Because I have heard way too many people whine that washing dishes takes so long or is tiring*. Here are all my tips as someone who generates a ridiculous number of dishes, at home, for their job.
*I completely understand chronic illness bad days. This is not directed at you. Some days you just need to leave the dishes and get back to them tomorrow or the next day.
Part A: Do the dishes right away.
Don’t wait. Don’t let them pile up. Just do them. Doing a little bit at a time is easier than doing a full sink worth all at once.
- Wash the dishes while cooking is still happening. This is very helpful if you have executive dysfunction issues. Don’t stop and sit down while the sauce is simmering or the water is boiling, just do any dishes you don’t need anymore for that meal. Knife and cutting board? Check. Single pot? Check. Washing each of these things will take less than a minute, which I’m sure you have between stages. And it beats just standing around waiting for the food to cook.
- Put leftovers away as you serve food. This works mostly if you are just cooking for yourself. But as you serve out the food from the pans, already have your storage containers out to put all the extra in at the same time. You don’t have to cover them yet. Just put the food in them so the pans are empty. Want another serving? Just scoop it from the storage container.
- Wash the pans before eating. You are probably not making souffles on the regular if you are reading this, so I really doubt any food you are making can’t sit 2 minutes after you put it on the plate. While you still have that pan in your hand (after emptying the leftovers, see what we did there?), take it to the sink and start washing. But the pan is hot! Start with cold, running water. It will cool down fast. And wash the cooking utensils too.
Now your knives and cutting boards are clean, your pots and pans are clean, and the cooking utensils are clean. What else it there that you used for the meal? Just the basic eating utensils, your plate, and whatever you used to garnish the meal (I clean these right as I finish using them too, just like the pans).
- Wash your plate and utensils right when you take them to the kitchen. There shouldn’t be any dishes in the sink because everything else is already clean, which makes cleaning those one or two a lot easier.
- Clean the counter. Do a quick wipe over the counter and stove to get all that debris gone. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just get all the crumbs and sticky stuff gone so no ants are attracted and it doesn’t dry and build up.
Then cover the leftovers, put them in the fridge and voila! The kitchen is clean and it took you an additional 5 minutes spread out over the cooking and eating process. I can prep, cook, eat, and clean up my go-to easy meal (pasta with sauteed seasonal vegetables – and sometimes beans or meat – and a sprinkle of whatever cheese I have) in less than 30 minutes. And have leftovers for the next day.
Extra tip for baked things: baking parchment, silicon liners, and aluminum foil are your friends. Line the pan and you cut your cleaning in half or more.
Reasons why this is better than doing everything all at once:
- You already have the momentum going. Once you sit down it is so much harder to get back up. Especially if you are tired after working all day. But a couple extra minutes when you are already up and can promise yourself that as soon as this is done you don’t have to get up again for any reason? You can even chant “I’ve got this” under your breath if that helps keep you up for an extra 60 seconds.
- Dry food is harder to clean. You will use more energy scrubbing at dried food than washing it when it’s fresh. Especially for pans. If you have decent water pressure, that first run under the faucet while the pan is still hot might actually do most of the work for you. The combo of hot pan and cold water is actually very useful for loosening food – it’s a chemistry thing.
- Doing dishes when the sink is full is hard. Seriously, at least 5x more difficult. There is no where to place the dish, water splashes out of the sink, you have to work to angle and rinse off everything properly. An empty sink is better.
- Your hands aren’t soaking in soapy water for ages. Quick initial rinse, wipe with a soapy sponge, full rinse, done. Much easier on your hands if you have sensitive skin.
Exceptions:
- Never put a hot ceramic or glass dish under cold water (big thing for baking dishes). They will break.
- Sometimes you just have to soak a dish. Shit burns. But start it right away. Do try giving it a scrub first, this might get off more than you think and loosen other stuff so it doesn’t have to soak as long. And it’s much easier to soak a dish in an empty sink. But it probably doesn’t need to soak as long as you think so come back to it in a couple hours. Don’t leave it for days.
