It may sound silly, but if we’re really starting from
scratch, then we should discuss washing dishes. Not only does it cut down on
germs and therefore encourage a healthy environment, but it also eliminates
some of the potential for bad smells and other potential nuisance issues. By
doing it right your kitchen as well as your dishes will have less disease and
will be able to last longer between intense scrub down, as well as look better
in general.
Obviously you need to wash any new dishes before using for
the first time, “new” in this case meaning relative to your kitchen if not
really. If the item has previous use then washing it eliminates any traces that
may have been missed in previous washes, and in all cases any layer of dust or
other detritus it may have picked up waiting for someone to purchase it. You
also need to wash the dishes after each use before putting them up.
There are two basic ways to wash dishes: by hand and by
machine. The best suggestions for machine washing are to load it as efficiently
and as packed as possible, and to use the “pots and pans” selection. If you
need to do more than rinse off the dishes before putting them in the machine,
then it is simply time to either get a new machine or wash them by hand; it
makes absolutely no sense essentially wash them twice.
For the hand washing version, make sure that you use the
hottest water you can with a quick squirt of liquid. One of the first things
you should do is to wipe down any surfaces used and the top of the oven as
well. Every so often you may want to hit the microwave as well. It is your
option if you want to use separate sponges or cloths for the dishes and
surfaces, but make sure to nuke sponges for one minute and wash the cloths once
a week at least to keep them germ-free. Rinse all items in the hottest water
you can stand; the soap will break down all lipids (such as fat and grease),
and the hot water will sterilize the dishes. Do not be afraid to scrub hard;
just remember to not use wool on anything that is not metal and you should do
okay.
Try not to use towels for dish drying. The towels are good
while they are dry, but once they are wet they leave traces of water, or worse,
and those small water areas can give germs a chance to breed which can lead to
being sick. Letting them air-dry eliminates that extra moisture; if necessary
do multiple loads to avoid using towels. When you finally put the dishes away
give each a careful inspection, and put each unclean dish back on the dirty
side to be washed again.
Repeat as needed. You do not need to do this after each
meal, but dishes should be done at least once a day, more if necessary. The
exception will be any cast iron pans; they need to be cleaned as soon as you
are done cooking with them. The dishwasher should only be run once a day due to
the water and energy costs; at the very least, try to run a full load each
time. Also, don’t stress over the time it takes to do them; if it takes you an
hour so be it, but if you can do a load thoroughly in five minutes then that’s
okay as well; it’s not an issue of speed but getting the job done right,
however long it takes.
With that I think all of the non-cooking basics are taken
care of. I hope…
No comments:
Post a Comment