Another: avoid refined oils. Cleaning oil is most of the need for detergent. Without oil you can rinse most dishes. With it, you need to scrub and use chemicals to get rid of it and what they get to stick to plates, etc.
Since I stopped using oil, washing dishes usually means rinsing briefly.
If I have a lot of dishes -- I boil some water, pour in a bowl with some dishwashing liquid and use that with brush or scrubbie...scrub and then rinse all -- less water (learned from my friend in Guadalajara !)
Awesome tips, thank you! We live in a van, so I try to do dishes right after we use them to keep the counter clutter free. We didn’t have hot water for the first 3 months so I learned very quickly to rinse dirty dishes right away to use less water to wash them. And scrape them with a utensil. We also repurpose some items - we have mason jars for drinking out of and they’re also our food storage containers.
Even in a van it’s too easy to accumulate mason jars 😬.
I've spent the last several days confounded by how much time goes into doing dishes! It helped to read this and realize a good chunk of it is due to the fact that I'm making more of my own food, which outweighs the tedium of dishes (mostly, ha!). My biggest challenge now is becoming militant about not leaving dishes on the counter/sink when they should go right into the dishwasher - it helps tremendously. I really appreciate that link to the EWG, too - glad to see my brand (Dropps, unscented) with an A-rating.
I do dishes like Tetris. Least dirty to most. The first dishes get rinses in running water while the container below (a dish to be washes) catches the water and pre-soaks some. Then when that’s full, I pour the water into a dirtier container, and *that* water ends up in the next dirtier.
I suspect it saves energy because in a former household I was the only one able to dishes for 20 people, including cookware, within the allotted amount of hot water.
It may or may not be faster, but it makes doing dishes into a puzzle.
Great post - dish washing is a chore. I sometimes stick some dishes in the fridge (!) nothing wet and things scraped off to amass enough dishes to wash all together. I know it may sound nutty but I just don't want to wash dishes right away sometimes and I don't want to leave it in the sink to attract unwanted creatures. It buys me some times until I can wash more all at once.
This posting is brilliant.Thank you. I made a galette last week. I have an antique apple corer that slices apples into 12 sections. I bought my Cuisinart at an estate sale 25 years ago for $35. It came with all the blades which I seldom...oops ever...use. I am going to try slicing the apples and using the cast iron pan. When doing food prep it is prudent to have a bowl of warm water with soap to rinse your hands as you cook.
Another: avoid refined oils. Cleaning oil is most of the need for detergent. Without oil you can rinse most dishes. With it, you need to scrub and use chemicals to get rid of it and what they get to stick to plates, etc.
Since I stopped using oil, washing dishes usually means rinsing briefly.
If I have a lot of dishes -- I boil some water, pour in a bowl with some dishwashing liquid and use that with brush or scrubbie...scrub and then rinse all -- less water (learned from my friend in Guadalajara !)
Awesome tips, thank you! We live in a van, so I try to do dishes right after we use them to keep the counter clutter free. We didn’t have hot water for the first 3 months so I learned very quickly to rinse dirty dishes right away to use less water to wash them. And scrape them with a utensil. We also repurpose some items - we have mason jars for drinking out of and they’re also our food storage containers.
Even in a van it’s too easy to accumulate mason jars 😬.
I've spent the last several days confounded by how much time goes into doing dishes! It helped to read this and realize a good chunk of it is due to the fact that I'm making more of my own food, which outweighs the tedium of dishes (mostly, ha!). My biggest challenge now is becoming militant about not leaving dishes on the counter/sink when they should go right into the dishwasher - it helps tremendously. I really appreciate that link to the EWG, too - glad to see my brand (Dropps, unscented) with an A-rating.
"One must imagine Sisyphus happy" - so perfect!
I do dishes like Tetris. Least dirty to most. The first dishes get rinses in running water while the container below (a dish to be washes) catches the water and pre-soaks some. Then when that’s full, I pour the water into a dirtier container, and *that* water ends up in the next dirtier.
I suspect it saves energy because in a former household I was the only one able to dishes for 20 people, including cookware, within the allotted amount of hot water.
It may or may not be faster, but it makes doing dishes into a puzzle.
Your posts are so inspiring, Anne Marie. Doing many of these but there is always more to learn from you. Thank you ❤️
Great post - dish washing is a chore. I sometimes stick some dishes in the fridge (!) nothing wet and things scraped off to amass enough dishes to wash all together. I know it may sound nutty but I just don't want to wash dishes right away sometimes and I don't want to leave it in the sink to attract unwanted creatures. It buys me some times until I can wash more all at once.
This posting is brilliant.Thank you. I made a galette last week. I have an antique apple corer that slices apples into 12 sections. I bought my Cuisinart at an estate sale 25 years ago for $35. It came with all the blades which I seldom...oops ever...use. I am going to try slicing the apples and using the cast iron pan. When doing food prep it is prudent to have a bowl of warm water with soap to rinse your hands as you cook.