Part B: Tips for actually doing the washing.
No matter how much you try to minimize the amount you have to do, eventually you do actually have to do the dishes. But there are steps you can take to make it easier for yourself.
- Use plenty of soap. But it’s wasteful you say! Just do it. Refresh the amount on your sponge several times through the cleaning process. Soap makes getting all the particulates off easier. Use enough soap the first time and you are much less likely to need to wash the same dish twice.
- Get a sponge with a scrubbing side. And one that is the right size for your hand. Or other tool. Personally, I hate the handled scrubbing tools – I don’t have enough control for crevices. But if they are what you like best, do that. Anything that makes the job more comfortable for you will make it easier to get it done.
- Rinse big particles off first. Water pressure is your friend if you have it. Then scrub with the sponge – all over, the bottom of the dish too – and rinse again. If you have a big enough sink you can do things in stages, rinse all the dishes, scrub all the dishes, rinse everything again, which can save water if you are worried about that.
- Seriously use enough soap. This is my biggest pet peeve with people. There is more grease on dishes than you think. I can feel it with my fingers. And the last thing I want to deal with is rancid grease contaminating my next meal.
- Rinse your sponge and squeeze it dry when you are done. Do not leave it soaking wet or covered in food debris. Don’t leave it in the sink. Treat it well, trade it out regularly. A musty, bacteria filled sponge is gross. Send it through a dishwasher cycle if you have one.
- Use kitchen towels. I’m not talking fancy design towels. Get multiple 3 packs or 5 packs of good-sized, absorbent kitchen towels and use them for everything. Hand drying, produce, drying dishes, wiping down surfaces… Maybe you go through 1 a day and use it to wipe the counters and clean up spills on the floor too. Just have a bunch and trade them out often.
Specific tips
Cleaning up pastry or bread dough:
- Use a pastry scraper. If you bake a lot, get a pastry scraper to clean off the counters.
- Roll out on parchment paper. Or knead on parchment (a little more challenging, but less to clean up).
- When washing tools, use lots of warm water and soap. Lots of warm water, lots of soap. Flour gets sticky and needs a lot of water to dissolve in.
- Never let it sit. Always fill your bowl or soak your utensils immediately. Even if you can’t wash them right that instant (but you should definitely wash them while the dough is rest/chilling), never let scraps of dough dry. They turn into cement. There’s a reason why papier mache works with just flour and water.
Anything with burnt or caramelized sugar:
- Warm water. It might seem like caramelized sugar is the hardest thing to get off a pot after it’s cool, but really it dissolves in water easily. Just keep running water over it or change out water in a soaking pan frequently.
- Scrub at burnt sugars. Get in there, break up the caked on area, you want to expose as much of it as possible to soap and water.
Cleaning bottles with narrow necks:
- If it is a bottle that is too small to get a sponge or even a bottle brush in, I found the following combination works: Fill it about 1/3 with dry rice grains, add a good quantity of soap, and add distilled white vinegar until the rice is a little more than covered. Cover the bottle and shake vigorously. Rinse very well.
Part C: If you have a dishwasher, use it.
Forget 90% of what you’ve heard about how such and such kitchen tool shouldn’t go in the dishwasher. Pots and pans can absolutely go in the dishwasher. So can knives. Yes, it blunts them a little faster. If you are reading this, you probably don’t have really fancy chef knives anyway. Just get a small manual knife sharper so you can put an edge back on them yourself every so often.
Big mixing bowls can go in the dishwasher, so can all spatulas and cooking spoons. Made a big mess? Just put it all in the dishwasher. Even the blender pitcher or parts of the food processor. Just not the electric components (duh).
- Rinse the dishes well. You don’t have to wash them, but there shouldn’t be big globs of food on them either. The dishwasher can’t handle it and then you will get frustrated.
