the defrocked warped primitive puts the dirty dishes in the bathtub

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115739384

Oh my.

hedgehog (32,406 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 06:52 PM

Do cooks/bakers need 2 dishwashers?

When my son gets cooking, the dirty bowls and pans start piling up. I suppose the solution is for him to wash up as he goes, which he does do to some extent. But, when there is a big family meal, it seems there is a full load of dishes from the kitchen and another full load from the table.

enough (7,492 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:08 PM

1. No. Clean as you go is a basic rule (unless you have staff).

^^^franksolich's rule too.

cbayer (128,480 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:23 PM

3. I've got two! Me and my husband, lol.

onyourleft (455 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:33 PM

4. Yes.

My youngest sister and I both have the problem with cooking/baking of using practically every pan, bowl and utensil that we own. I clean as I go by loading the dishwasher, but often still end up with a sink full of dirty dishes.
 
Not to hijack this thread, but do newer dishwashers hold less than the old ones held?

Warpy (74,438 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:35 PM

5. If I had more than 2 other people over for dinner, everybody ate off paper plates. No one ever complained about that. Pots and pans that weren't washed as I went ended up in the bathtub, to be retrieved and washed later. That way, I could enjoy my guests while they were there.
 
I've only had a place with a dishwasher once and even then it got used for sterilizing beer bottles for homebrew instead of washing dishes.
 
I guess I've just never seen the point of having a dishwasher for people without kids around. Besides, the hot water feels good on arthritic hands.
 
Your son probably does need two dishwashers. However, consider that those big dinners happen very few times a year.

Aerows (21,774 posts)   Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:36 PM

6. If you clean as you cook and time everything correctly

this isn't an issue. Unless you are cooking for an Army, in which you just grab a few, drag them into the kitchen and put them to work.
 
But no, in a small household one is fine. Some do fine without one at all (not that I am inclined to fathom that!)
 
EDIT: That many people eating, somebody there is cleaning pans and drying them so that the regular dishes can go in the dishwasher.

Major Nikon (13,606 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:45 PM

7. Having a strategy helps

If I'm cooking for a lot of people, I will do as much ahead of time as I can. This means getting as much as I can ready to go into the oven, prepping vegetables, measuring ingredients, and making dishes served cold or at room temperature. Ingredients measure out ahead of time can go into disposable containers like ziplocks, paper bowls, or paper cups if cleanup is going to be a big issue.
 
I usually save the dishwasher for table dishes and wash the pots and pans by hand as I go. When the meal is over all the dishes go in the dishwasher and everything gets wiped down with vinegar.

Arkansas Granny (15,767 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:54 PM

8. I used to have 4 dishwashers, but, alas, they all grew up and left home.

Same story with the vacuum cleaner, the lawn mower . . .

^^^franksolich's candidate to replace dear old sweet but lazy Lu as hostess of the cooking and baking forum.

Galileo126 (269 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 08:05 PM

9. Clean as you go, but if not

Having 2 or more folks washing and wiping really helps.

I'm a firm believer of wash as you go, but I SOOOO understand how that can fall apart very quickly. As others above have said, it's about timing. If you mis-step, you can get behind. At that point, call in the troops!!

[I_B_Perky]

enough (7,492 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:08 PM

1. No. Clean as you go is a basic rule (unless you have staff).

I do that. First of all it is easier to clean something you just cooked in as opposed to something that has sat there for a while and second, it really sucks washing dishes when you have just eaten a big meal and third, pots and pans tend to have lots of grease in them and I'd rather not have that on my glass dishes.

Warpy (74,438 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 07:35 PM

5. If I had more than 2 other people over for dinner, everybody ate off paper plates. No one ever complained about that. Pots and pans that weren't washed as I went ended up in the bathtub, to be retrieved and washed later. That way, I could enjoy my guests while they were there.

Nothing says you care more than putting food on a paper plate. Cookouts and pizza excepted.  Ain't any damn wonder dummies are lonely.

[obumazombie]

Clean as you clean as you go...


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaudUAHZinw[/youtube]

[miskie]

We own a big, stainless Bosch with an express cycle. (30 mins) It's perfect for doing dishes 'as you go', provided you aren't a DUmmy and leave them lingering in the sink (or bathtub) for days first.

1 ) Make sure the dishwasher is emptied before you begin.

2 ) Get your cooking pans and whatnot in after everything is in the oven, on express cycle.

3 ) After dinner, empty dishwasher, and get everything in again, on express cycle.

4 ) If there is too much to fit in one go, get the serving/baking dishes/pans in first, then do the dinnerware next. (both on express)

It shouldn't take you any more than five minutes to unload, and another five to reload. It's not that hard to do, nor will it take away from your time with your friends and family. The key is getting the dishes in and going RIGHT AWAY - if you let them sit, they will need more time in the dishwasher, or hand washing first. We are a family of five, including a teenager and a 'tween'. Dishwashing is my chore (we all have assigned duties), and believe me - I load and unload the dishwasher twice a day. If I didn't follow what I have written above, we would end up buried in dishes.

[NHSparky]

Funny, I have no problem doing dishes AS I COOK, that way, whoever is doing dishes afterwards has their impact minimized.

Amazing how that works.

[Dori]

I clean as I go.  Just get a system and you don't even have to think about it.

Not a fan of paper plates.  Scrape the dishes into a colander in the sink to catch the garbage, rinse and put into the dishwasher.  Only takes a minute to do, even if you hand wash them.

For me, the part I like the least is storing the leftovers.


   

[franksolich]

grasswire (39,295 posts)    Sun Feb 23, 2014, 01:13 PM

13. you also need an adequate supply of dish towels

When I regularly entertained a dozen people couple of times a week, I quickly learned that. A full drawer of cotton dish towels is the ticket.
 
I'm sort of a Martha Stewart when it comes to table setting. Can't abide paper plates, or bare tables without even place mats, let alone a cloth. I'll even cart real dishes and cloth napkins to a picnic.

 

By the way, there recently took place an interval of eight hours in between posts in the cooking and baking forum.

Eight hours.

And this was a forum that used to have two or three comments per minute, it was that lively.

I tell you, because dear old sweet Lu thinks the only thing she has to do as hostess of the forum is sit on her ass and have the drones do all the posting, the forum's dying; Skins might as well collapse it into the Lounge or the Women's World forums.