to bother with rinsing. that said-- i do scrape off chunks of food.

We have a new dishwasher that was highly rated but even this one doesn't clean it all perfectly if not rinsed in advance. For instance, I tried putting in bowls with pesto sauce still on them and ended up with baked on basil flakes stuck on other dishes in the dishwasher. Not cool.

I do a quick rinse before putting in the dishes. I'm all for saving water, but I'm also all for clean dishes.

Definitely prewash. If you're worried about water, put a little bit in the sink like you're hand washing instead of letting the water run continuously (or else turn the water on just high enough to rinse effectively).

i scrape and run some water over things. DH on the other hand would leave chunks of food on the dishes if I didn't get on his case.

my dish washer does not get everything off if I don't rinse them off first.

I have a dishwand thingy that is a spong/dish soap despenser that I quick run over the dishes before they go into the dishwasher which helps use less water. I too try to conserve as much water, but the food will dry on there and I know our dishwasher won't get them clean.

If your dishwasher does not have a way to grind and dispose of the refuse on the dishes it will clog the sprayers and drain. It will cause lots of problems, eventually you will be buying a new dishwasher every other year if not more often.

Rinse the dishes before.

Pre-wash all the way. I can't get past how my mom taught me to do it when I was growing up, and frankly the dishwasher in our base housing is a glorified steamer.

Well, I AM the dishwasher in my house ... but when I had an actual dishwasher, I simply filled the sink about a third or half way up (depending on the amt) and then rinsed them off w/ that before loading them in. My sister who is VERY water concious has a towel or two that she uses for plates/bowls to wipe them off ... she also has a compost heap etc so I think it depends on how far you are willing to go with it all.

I always rinse mine well before putting them into the dishwasher. How I was raised, and I think that it saved me a lotttttt of dish washing by hand later. I hate finding crusty plates in the dishwasher.

I also buy a dishwasher cleaner to sanitize and clean it thoroughly every month to keep it running, and cleaned out.

I used to know a girl who went overboard. She used to wash ALL her dishes by hand in the sink with soap and then she would soak them in bleach and water and THEN put them in the dishwasher. Girl didnt even need a dishwasher.

Rinse or scrub if needed

Yes. Rinse. My husband doesn't understand this. I don't understand what he doesn't understand about it. *errrr