- Place dishes in the dishwasher right away. Don’t wait for them to pile up in the sink. That just makes the chore intimidating. Much easier to rinse the dish, half open the dishwasher and put the dish in.
- Every couple of weeks clean out the food trap at the bottom of the machine! You didn’t know that was a thing? Don’t worry, I didn’t either for a really long time.
- Test different dishwasher detergents. Not all are equal for your machine. Personally I’ve had the best luck with liquid detergents (over powder or pods).
- Do not be afraid to run the dishwasher regularly. Every night if that’s what you need to do. A dishwasher uses less water than doing them by hand. And if yours has a timer, you can just set it to run in the middle of the night. Wake up to clean dishes for the next day.
- Empty the dishwasher ASAP. It’s tempting to take dishes out one by one as you use them, but don’t get into that habit. Where are you going to put the new dirty dishes if the dishwasher is half full of clean ones?
Never put in the dishwasher: Cast iron pans, wooden cutting boards, wooden serving bowls, handmade pottery (unless it specifically says dishwasher safe), anything silver, fine china, cut crystal glassware (though if you have a full load of just that and run it on a delicate cycle you might be ok)
What other dishwashing (or general kitchen) tips do you need? If you have them, share.
I need advice cooking guru. What non-stick pans should I purchase to upgrade from my ancient cheap-ass pans?
I personally have a T-fal C515SC Professional Total Nonstick set. It goes for about $100 on Amazon and is of great quality. Non-stick, well-made, and extremely easy to clean. I also suggest getting a set of wooden and silicone cooking utensils. Metal in a pan is a no-go.
I also use one of these enamel-coated beauties. I’ve seared steak and made chili that required an entire day of simmering, and the residue that remained wiped off clean with a damp napkin. NOTHING sticks to it.
One good, hefty cast-iron pan is also a wonderful investment if you’re feeling up to the challenge. It requires upkeep and seasoning over time, which is an endeavor all its own, but cast iron will be something you can pass down through generations that only gets better with time.
I know cookware can be a little on the pricey side and it’s super tempting to go for the more affordable stuff. But it’s an investment worth making as a quality set can literally last multiple lifetimes if kept in good condition.
I dunno, I'm going to trust my at-least-decade-old metal spatula somewhat more than dirt cheap wooden one. But yes, do not buy metal cheap, ever.
Quality is the qualifier, as always. You can use metal safely if it’s a good piece made of good materials (though, again, I’d still not use them in metal or enamel cookware regardless). I’d certainly never trust a cheapo wooden utensil since that’s just as bad as a cheapo metal one in the long run. A poorly crafted/treated wooden utensil can splinter or absorb food matter and moisture that grows bacteria. In the same vein, you can buy some great wooden utensils that will also last a lifetime if you’re careful in your selection.
Note that metal works in cast iron pans, but the highest quality cast iron's going to be polished - and you don't want metal in THAT either because properly seasoned polished cast iron is just as non-stick as PTFE coatings.
Correct; a well-seasoned cast iron is non-stick in and of itself. But metal in pans is generally a bad idea for a variety of reasons. Chief among them being that people tend to buy what’s affordable, and who knows what kind of cheap alloys are being used to mass produce utensils that might be leeching or flaking off over use? Goodness knows I’ve had plenty of utensils in the past that claim to be rust proof, yet go to rot within the year. There’s also the natural issue of potentially damaging your cookware - especially if you’re using an enamel-coated dutch oven - of which there’s pretty much no chance with wooden and silicone alternatives. And, though this is more personal on my part, the very BAD NOISE that comes of the subtle scrape of metal on metal that makes my skin crawl.
Having a quality metal spatula and tongs for use in cooking is certainly a good idea, especially if you’re in the habit of maneuvering heavy food in need of proper support and control. But otherwise, my feeling is that metal usually belongs out on the barbecue grill and not in the kitchen.
