Has anyone noticed a film on your dishes lately? It could be related to the switch companies are making to lower phosphates in their dishwasher detergents. Yes, this is better for our waterways but I have definitely noticed a difference. In fact my drinking glasses were so bad a few weeks ago that I had to do something! And bad blogger, I forgot to take pictures! But not to fear my pots and pans were just as bad!
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| Pot Lid with Residue |
Can you believe this is right out of the dishwasher!! Now I am all for healthy waterway but I do want clean dishes! So what is a girl to do??
Call on a little white vinegar and my all time favorite combo…. SOAP AND HOT WATER!!
HOW TO SHINE YOUR GLASSWARE AND ALUMINUM POTS AND PANS
materials
- sink
- hottest water from the tap
- dish soap
- 2 cups white vinegar
- dish towel or 2
Directions
- Put the stopper in the drain of your sink and add your items to be cleaned. If they all won’t fit don’t worry. You can use this same batch over and over as long as the water stays hot.
- Add the vinegar and a few big squirts of dish soap into the sink while your hot water is running. Fill until your dishes are covered.
- Let sit for about 5 minutes.
- Take each one out one at a time. Using your dish towel rub until they start to shine:)
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| HELLO GORGEOUS! |
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| CLEAN POTS! |
For more information on phosphates and how they effect both the waterways and dishes, check out this article from the New York Times, Cleaner for the Environment, Not the Dishes. By Mireya Navarro.
I thought it was just me not cleaning them good enough. Thanks for letting us know and how to fix the problem. Great blog you have here.
Willow
Good post – those pots are shiny! I haven't noticed it here, but our Oregon water isn't as hard as other places so it probably isn't as noticeable.
I have a cleaning question for you! I have a double kitchen sink, one side is the disposal and the other side is just a drain. The drain side STINKS. I tried running white vinegar down it, pouring baking soda, and nothing works. It smells like something died in there. Help!
Once a week, put a 1/2 lemon in and run the disposal – it’ll smell like lemons.
This is what I have done in the past for stinky and or clogged drains. Since this is your kitchen sink do both sides. 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup vinegar (in that order) in the drain. Put the stopper in and let sit for about 5 minutes. Then flush both sides with A LOT of hot BOILING water from a tea pot (so you don't burn yourself.) This is straight from Martha Stewart herself and it has worked like a charm. I think the boiling water is key, it really mobilizes the yuck!! Let me know how it goes!!
I thought it was me or the dishwasher soap I was using…now I know, thanks so much!
I know this is an old post, but I had to share…we had this problem and I found that using about a TBS of citric acid with every wash removed the residue that was building up on our dishes. We have SUPER hard water and once they reformulated the dish soaps, all our stuff came out gross and filmy. Citric acid takes care of the residue and it's the same stuff that people use for canning/food prep so it's safe for you and the family. It's cheap, too (about $6.99/lb- I buy it in small amounts so it never costs more than $2-3 for a month supply). You can buy it at most health food stores and some grocery stores.
Just thought I'd share, since I have done your method and using the CA with each washload has really saved me time!
We also had a horrible smell regardless of using lemons, vinegar and baking soda and even bleach, all to no avail. My husband removed the trap under the sink and yuck that was where the smell was coming from. He cleaned it out and that solved the problem, We will continue to use vinegar and hot water to maintain it but that would not have solved the problem without going to the source – the trap. Good luck!