Dishwashers vs. Hand Washing

[Whatsername]

and love shoveling snow.

Oh boy..that is ONE thing you are not going to hear me say!

[barrnone]

We've always done our dishes by hand. We did have a dishwasher in an apt years ago, but we just never liked it. I usually cook, and my husband does the dishes. I have a sign in my kitchen that says 'I love a man with dishpan hands'...and it's the truth.

[kaylasgram]

I perfer to do my dishes my hand as we have well water & the dish washer dosent seen to have enought pressuer to get them clean & we have to per wash them anyway so why not just finish the job & be done with it any way!!!

The counter top on top of mine made a great place for our microwave as we have a very small kitchen!! LOL

~Cindi~

[mission to lose]

Mostly Dishwasher and I could not live without one. Have had one everywhere I lived since I was married in 1973.

1-They clean better than hand washing, especially greasy stuff. And the temperatures of the water is/should be higher than what your hands can tolerate, and the heated dry cycle kills more germs. Although you can never kill germs and bacteria 100%.

2-Don't wash/overly rinse dishes before putting in the machine. Per my brother in law, who is an appliance repairman for 20 years, doing that somehow lessens the ability for the dish detergent to clean properly. Yes, scrape large food off the plates and other items, but don't prewash. Don't ask me to explain it, he said that is just how it works.

3- If you are unhappy with the way the dishes come out, your machine may not be working properly, or it is an older model.

4- Who has time to wash dishes??? LOL!!! ???

5- $$$ Where I live water is very expensive. And the dishwashing machine uses less water than handwashing if you handwash properly. And if you wash after everymeal you have to run the tap until the water gets hot enough, more waste. Again, the gas used to heat the water. Utilities here are expensive, I don't know about the rest of the country/world. And with all the cooking, measuring, cutting, chopping, eating, etc. I do on Atkins, I fill the dishwasher comlpetely everyday

[mission to lose]

Originally Posted by PeteinVA

and love shoveling snow.

Go figure.

Hey Petein VA...What is the amount of snowfall out your way? Love to shovel snow? You must not live near "Chicagoland"? If you do, than you must really love snow. Snow out here means waking up to 5-6" with drifts in your driveway on an average snowday. And often, 11-12" (with additional drifts).
Not too many love that! Last winter we had a total of 60.3" in Chicago, not sure how much out in the Western suburbs.
Oh, and we all love to shovel all that snow when the temps drop below zero and the winds are whipping up at about 35 mph! Did you hear the expression, 'It's too cold to snow"? Not around here! Ah, lovely winters in Chicagoland....I am so depressed now, why did you have to mention the "S" word???

[mizski]

Originally Posted by PeteinVA

... use a (self propelled) push mower as opposed to a riding mower. I also rake leaves instead of using a blower and love shoveling snow.

Go figure.

Dear Pete,

Please visit us ladies up North. We will cook OWL dinners for you and you will be in very good shape as we have lots of leaves and even more snow up here. Between late November through March works for us. Thank you very much.

Sincerely, The mega leaf and snow ladies.

[Aways2Go]

The dishwasher definitely saves time here. It takes me 20 minutes if not more to wash a big sink full of dishes, and I am sure it takes me less than 5 to load, 5 to unload. I do rinse things that seem to particularly need it as I load (try to load as I go so dishes never SIT in the sink - I hate that because it looks messy and cluttered to me). It also saves water, depending on the techniques you use for handwashing. Ours does a perfectly fine job, but I am extremely picky about how it gets loaded so things are not laying over the top of each other, etc. It is not uncommon for me to slightly "rearrange" my dishwasher on the rare occasion someone else loads it, LOL! I can't stand the thought of something only getting half clean.

I was without a dishwasher for many years (was living in a 70 year old house, really nowhere convenient in the kitchen to install one), and every single day I had to wash dishes once if not twice due to most every meal being home cooked (same deal, the non-cook did the dishes, which I think is perfectly fair so I didn't complain - much, LOL!). I am sure I gave up 30 to 45 minutes of what little free time I had daily to standing over the sink scrubbing. And the bad part was, it couldn't really be done at the same time the cooking was going on, so that took away "couple time" we could have been spending together. So I appreciate the dishwasher greatly.

I do handwash a few awkward pots and pans or more delicate type items and don't mind that little bit of handwashing at all.

Our dishwasher has a heater to crank up the temp on washing which I like the thought of, and I think in general does just as good a job as I might.

[Whatsername]

Originally Posted by mizski

Dear Pete,

Please visit us ladies up North. We will cook OWL dinners for you and you will be in very good shape as we have lots of leaves and even more snow up here. Between late November through March works for us. Thank you very much.

Sincerely, The mega leaf and snow ladies.

Rofl!! I love it!

If he wants to stay longer, there is always mud season...

[jimmie 48]

dishwasher. but i rinse things first and if i come across something that i know is going to be tough, i soak it for a few minutes. my case iron skilliets are done by hand and any big pots or pans are also done by hand.
my hands get very dried out especially in the winter time so putting things in the dishwasher helps.

[sallyseachange]

I do the pots and pans that fit in the dishwasher. I'd rather wash dishes by hand than pots!!