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Washing & Sanitizing Dishes

1697 Views 78 Replies 36 Participants Last post by  NY Min
So the discussion came up "How to wash dishes..." after relatives/guests/strangers etc eat from your plates and utensils.

We debated on whether just plain dish soap and hot water was enough, or does it also require a soaking in bleach to sanitize said items.

Are pots and pans to be treated differently?
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Why would it need to be different than you normally do it? (assuming you are already using hot soapy water.)
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140* water kills most germs. Water heaters set at 140* or more will provide water hot enough to kill most germs on dishes.
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Paper plates and plastic utensils is the answer.
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Pots & pans (grills etc. also) are going to be getting way too hot for any germs to survive.

Hot soapy water has worked for "a minute" for millions of folks.
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So the discussion came up "How to wash dishes..." after relatives/guests/strangers etc eat from your plates and utensils.

We debated on whether just plain dish soap and hot water was enough, or does it also require a soaking in bleach to sanitize said items.

Are pots and pans to be treated differently?
Hot water and dish soap, wash, rinse, dry; pots and pans might require a scouring pad.
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Dog tongue.
Cat tongue on the really stuck on stuff.
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Just hot water and soap will handle most things.

If you're dealing with some very hearty highly communicable disease organism with fomite transmission that is in danger of spreading through a large group, then you can pour boiling water over the dishes after washing or do the bleach water dip, but for usual general sanitation, that's really overkill.

As for pots and pans, if your guests aren't eating directly from the pot, there's no contamination risk at all. And as pointed out, cooking temps will pretty much destroy anything.

I will note that the modern American obsession with applying antibacterial treatment to everything has actually been shown to be counterproductive when it comes to people's health. We need to be raised to survive in the world, not a bubble.

(Plus generally speaking you are usually in far more danger from your relatives/guests/strangers shaking your hand or just breathing on you than from dishes/utensils they use to eat that you then wash. If you're worried about disease, tell Aunt Milly she can't hold the baby and Grannie that she can't kiss or hug anyone. And wear gloves and a mask while burying those strangers I'm assuming you shot as soon as they set foor on the property.)
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So the discussion came up "How to wash dishes..." after relatives/guests/strangers etc eat from your plates and utensils.

We debated on whether just plain dish soap and hot water was enough, or does it also require a soaking in bleach to sanitize said items.

Are pots and pans to be treated differently?
WOW
do your relatives know you view them as unclean?
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We are on Solar Power here on our farm. Our biggest electrical load is our well pump and our sewage pump. Because of this, my wife has done multiple deep-dives into how to conserve water and do everything using solar power only.

Apparently, hand-washing dishes in the sink consumes more water.

Whereas using a dishwasher uses much less water.

So everything here goes through the dishwasher during daylight. Otherwise it sits until the next day.
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Three pot field wash
1 hot soapy scrub
2 clear hot water with unscented bleach one cupful per gallon
3 clear water rinse
Air dry in the sun.
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Dog tongue.
Cat tongue on the really stuck on stuff.
This is how I do it when there aren't guests.
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Paper plates and plastic utensils is the answer.
This is us 99 9/10% of the time…Anything else Dawn/hot water
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This is how I do it when there aren't guests.
Oh, heck no. The cat ain't gonna get the last of those yummy drippings or sauce. No way.

This is why we have fingers and tongues and invented bread for when other people are looking. :)
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So the discussion came up "How to wash dishes..." after relatives/guests/strangers etc eat from your plates and utensils.

We debated on whether just plain dish soap and hot water was enough, or does it also require a soaking in bleach to sanitize said items.

Are pots and pans to be treated differently?
If your guests have something so infectious that it'll survive a proper washing (either via a dishwasher or by hand), you'll end up contaminated and infected via other routes long before you eat from those "clean" dishes.
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Paper plates are sooo trailer trashy. Besides I have a dish washer. So long as I feed her I get clean plates.

We throw the china in the trash after relatives have soiled it, and melt the sterling down for junk silver.
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Sister-in-Law informed us that we should sanitize the dishes properly if strangers eat with us. (Maybe this includes her now)

We always just washed with hot water and soap, but she thinks soaking in bleach for at least 10 minutes and THEN washing will sanitizing them properly....thus the question

LOL Some of the answers are hilarious!
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Three pot field wash
1 hot soapy scrub
2 clear hot water with unscented bleach one cupful per gallon
3 clear water rinse
Air dry in the sun.
Dry scrape any solids into slop bucket for hogs, chickens, to support local farms.

Insert folding handle of mess tin through holes in mess kit eating utensils to dip and rinse.

Aboard ship or in garrison utensils sorted by type into wire baskets for dipping, agitation, rinsing.

Use drum heater in cut off half 55gal drum adding 1 cup sodium carbonate aka washing soda to 20 gallons water, and use scrub brush.

Boiling hot bleach water sanitize using 1 cup. sodium hypochlorite powder to 20 gallons water.

Clear water rinse. In field hang up mess gear to air dry.

Aboard ship or in garrison stack clean dishes on baking sheets and store in a warm oven until next meal to protect from dust and insects!

Never serve hot chow on cold plates if you ever hope to rise above Lance Corporal, PFC or a CS3.
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Do your relatives carry that germ that survives disinfectant that "kills 99.99% of bacteria"? I have always wondered what the heck that germ was, sounds nasty.
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I suspect reducing spread of germs by frequent hand washing after toilet and touching things like raw chicken is most effective. And not just a quick rinse.
Soap is meant to wash away germs not kill them. Hot water is good but sanitizing hot is going to burn you. As a guide, A hot tub is 105*. Air drying dishes doesn't spread germs with a dish cloth and drying kills germs. I like to hand wash but dish washer is more effective and uses less water and energy but I tend to at least pre rinse before loading. Kitchen sink supposedly has more germs than toilet seat. Do you put down lid before flushing? Do you scrub sink frequently? Replace kitchen sponges often, they spread A lot of germs. Whenever I make tea I pour leftover water on sponge. I survived without these practices but they make me feel better nowadays.
For sanitizing you should wash before using bleach. And as mentioned in some recent threads bleach is not always effective, especially with spores. Bleach is also damaging to some surfaces like granite countertops.
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