Upon asking a friend of mine for some green suggestions recently, he said I should use less soap when doing the dishes — in fact, he recommended not using any suds whatsoever unless there’s an oily residue.
“As long as you rinse the plate immediately,” he explained, “and as long as whatever’s on it is water soluble, you can just go without.” He then added in a conspiratorial whisper, “I never use soap.”
I must admit, having just let him do my dishes a couple hours ago, part of me wanted to redo them myself with a generous squeeze of Ecover detergent. But after thinking it over, I’ve decided this logic is sound — providing one uses a good amount of elbow grease to get all the cruddy stuff off, the dishes should stay relatively clean. Now all I need is a knock-kneed sweetie with a frilly apron to help me dry.
Image courtesy of this website.
Good for you! It seems like the same logic as using the e-cloth – all elbow grease and no product. Hooray no product!
I would probably not use this method if you’re cooking any meat at all (I can’t remember if meat has gone under the green plan!). If you put raw chicken on a plate, water is not going to get rid of any salmonella that may linger, for example.
I want to hear what your Mom, the DOCTOR, has to say about this. I am not 100% sold. Can we call in the experts.
As far I can tell the best plan is a completely full dishwasher without using the drying cycle. If I do need to handwash, greasy things won’t come clean w/o soap or a vast waste of water. As was pointed out, it’s too risky to clean things that have touched raw meat w/o soap.
I read a good tip recently about putting a few tablespoons of dish soap in a spray bottle of water. I love this approach. I give the dishes a blast and get enough soap to cut grease but no excess. There was no way to really control the squeeze bottle for a tiny amount. but this spritz approach is perfect for me. If I have something that needs a bunch of spritzes – oh well.
Yeah, I should definitely clarify that I’m most certainly going to use soap if any meat touches the plate… I maybe cook meat once every two weeks, though, tops — so it’s not that much of an issue. And things like melted cheese don’t really occur now, either, thanks to my lack of an oven. By default I’ve started to eat more of a vegan diet (not that I’d ever become one full-fledged), so cleaning dishes is easier anyway…
I like the spritz method, myself. I also keep a cereal bowl next to the sink and fill it with hot soapy water when I have a sinkful. Dip the dishrag, scrub the dish, rinse quickly in cold. Dip, scrub, rinse. Repeat till the backlog is gone.
First of all, I have to say I am loving your site and your challenge. It is wonderful!
One thing to remember is that soap is needed to clean dishes. Using only water doesn’t clean it. Another thing to remember is that running the dishwasher without the drying cycle is acutally better for the environment than handwashing dishes. I read this in the NY Times a few years ago and was very surprised to learn this so I did more research and it is true! I pretty much only use the dishwasher now. I scrape my dishes and then place them in the dishwasher. Once that is full, I run it without the drying cycle.
Rebecca — that study was debunked quite a while ago. It was comparing a very efficient dishwasher to doing the dishes by hand while constantly keeping the water running. I can do a full load of dishes using only about two gallons of water, which is significantly better than even the most efficient machine.
I would very seriously reconsider this. The main purpose of soap is to kill germs, and germs do not only come from raw meat. Just think how much water you’ll waste if you get a food-borne illness!
According to the Univ. of Bonn research on household technology, as reported by TreeHugger, the machine is quite a bit more efficient than hand washing.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/dishwasher_vs_h.php
I have to chime in against the dishwasher. I live alone and my dishes would take SO LONG to fill it that they’d have food crusted on by the time it ran–and then I’d have to do a follow-up wash anyway. Like limesarah, I can wash a load of dishes without using much water at all. If I then dump the water on the yard (when it’s not freezing outside!), then I’m happy to dispose of the water that way, and not into the sewer system. Question for all of you who use a dishwasher: is yours as efficient as the ones used in these studies? If you don’t have a new model, whose consumption you investigated, it might not be wise to assume that it is.
Anyway, this was about soap. I use a lot of milk products and need soap–but I’ll work on using less. Even though it’s 7th Generation stuff.
Yes, the German study was not using the average American machines, and the hand washers were running the water at full blast the entire time, so this wouldn’t be the case for most of us reading this blog.
And I always thought that the main purpose of soap isn’t killing germs (a lot of soap doesn’t do this–hot water does), but it’s purpose is for facilitating cleaning off oily, greasey, grimey, grubby things.
I tend to agree with you Vanessa. It does seem a little ridiculous to wash dishes with soap and water if the only thing you had on your plate was some crackers or celery or something. Once again, I err on the side of lazy (but not gross), so I’m all for this one. Besides, I am going back to the whole “we are sanitizing ourselves sick”. I don’t think your mum is going to disagree with this sound advice. However, use a little suds when you eat anything that can breed bacteria (like eggs, pork or chicken).
Wow! I’m off to do some research on the dishwasher versus handwashing debate. Interesting stuff!
Yeah for no soap! I’d like to clarify this point a little…The main purpose of soap is to remove those particles that are not water soluble (it was invented LONG before anyone knew of ‘germs.’). Using soap when water alone suffices is simply a waste of soap, and therefore water as well since it will take more water to wash off the soap. Soap also kills ‘germs’, but this point has steeped a bit too deeply into western culture, to the point where people use soap to wash everything, water soluble or not, as if a few million years of immune system evolution just isn’t good enough anymore.
Anytime animal products enter the picture, one has a whole new level of hygiene to deal with, and the fats aren’t water soluble, so soap is a good thing for two reasons when cleaning dishes with animal products. As a vegan, I never use soap to wash dishes unless there’s oil, though even nut butters clean up fine without soap, and i challenge anyone to demonstrate that remnants of almond butter on a plate harboring microbial evil. So, the rule for me isn’t ‘oil’ but ‘oil containing products that will harbor bacteria at room temperature’, so nut butters are fine. I’ll use soap to wash the stir fry skillet, but not the pan i cooked the grain in. and since i eat out of wooden bowl everyday, and one should not use soap on wood since it ruins the wood, i haven’t used soap on the bowl i’ve eaten out of everyday for years. never gotten sick from it and i’m quite sure i never will. soap has its place but we needn’t be so uber concerned about it.
the 1950s image ir perfect cuz that’s probably when advertising began to make people think they HAD to use soap, just like they HAD to have everything else.
I just want to add one thing. I don’t want to do dishes with my sweetie. I want to watch HIM do the dishes.
I don’t tend to use much soap either – especially if I’m good and do my dishes right after eating. I don’t eat meat, so that’s not an issue. I will add soap for things that need to soak, or if food is dried on or super oily.
[...] wash some of her dishes and I got to thinking, that isn’t a bad idea. To read that post click here. What I’m doing is not washing dishes that just plain don’t need to be washed. And [...]
Wow, interesting comments on this topic. I know it’s an old topic that was brought up 2 years ago, but i just had to respond to it, despite the date! Anyway…We are all learning everyday about the envirement we live in, going green to save our earth, and about healthy ways of life. Heck, I am still learning! But we have known set ways for many years, now we just have to relearn new ways of life that are healthy for our envirement. I also use soap for dishes, as well as washing myself as well as using bodywash, but now I am hearing about soapless soap. I will defintely look more into using better products not just for our planet, but for myself as well.