Washing Your Dishes By Hand

As my daughters became older, and chores were assigned I realized there were those things that we as parents just tend to take for granted. Things we just seem to know, although at some point in our lives we were probably taught, the actual teaching of them doesn't register. We are taught those simple things like vacuuming, mowing the lawn, dusting, driving in a screw, etc; by helping our teachers and learning as we do. One of these, doing the dishes came to light recently as a friends son moved into his first apartment. As he unpacked his dishes, he glanced around and questioned, "Where is the Dishwasher?" Although to most of us it didn't really matter, he stood looking at us with the expression of wonderment, "How do you do dishes without a dishwasher?" he asked. It dawned on me at that moment, with the majority of housing including a dishwasher; some people may not have ever had to do dishes by hand, aside from the light washing and rinsing of a pan, or coffee mug. Let's learn how to do the dishes.

First, gather all your dishes outside of the sink, scraping off any leftover food then rinsing them lightly with clean water. Set them on the counter in the order most practical to the size of your sink. Example, large plates on bottom, followed by smaller plates, saucers, bowls, etc.

While your sink is empty, take your dishrag, or sponge and with warm water and soap wipe down your sink, silly? Who wants to stick their hand in a dirty sink of water with food floating and slimy residue from dishes that may have sat in there awhile?

Rinse sink and make sure the plug is in place. Place your stacked dishes in the sink and begin filling with warm to hot water and about 1-2 tablespoons of dish soap. As the bubbles grow and the sink fills, again take your dishrag or sponge and wash down the adjoining sink. You'll be using this for rinsing and you wouldn't want your clean dishes setting on and old sticky noodle or strip of bacon fat after you wash them.

Once your washing sink is full, begin washing. Wash the plates with your dishrag/sponge then feel with your hand, sometimes we can feel what we don't see. Some people opt for gloves, but I find using quality dish soap keeps your hands from drying out so the gloves are no longer necessary.

Rinse your dishes under hot water; the water doesn't have to be on the entire time, just to rinse the dish. Rinse both front and back removing all soap, then stack in your drain rack. You can dry the dishes with a towel, or let them air dry.

Voila! Done. Washing the dishes by hand, usually takes less time then running your dishwasher. Hand washing usually uses less water and electricity as well. Better for the environment.