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Washing up shocker

(166 Posts)
Babs03 Thu 12-Sept-24 20:07:41

Apparently Americans are shocked by how we Brits wash up -tbh I don’t think is groundbreaking just a lighthearted observation. The thing is they cannot get their heads around the fact that many of us don’t rinse off the soap/suds from our dishes before leaving them to drain, apparently everyone rinses off the dishes before leaving to drain stateside.
Personally I do rinse off the soap before draining but have a grown daughter who doesn’t but she doesn’t drain, she dries the dishes immediately.
So how do you wash up?

Mollygo Mon 16-Sept-24 14:20:19

Mt61
I’ve also read that it’s cheaper to use the longer duration economy setting because the water doesn’t need to be heated up so much. But then the instructions add
It is essential that you use a hot water program regularly to prevent the dishwasher becoming contaminated with residue or bacteria.
The thought of the dishwasher accumulating residue and bacteria to be shared with the next wash keeps me using it once a day on the main cycle.

Mt61 Mon 16-Sept-24 12:33:22

Babs03

We used our dishwasher a lot but are aware that it uses a lot of electricity to run so in order to cut back on energy bills we tend to wash up in the sink now, is only the two of us so is not much to do, but when we have the family back or friends for a meal we do use it.

I’ve read quite a few times that it is cheaper to use the dishwasher than wash up by hand- who knows🤷‍♀️

Mt61 Mon 16-Sept-24 12:31:14

Rinse & drip dry on a rack, but mostly dish washer

sunbar Sat 14-Sept-24 23:15:38

Wait. What? I've never heard anything about how Brits wash up. I'm fascinated. Don't count this Yank in that bunch. I love learning about how different things can be "across the pond"!
xxoo

kircubbin2000 Sat 14-Sept-24 12:57:49

It's happened to me at church dos when some enthusiastic volunteer has filled up a bowl with too much fairy and left cups to drain.

SueDonim Sat 14-Sept-24 11:45:29

MissAdventure

grin
I'm coming in for dinner.
Chicken in a detergent sauce.

That would be a good meal. No need to wash up at all, as the detergent sauce would mean the plate was already clean! grin

I can honestly say that in my nearly 70 years I have never eaten from a dish or drunk from a cup and thought to myself ‘Hmm, this item has not been rinsed after washing up.’

I’m in general pretty sensitive to smells, I can smell a dirty towel or dishcloth from a hundred feet away but unrinsed dishes? Nope. Though now I’m going to go round everywhere sniffing the crockery and cutlery.

lemsip Sat 14-Sept-24 10:52:32

why do people keep calling it 'soap' it is a liquid made specifically for washing dishes ect for which you need just a drop!
soap conjurers up a bar

MissAdventure Sat 14-Sept-24 10:37:28

smile

Doodledog Sat 14-Sept-24 10:35:45

MissAdventure

grin
I'm coming in for dinner.
Chicken in a detergent sauce.

My signature dish.

MissAdventure Sat 14-Sept-24 10:31:52

Oh we had this one a couple of weeks ago.

kircubbin2000 Sat 14-Sept-24 10:30:51

You can definitely taste fairy. I think some people put in far too much detergent and also when washing clothes. I hate sitting near someone who stinks of fabric conditioner.

MissAdventure Sat 14-Sept-24 10:28:33

grin
I'm coming in for dinner.
Chicken in a detergent sauce.

Doodledog Sat 14-Sept-24 10:26:06

😂. I must learn to close the kitchen blinds, Miss A.

But next time you’re looking in, just knock and you can conduct the taste test.

albertina Sat 14-Sept-24 10:24:42

I have a tiny kitchen so I use my dishwasher, packed to the gunnels.

MissAdventure Sat 14-Sept-24 10:23:47

I can imagine a family of long faced people, huddled around a table, pushing the food around, and looking glum.
"I wish one of us would rinse the washing up..."
"Yes, me too..."

Doodledog Sat 14-Sept-24 10:23:13

Honestly- you can’t taste soap on unrinsed dishes grin. As I said, I favour the machine and Mr Dog likes to hand wash, so we have dishes cleaned using both methods in our cupboards. I defy anyone to do a taste test and identify the ‘soapy’ ones.

I hate having dishes on the drainer, and if there were any merit in arguing that I could taste soap on the plates I would use it, but it’s just not the case.

kircubbin2000 Sat 14-Sept-24 10:21:36

My dil who is from another country is disgusted by our methods and washes things under a hot running tap. She won't take a drink in my house but brings her own.

NangelaMary Sat 14-Sept-24 10:15:59

I always wash then rinse, I would hate the taste of washing up liquid !!

Avanew Sat 14-Sept-24 09:54:57

Just an observation - I looked after a young man once who had been mysteriously paralysed, and gone blind. A series of hospitals and specialists couldn't diagnose why this brilliant young man in his early twenties (he'd been working on his PhD when it happened, but had gone travelling round the world the year before) was now in a wheelchair and in constant pain, incapacitated. At length his parents decided to give him a measure of independence by buying a bungalow for him where he could live on his own, with carers coming in (yes, his family were pretty wealthy but no amount of private doctors had been able to help.) Mysteriously, he hadn't been in the bungalow long before he began to improve, and before the year was out he was back to full health, sight restored, driving a car and working. It eventually turned out that the cause of all his problems was an intolerance to some substance(s) in the dishwasher tablets that his parents used. Once in the bungalow, his carers just washed up by hand using Fairy Liquid and rinsing. His parents had got the dishwasher during the years he was away at university, degree, postgrad, and then travelling; but when doing his PhD he moved back home. Makes you think!

Eloethan Sat 14-Sept-24 09:39:48

My parents never rinsed the washing up. All items plonked in a bowl and washed in what then became dirty water, and then not rinsed.

It seemed OK to me but when my boyfriend (now husband), who was from another country came round and saw this he was appalled. From then on, I have always rinsed, and cringe a bit when I see people who don't.

Having said that, with the lax meat production practices in the USA and their heavy consumption of ultra processed food (and I acknowledge we have definitely gone that way too), perhaps there are more important issues to address.

kircubbin2000 Sat 14-Sept-24 07:49:18

I sometimes can taste the fairy liquid at certain houses.

Gundy Sat 14-Sept-24 05:23:39

I’ve never heard of this before! Not rinsing soapy dishes??? Yuk.

I like to wash dishes even though I have a dishwasher, but it definitely helps to have two sinks or the capacity to wash and rinse and air dry, if not drying immediately. You need to get rid of the soap!

Nannan2 Sat 14-Sept-24 01:11:02

If you dont rinse, they taste of soap!😅😝

Doodledog Sat 14-Sept-24 00:27:09

MissAdventure

What's one of those, please?

I've forgotten grin.

They used to be a thing before BOTS took over GN and reduced everything to 'I saw', 'I read', 'I heard'.

I hope they return and we can all start having fun and thinking for ourselves meow and then.

Silverlady333 Fri 13-Sept-24 23:54:43

I rinse before loading the dishwasher, however there are only two of us most of the time so the dishwasher does not go on every day and I can't bear the though of soiled dishes festering away until the dishwasher is full. I have extra crockery so I can do this without running out. My stainless steel pans and enamel trays can go in the dishwasher but my non stick pans are always hand washed, rinsed and dried. We have a water softener too which makes washing up liquid hard to lather. I suppose it depends on whether you live in a hard or soft water area.