Guide to Doing Dishes

Doing the dishes can seem like a daunting task, especially after cooking a large or complicated meal that needed lots of pots, pans, and plates to make.

But whether you’re doing it by hand or using a dishwasher, we’ve got plenty of tips and tricks to make the job as quick and easy as possible.

Hand washing

Scrape food debris, sauce and grease off the dish to stop the water getting dirty as soon as you plunge your dishes into it. Remember never to pour grease down the sink as this can block and damage your pipes.
From here, you can see which, if any, dishes need pre-treating or soaking. Anything with burnt particles can be soaked for up to 30 minutes with your ordinary washing up liquid or with baking soda.
Fill your sink or washing up bowl with hot water and add your washing up liquid. Plunge a few dishes into your sink and begin to wash with a brush or sponge. Make sure you drain and refill the sink if the water becomes too dirty or greasy.
Start with lightly soiled items to stop the water from getting too dirty too quickly. Items like cups and glasses should go first, then cutlery, crockery, and finally cookware such as pots and pans.
Rinse suds with clean hot water.
Dry your dishes either by airdrying with a dish rack or by using a tea towel.
Clean your sink and rinse your dishcloths, sponges, and brushes to make your day easier tomorrow!

Stacking the Dishwasher

This is a touchy point for most people as we all have our favourite ways to do it, but here are our suggestions to see if you can put this argument to bed!

To rinse or not to rinse? Most newer dishwashers have a quick rinse setting already so there’s no real need to do it unless the plate is particularly dirty, or the dishwasher is old. Either way, you should always scrape debris off the dish before loading.

Load your dirtiest items at the bottom and the more fragile items at the top. This is because the strongest jets come from the bottom and it’s the best way to protect your glassware whilst tackling the tougher dirt.

If you can, make your dishes and pans face downwards. Again, because the strongest jets come up from the bottom, it’s the easiest way to get your dishes clean.

Try not to keep all like cutlery together. If you stack all knives, all forks, and all spoons together, they can nest into each other and stop some of them from getting a thorough clean, so it’s best to mix them up as much as you can. However, we recommend not putting sharp cooking knives in the dishwasher as they can become blunter quicker.

Unload the bottom dishes first. This prevents any pooled water from the top dripping on to your dry dishes.

Don't overload. Make sure all your dishes have plenty of space and that none of them block the machine's sprayer arms.

Just like you would your sink, make sure you regularly clean your dishwasher for the best performance.

You put a lot of love into the food you cook, so make sure you put that same love into looking after your crockery, sink, and dishwasher so you can enjoy them all for longer.