How Owning a Dishwasher Saves Money and the Environment

Ever since I was 7 years old and my parents pressed me into service as the family dishwasher, I have really and truly despised the task. A stack of unwashed dishes was enough to send me slinking out of the kitchen and shut down an enterprising culinary mood. About halfway through the task I can sort of get to enjoy the warm soapy water and the satisfaction of cleaning, but then my back gets sore and the water gets lukewarm and gross, fingers start to wrinkle and I hate it all over again.

Dish washing pet peeves include the vicious and irascible shredding contraption. I have a three sided one that I really love, except when it comes time to clean it. Especially when shredded cheese hits the hot water and melts to it! Scummy pans resulting from scrambling eggs for an inexpensively healthy breakfast also make the list. These are enough to make me skip breakfast or resort to expensive and sugary cereal that I don't even really like anymore. Cutting boards and pots take up too much space, filling the sink and counter, making dish washing a more daunting task to look at.

I gamely try to recycle cans and glass to help out the environment, but rinsing them out can be a dangerous task with can lids, not to mention disgusting if not done right away. I admit to sometimes chucking the cans unwashed in a fit of pique.

I love to bake, but nothing is worse than cleaning the gooey, oily, sticky and burnt remains of a baking adventure. One thing comes close, a blender full of morning yogurt milkshake that I forgot to rinse and come home to wash hours later. Finally, I recently purchased a bread machine and the only thing standing between me and fresh bread is washing the pan out. Yes I know, I might be oversensitive about this dish washing thing.

All these problems have been solved by the recent acquisition of a dishwasher. I chop, save, shred, bake and recycle with abandon. The grocery store price difference between pre chopped, shredded and canned food is around a dollar per item I've found. The cost of a homemade loaf of bread is about half that of a good one at the grocery store.

The big money saver however, is the crockpot and lunch containers. Without the dishwasher this is a very unpleasant process, washing containers that sat around all day and a crockpot that doesn't fit in the sink. Soup in the crockpot takes very little effort (chopping mostly, no problem with a dishwasher to take care of the knife and board), no babysitting of the stove and the containers can be prefilled for the week. This is even easier than cans of soup since no can opener is needed.

Now I'm not saying that a bread maker, blender or crockpot are necessary purchases, but most people have them around since they sound like a good idea in the age of recession and shrinking food budgets. My experience being that the other appliances went unused for the most part until I had a dishwasher, it saves just me a minimum of $3 a day in food related convenience costs, factoring in the costs of a can of soup ($1.50 vs ~ .50), a few slices of bread (.50 vs .25), a couple ounces of cheese (.75 vs .50), and a smoothie or energy drink ($2 vs .50). Multiply that by a family of 4 for a week, and keep in mind the fact that I am a small female who doesn't eat much to begin with and see how fast that pays for a dishwasher.