We’ve all been there we are there, on our couch thinking about what we are going to cook for dinner when suddenly you realize that you’ll end up with the sink full of dishes and the willingness to cook a delicious meal changes in to order some delivery or go for a takeout because it’s easier and less tiresome to throw away the plastic dishes than actually cleaning your sink after cooking a delicious meal.
To be honest, I think that doing the dishes is one of the principal reasons as to why every day we cook less and order take outs more constantly, not only this is a huge hit to our wallets, it is also a big health issue as take out are never the healthiest choice.
So as we want to save you some money to spend on things you actually like/need and to help you have your sink as empty as possible we will give you some tips that are really life changes.
Do your dishes as you go
One of the main reasons our sinks end full in the first place is because we leave all the cleaning process to the end, after we have actually enjoyed our meal, not only this makes it more tiresome because we just eat and have to face a mountain of dishes but it also makes the pile a lot larger.
Instead of waiting until the end of the meal to do the dishes do them while you cook. If there is some utensil you won’t use again then quickly clean it and move forward with your recipes.
Rinse and reuse
Every cooking recipe has different ingredients that need to be stored until the right time to use. If you are cooking recipes with numerous ingredients the best you can do is to rinse and reuse the same items. If you used a table and a bread knife to make some bread slices, a good rinse will do and you’ll have your tools ready for your next cooking. Don’t do this with kitchen gadgets that have been in contact with raw meat as you don’t want to contaminate your other ingredients, in this case, use plenty of hot water and soap.
Make Stuff in advance
If you are like some of us that don’t actually have much time on the day to cook a meal that can be something that you can take an advantage of. What I do is that I prepare most of my meal ahead in time so I only have to cook which reduces significantly the time I spend weekly on the sink doing dishes, on a normal week I only do dishes. If you take your meals to your office that means you’ll only have to clean one or two Tupperware’s when you get home and won’t have a huge stack of plates waiting for you.
Don’t scrub the life out of your dishes or pots
Instead of waiting time scrubbing rests of food that is stuck to your dishes, let them soaking in hot soapy water for some time so the food rests will make it more easy to clean and reduce a lot of the time you waste while doing dishes.
Take advantage of the dishwasher.
If you have a dishwasher at home the number one rule should be that anything that can be cleaned in the dishwasher, should be cleaned in the dishwasher. Not only it will do most of your work, it will very likely do it more efficiently consuming less water than if you use have the sink water open while you go through all your dishes.
Don’t let it pile up
So you ordered a takeout and only used forks and knives? Don’t let them in the sink waiting for something more to clean, his quickly becomes a habit and before you know you have a huge pile of plates, dishes and dirty pots in your sink in no time. It will take less than 5 minutes and you’ll save lots of time and effort that can be put to something more productive.
Glasses, Dishes and Pots
What them in that right order and the task of doing the dishes will look like less tiresome, if you start by tiny pieces of utensils, the chances are that you are going to see progress in your tasks sooner and will keep the good mood and disposition for a longer period of time. Let those dirty pots for the end, you’ll have to scrub them really hard at times and it is best left rinsing with water and a drop of soup to loosen the food particles that are stuck. If leaving them with water and soap doesn’t work and you need to scrub then do it last.
These tips have actually changed some people lives, I actually hate to do these kind f chores and if it wasn’t for these easy but efficient strategies I would probably never had my sink empty, now I do them as soon as they have to be done and following these tips, now I spend less than 10 minutes a day doing dishes.