I used to hate my dishwasher because it never seemed to get things really clean. I would always end up rinsing/washing my dishes off before loading them which then made using the dishwasher feel like a redundant step.
But then I watched this video from Technology Connections and learned a few things that have made my life a lot easier:
The key takeaways for me were:
- make sure you have hot water to the sink just before starting the load; hot water makes the prewash more effective
- arrange the dishes in "circles" of sorts, with the dirtiest stuff towards the center of the rack where the water jets will be stronger and the mostly-clean stuff to the outer edges
- clean your filter out monthly if your dishwasher has a filter catch in the bottom
- don't skimp on soap if you have hard water
- speaking of soap, the cheapest powder detergent is just as effective as the expensive pods and you don't have to worry about the plastic from pods clogging up your plumbing over time
My dishes come out much better than they used to, though it's no miracleworker for dried-on foods. Maybe soak anything that has become crusty for 5 minutes before loading up the dishwasher.
