Handwashing V.S. Machine washing which is better?

Last week I talked about the dreadful experience of washing my dinner dishes. While I stand by what I said, washing dishes is awful and no one enjoys it, it was brought to my attention that there is an alternative, using a dishwasher. So today I thought I’d do a short post about the pros and cons of both methods and potentially come to a decision on which is the superior method for getting those plates clean enough to eat off of again.

Dishwasher. A very specialised piece of kitchen equipment it is designed to do one thing and one thing only (despite what strange cooking videos on YouTube might say), washing dishes. If you are fortunate enough to be living in a home with one this options is available to you, otherwise you’ll be paying a hefty price just to avoid touching wet food. Dishwashers need detergent, just like a sink of hot water, the current range of detergents are all hard synthetic chemicals (I might just have a solution for that more on that another time) …. strike one against the machine. On top of this the best results are achieved when the plates are rinsed beforehand and had anything particularly difficult scrapped off, another point down. Lastly, it’s a machine and needs maintenance otherwise it’ll breakdown. Positives, you don’t have to soak your hands in a hot sink and accidently cut yourself while washing knifes.

Handwash. Powered by your physical meat, handwashing dishes is effective and can be a “fun” family experience, at least that’s what my parents told me as they made my brother and I wash up. You have full control over how much dish soap is used, the temp of the water, whether you rinse before, after or both and the ability to scrub yourself and make sure cups are properly free from tea stains and knifes don’t still have cheese baked on them. The downside of all this is of course having to touch wet food, having to actually wash the damn things and then having to dry them too! Truly automation has made the world a more comfortable place.

So which is the superior option? Well for me its handwashing (mostly because I d