When you rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, you are consuming water, energy and time. Dishwashers are designed to clean dirty dishes. When you rinse your dishes before putting them into your dishwasher, you are wasting water, energy and time.

If you have a newer dishwasher, chances are that it has a sensor that detects how dirty the water is and adjusts the cycle as needed. Because of this sensor, modern dishwashers run for shorter periods of time and use less water.

In most cases, you do not need to rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Simply scrape off big pieces of food and put them in the dishwasher. In some cases there might be food remnants that would require pre-rinsing. If necessary, just run the tap for 15 to 20 seconds before putting in the dishwasher.

There is no need to rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. In fact, you should probably stop doing it altogether.

Most people think they should rinse their dishes before putting them into the dishwasher because they are worried about food particles clogging up the drain or causing their machine to smell bad.

While it’s true that large food particles can get stuck in a dishwasher machine’s drain, most modern machines are designed so this doesn’t happen. If you want to be completely safe, you could scrape off any large pieces of food, but there’s no real need to do this.

Many people also think that rinsing their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher will improve cleaning performance, but this is false as well. Dishwashers are specifically designed to remove dried-on food from dishes and glasses using a combination of heat and water pressure (it’s actually the heat that does most of the work). In fact, by rinsing your dishes first, you’re actually making it harder for your dishwasher to do its job properly.

If you want your dishes to come out spotlessly clean every time, try these tips:

Scrape off any large pieces of food before putting them in the machine (but don’t go overboard

I know people who rinse dishes in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher. I also know people who don’t rinse their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. The people who do say it’s to “get rid of the big food particles.” The people who don’t say it’s because they’re not wasting water and, more important, time. And I have to say, I’m with the latter.

But some people still aren’t convinced that all you need to do is scrape, stack and start. So which is it? Is pre-rinsing necessary, or should we be saving water?

The good news is, we can all relax a little when it comes to rinsing our dishes before loading them into the dishwasher. A study done by the University of Bonn in Germany shows that there is no difference between cleaning results when dishes are rinsed versus not being rinsed.

According to researcher Alexander Mathys: “We found that there was no better cleaning result achieved by pre-rinsing by hand or scraping.”

It is not, in fact, necessary to rinse your dishes before putting them into the dishwasher.

This may come as a shock to some readers but the entire premise behind rinsing dishes is based on the antiquated idea that dishwashers were ineffective at cleaning dishes. This premise is no longer true.

Modern day dishwashers clean dishes with such efficacy that there is no longer any need to pre-wash your dishes. In fact, it is better for the environment to not pre-rinse your dishes due to the amount of water and resources it saves. Additionally, rinsing can actually be detrimental to the final cleaning process because it can lead to starchy foods drying on the dish and baking on during the wash cycle.

Do you really need to rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? (Photo: ixum/Shutterstock)

Whether you’re washing dishes by hand or by machine, it’s always a good idea to scrape off any leftover food. Dried-on food not only looks and smells bad, but it can also attract germs, insects, and rodents. But beyond that basic rule, how much pre-washing is really needed?

I’ve been in homes where the sink is full of soapy water and dirty dishes are piled up waiting to be cleaned. In those cases, it appears that rinsing dishes is taking longer than actually cleaning them. I’ve also been in homes where people won’t even put a dish into the dishwasher without rinsing it first — even if there’s hardly any food left on it. Rinsing seems like an unnecessary step to me. I think it comes down to trust. Do you trust your dishwasher to get the job done?

How Dishwashers Work

Before going any further, let’s talk about how dishwashers work, because this will help you understand why rinsing is unnecessary and even detrimental. Dishwashers use mechanical action combined with detergents and hot water to

The other day I realized that I’ve been rinsing my dishes before putting them into the dishwasher for years, even though I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single argument in favor of rinsing them. What’s more, I couldn’t even imagine what the argument would be. It seemed obvious to me that you should just scrape off any big chunks of food and then throw them in: none of the food was going to survive a trip through the dishwasher anyway, so why send it on a round trip through the sink first?

I asked around and found that most people agreed with me. But a few said they rinsed because otherwise there might be food particles left on the plates after the cycle is done.

Now, if that were true, that would indeed be a good reason to rinse – but is it true? Has anyone ever found food particles on their plates after putting them in the dishwasher? Has anyone ever looked?

While we’re at it, what about water conservation? Is rinsing dishes more water-efficient than just throwing them into the dishwasher? And then there’s time: how long does it take to rinse dishes versus how long to run…

I think it is completely wrong to pre-rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.

A lot of people do it, and I think everyone who does it should stop. The reason I think they should stop is that I think it wastes water and energy. And time, if you’re doing it by hand. If you’re using a faucet or sprayer to remove food from your dishes, you’re wasting those resources.

Let me explain why you don’t need to rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. It depends on a few important facts about dishwashers:

•The detergent has enzymes. These enzymes help break up food so the water and heat can wash it away.