Another dish-washing question

[vilakins]

I should have added this to the last post, sorry, but I thought of it a bit late.

This is for people from the UK. Why do you wash dishes in a plastic bowl in the sink rather than directly in the sink? Is it to save water, to keep the sink clean, to be able to toss debris over the side, to protect dishes from hard metal, or for some other reason?

Just so people know my dish-washing habits, I rinse dishes to get loose food off and put them in the dishwasher. I wash delicate glassware (only used for dinner parties or special occasions) in the sink with a microfibre cloth, and pots and pans with a brush which goes through the dishwasher when it needs it. I dry any hand-washed dishes with a tea towel, and no, I don't know why it's called that. "Dish towel", as cited by an American, makes more sense.

The only reason I'm asking about dish washing is because of seeing so many knitted dish cloths on a knitting site and community. It's not normally a subject that exerts any fascination. :-P

Comments

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I've replied in dreamwith. I think the habit really started back in 76 when we had a drought and various measures were suggested to "save" water. The point being that the bowl fitting in the sink uses less water. You can also use the dishwater to water the plants with rather than tap water.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

You can also save the water that you drain off when cooking pasta or vegetables and use *that* to water houseplants or windowboxes.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I don't think that it started then. I'm sure that's how my parents were doing it from back as far as I can remember, back in the 1950s.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it started in the war then?
They had a big move on about saving water then too.