Do You Pre-Rinse Your Dishes Before Putting Them in the Dishwasher? (An Ounce of Prevention Vs. A Pound of Cure.)

Hey Everyone,

I was watching a home repair video about what to do if your dishwasher is filled with standing water without draining -- and boy did it look like a headache to get the thing unclogged.

I know that dishwashers are a luxury and truth be told, even when I've been around one, I tend to wash the dishes myself. But I do like using them for regular sanitation (especially for items that have touched raw meat, eggs, etc.) However, I am admittedly one of those people who carefully scrapes off any excess food into the trash and then pre-rinses every dish before putting them into the machine. I know the commercials say it's a waste of water and that modern dishwashers need a bit of food on the dishes to work properly, but I still rinse them anyway.

And the very reason I do it is because The Handyman Pirate (YouTube channel host) explained that clogs like this happen because people have been led to believe they can just chuck in their plates into the dishwasher with half of last night's dinner still stuck on, and the machine will somehow take care of it.

I was thinking about how this example expands into all areas of life.

In the USA, we have a saying, "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."

In other words, it may take more time and energy to do a little extra here and there, but it might save you a whole mess of trouble later on.
And I was thinking about some areas of life in which I put a lot of work into prevention (general maintenance of some of the things I own,) and other areas that are really a struggle (eating way too many carbs than I should.)

How about the rest of you?

* Do you tend to put more work into prevention, or do you just wait until you have to find a cure, and why? (I understand that there are times we don't have the money for prevention, such as getting an oil change... But then is can produce big problems down the road.)

* In what areas are you good at prevention -- maintaining car/house/appliances, health measures (diet, exercise, putting on sunscreen, etc.,) relationships (putting in the work to make the healthy,) saving for the future, career (keeping up your job skills, resume, etc.)? There are tons of other things this could apply to, so feel free to give your own examples.

* What are some areas in which you wish you put more effort into prevention? What were the consequences of not being able or willing to do the prevention, and then having to find a much bigger solution?

And, just out of curiosity, I'm going to post a poll about those darn dishes.

Answers will be multiple choice and visible to everyone -- just to add a little amusement.

I had to laugh because I do not have a dishwasher and my sink is always full of dirty dishes .

Every once in a while I entertain the idea of buying paper plates .

Yep....I prewash before putting dishes in the dishwasher.....

Because I hate having to clean the filter in the dishwasher. And if you forget there's no bad smell coming from the rotting food in the bottom of the dishwasher.

Well first the dishwasher story: I hardly ever use my dishwasher but nevertheless a few months after moving in when the sink was running, but the dishwasher wasn't, water started spilling out of the dishwasher. Apparently whoever installed the dishwasher didn't install it properly so that when the sink was backing up, it used the dishwasher hose (for sending the used dishwasher water down the sink drain) as an overflow drain. One of those times I was truly thankful for amazon as I was able to get a one way valve and a little pipe connector rubber collar thing to install the valve inline so that water can flow from the dishwasher into the sink, but not the sink into the dishwasher.

I tend to be an overplanner so I like the idea of planning and prevention and it seems I do well on the things that need occasional maintenance or prevention (changing oil, furnace filters, going to dentist, etc) but not so well on adding things that require constant vigilance to maintain prevention (like eating right or flossing twice a day, though I do okay with established habits like putting on my seatbelt whenever I'm in a vehicle).

And if i don't get my food under better control soon, I'm going to be facing all the health consequences of diabesity and that's not how I want to spend my old age.

I do for school where there is are TWO dishwasher machines but at home I dont have one. On the odd occasion I forget as I am not that diligent at doing so as Im busy doing other things though

I also am not great at flossing my teeth every day. I know ew but flossing your teeth to me is kind of like picking your nose or scraping out earwax. I brush my teeth twice a day though I always remember to do that.

For me I tend to care more about the big picture stuff than every little detail. Yes there are parts of my garden with weeds and places where it gets overgrown. It just depends when I have time to pay attention to it. Im more like planting to cover and disguise weeds than getting rid of every single weed inexistence and have NOTHING grow.

I think set up and design is important, if you make things easy for yourself in the long run you remember to do things rather than let everything go all messy. I am really not great at folding clothes or hanging them up after ive worn them they tend to pile up in my laundry baskets. I always put them away after being washed though otherwise I dont know whats dirty and whats clean.

students at my school can be pigs though and leave used tissues all over the floor and screwed up paper not in the bin. Its gross.

i always hand wash dishes. but before i wash, i get as much crud out with the napkins used for dinner. i'm saving on a lot of wear-n-tear on the piping by disallowing a lot of dirt & grease to enter the drain system. plus i use a screen over the drain way to filter out impurities even before the dishwater goes down. now if we all were in the old days, we would take the day's dirty water or dish water & save it for the leeching barrel or ash hopper. here's how it works: leeching barrels or ash hoppers made lye. you take hay, put it in the bottom of the vessel, then pour ashes & the water on top of it & lo' & behold, you have lye. add fragrance & now you have soap!!!!!!

We don't have a dishwasher, but it's just the two of us and we don't use a lot of dishes. We mostly clean our own dishes, as well. And currently I only use one dish a day and use plastic utensils.

I like to try to prevent things. Sometimes I do well and am really on top of things, other times I lack the motivation to be on top of things.

If I had kids I'd definitely be preventative, at least in some areas. When it came to physical things such as health or things that may hurt them physically I'd be a helicopter parent haha. But in other areas I'd be more lax. I can lean towards extremes sometimes. Uptight in some areas and too loose in others.

Dishwasher: I AM the dishwasher. I use a scouring pad and Dawn dishwashing liquid. For everything.

What do I use on teflon? I don't got no teflon. Teflon is for n00bs.

Prevention in general: Variable.
I'm usually torn between "I'm the most indolent person who ever stood in shoe leather" and "I'm WAY too lazy to deal with it later when it is worse, so I'd better take care of it now." So I usually take care of it now. Reluctantly.

One day the dishwasher overflowed! I cleaned out the filter, which was actually very easy, and quickly discovered the filter wasn't the problem.

The entire kitchen sink drainpipe was clogged. I snaked it, but my smaller snake didn't do the trick. I had to have a plumber come-out and clear it. It wasn't any food clog, it was corrosion. He said the pipes weren't in danger of failing, but it may happen again in time.


I pick and choose placing the plate/bowl straight in the dishwasher depending on how dirty, or dried out, it is. If it's sill pretty dirty, I soak it in the sink, and next day wash it off while I'm using the water for other things, and stick it in the dishwasher.

I have a small plastic container for silverware, and I leave the utensils in there until I run the dishwasher.

I do maintenance/prevention in the same manner... lol, I pick and choose. I never fail to check oil in my lawnmower and change the oil in my car. I brush multiple times a day. I'll floss when I have those plastic handle 'swords', even though I also think it might be inappropriate to create more plastic like that. lol I'm more of an ebb and flow person with many of these things.

"Diabesity" lol Great word!

I pre rinse my dishes then wash them by hand.

I bought durable, rinse-able, cut-resistant paper plates today .

Bonus: they have a purple patterned border .

Paper plates are a nice convenience for eating at home on a regular basis...they don't help much with the cooking utensils though...like pots and pans and spoons and spatulas.

I eat out of paper towels and paper bags for the most part at school.
My rostered day to clean the kitchen is this Thursday....