My on-going renovation project has given me a brutal reminder of life before the dishwasher. While I await the reconnection of this vital piece of kitchen equipment, here are my top tips for sparkling dishes:
1. Do the washing up straight away dried on and hardened food takes much longer to remove and you don't want to prolong the misery!
2. Wear gloves the hotter the water the better it will be at cutting through grease (and you won't wreck your hands and nails).
3. Don't add too much washing up liquid you will just have to spend more time rinsing off those bubbles.
4. If anything has been baked onto pots and pans fill these with hot water and washing up liquid and leave to soak while you wash the rest of the dishes first.
5. Wash glasses first before you wash anything greasy that will smear on the glass.
6. Next wash your cutlery while the water is clean and hot as these utensils go into your mouth.
7. Then crockery (wipe plates into the bin first with paper towel so you don't introduce too much gunk into the water).
8. Lastly wash any pots and pans leaving the greasiest and those that have been left soaking till last.
9. Rinse each item in clean water as you go. If you have 2 sinks it can be helpful to fill the second with clean water and simply dip your clean dishes in and give them a quick swirl before putting on the draining board.
10. If you've used very hot water, china and glass should dry by themselves pretty quickly. However, cutlery will look better if you dry it off with a linen tea towel you will find a trusty sidekick will come in handy for this!