Kitchen Tips Tuesday - Wash Dishes with Less Water

Welcome to "Kitchen Tips Tuesday!"  Every Tuesday I plan to share a way to make kitchen chores go more smoothly, or post a tip to reduce your ecological footprint or grocery bill.  This week I'd like to share some water-saving tips from "How to Wash Dishes like an Israeli", written by one of my favorite bloggers, Maya, of How to Be Israeli.

Israel, as much of the world these days, is very aware of a limited and diminishing water supply.  I arrived in Israel last year with my wasteful American dish-washing habits, and quickly learned, via Maya's blog, that there was a better way.  Maya begins by saying that the best way to save water is to use a dishwasher.  However, if you, like me, don't have one of those nifty miracle machines, here's the next best method:



1. Fill a small bowl with hot, soapy water.  I don't like to send gallons/liters of water down the drain waiting for the (possibly) hot water to travel down the five stories of pipes to our apartment.  Instead, I follow Maya's advice to heat water in an electric tea kettle.

2. Scrape/rinse food off the dishes while organizing them into piles of plates, bowls, silverware, etc.

3. Use a sponge in the bowl of warm, sudsy water to soap/scrub all the dishes.

4. Rinse one or two dishes at a time, turning off the stream of water while you put each dish on the drying rack.


5. Clean off your counter. It gets very soapy. I prefer a little squeegee for this.


Click HERE for more kitchen tips, such as getting Podcasts to listen to while you work, Non-stick 101, how to cool soup quickly (at the bottom), and an easy way to peel an avocado.