This post is written by the Experimental Mommy and brought to you by Cascade. As a member of the Kitchen Dish Council, my travel and expenses were provided. All opinions remain 100% mine.
If you asked me to list my least favorite household chores, most of them would take place in the kitchen. Topping the list? Washing dishes. It always has and always will be the thing I hate the most on this planet. So when I have the opportunity to learn how to get through this chore faster and more effectively, I am all ears.
Last month, I had the honor of traveling to the Cascade Headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio with my fellow Kitchen Dish Council Members. I learned all about the history of the brand, the design of a dishwasher, and the science behind dish washing detergent. But the best thing I learned was that I am doing it ALL wrong. And YOU are probably doing it wrong, too.
MYTH 1: You should pre-wash your dishes before loading the dishwasher in order to ensure immaculately clean dishes.
In a recent survey from Marie Claire and Cascade Platinum, 96% of the participants spend up to an hour pre-washing their dishes each week. Are you in that number? Cascade Platinum is specifically designed to work best when food is left ON dishes. Because the enzymes in Cascade Platinum are designed to attach themselves to food particles, breaking them down so that they can be easily washed away -even 24-hourstuck-onfood! No food means the enzymes have nothing to latch onto.
MYTH 2: Pre-washing dishes is necessary so you don’t clog your dishwasher and break it.
In the Marie Clarie survey, less than 11% of the respondents knew that modern dishwashers actually have a garbage disposal to chop up any left on food eliminating the need to pre-wash.
MYTH 3: Hand washing dishes saves water and energy.
Hand dishwashing consumes an average of 27 gallons and 2.5 kWh per cycle* compared to 4.25 gallons and 1.4 kWh for a dishwasher at today’s ESTAR level. Every 1% increase in the national dishwasher ownership level saves 4.4 billion gallons of water and 200 million kWh per year.
MYTH 4: It doesn’t matter how you load your dish washer.
In order to make sure your dishes are sparkling clean at the end of the cycle, you need to make sure Cascade Platinum has access to them. Piling dishes on top of one another does not leave enough surface area for active ingredients to do their jobs. Follow the guidelines below for a maximum clean:
Now you are armed with the information you need to get in and out of the kitchen quickly but effectively. Simply said, don’t pre-wash and load the dishwasher correctly to ensure immaculately clean dishes the first time, every time. Check out my fellow Cascade Kitchen Dish Council Members’ blogs to get even more great information about our time spent in Cincinnati.
What are your best dish washing tips?
You are the cutest and I love you. Seriously, I learned so much about my dishwasher. I remember these tips every time I load it now. I can see that engineer standing before me with goggles and everything.
I really don’t know if I could survive without my dishwasher, it is one of the top most-used appliances in my house! I love these tips and I’m totally showing my husband how right I am about not pre-rinsing and that it’s okay that I sometimes stack things in… plus we’re loyal Cascade users, so we’re already definitely doing that right! 🙂
Who knew? I’ve learned more about dish washing in the last two weeks than I’ve learned my whole life. Feeling bad for all the dishes I’ve washed in the past. 🙁
Ha!! I will tell my dishwasher-husband these tips and see if he listens 🙂 Thanks! Looks like Cascade central was great fun!
Okay, so I was doing it wrong!LOL I totally pre-wash everything and I need to stop. Thanks for finding me an extra hour of time in my week.
I LOVE cascade Platinum it is the only product I use nothing else gets my dishes clean!
That’s awesome! I’ve always wondered if there was a specific way to load the dishwasher or if that was just a myth. Thanks for a great and informational post!
I was actually surprised by the 2nd and 3rd myths. I had no clue that my dishwasher had a built-in garbage disposal but I was shocked to learn how much more water and energy we consume when we was dishes by hand. I’m so grateful I had a chance to learn all about dishwashers and the science behind Cascade Platinum. It was also such a treat to me you in Cincinnati!
Okay, I’m totally embarrassed to say that as we were learning about how to properly load our dishwashers, I realized I have been doing it WRONG all these years!!! One would think that using a dishwasher is a no brainer. Doh! Wrong.
I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to learn all about dishwashers and the science behind Cascade. I’m also thankful to have met such a great group of bloggers. Love your blog!
This is fabulous!! Thank you… Who knew?