After-Dinner Dishes Got You Down? Try These 9 Tricks to Reduce Cleanup Time

For some, cooking loses some of its appeal thanks to the inevitable cleanup. From a quick rinse of plates to scrubbing pans, cleaning is often the least enjoyable part of eating at home. Fortunately, a little creativity can go a long way to reducing the burden. Here are nine ways to cut down on dreaded after-dinner dishes.

1. Start with an Empty Dishwasher

Before dinner, empty the dishwasher so that you can load it with dirty mixing bowls from meal prep and dishes from dining. Placing dirty items in the dishwasher as you go keeps the counter and sink clear, and encourages everyone to take a DIY approach to cleaning their own used items. At the end of dinner, you should have very few leftover items to load before pushing the appropriate wash cycle before bed.

2. Utilize Downtime

In those moments of downtime waiting for food to cook or a sauce to reduce, tackle small cleaning tasks. Place already-used items in the dishwasher, let pots soak, or handwash delicate cutlery. By taking advantage of downtime to get a head start on cleaning, you'll cut down demand for after-dinner cleanup.

3. Soak Serving Dishes While You Eat

If you plan to transfer food to serving dishes, you should soak the pots and pans with warm, soapy water before washing. Set pots and pans up for this soak just before sitting down to eat, so that food residue doesn’t dry in the meantime. Doing so will save you time that would otherwise be spent scrubbing caked-on food and sticky sauces.

4. Cook Meals in One Pot

If you’re cooking for just a few people, it is possible to prepare an entire meal in just one pot or pan. A slow cooker or air fryer is ideal, but you can also bake casseroles or make stews in just one pot or pan. Because these kinds of recipes use fewer dishes for prep and cooking, they make cleanup very convenient.

5. Cut Everything on the Same Board

Use the same cutting board to prep all your ingredients. If they’re all going into the same pot to cook, they can start on the same cutting board beforehand, but there is an order to follow to safely prepare your ingredients. Start with vegetables and herbs, then progress to meats or fish. Always cut raw meat or eggs last, and don't use the cutting board again until it is properly cleaned and sanitized.

6. Use a Food Scale

Using a scale instead of measuring cups or spoons will reduce the number of dreaded after-dinner dishes. Adding the ingredients directly to a bowl on a food scale lets you weigh the ingredients in just one tool. This tip works best when baking.

7. Serve Finger Foods

Serve foods like tacos, sandwiches, wraps, and sliders to automatically cut down on cutlery. Other popular finger foods include charcuterie boards, vegetable and dip platters, and empanadas. Most of these items are easy to pop in your mouth straight from your plate. When serving appetizers, offer napkins instead of plates to avoid more dirty dishes.

8. Go Disposable

Gone are the days when disposable cups, plates, and utensils were synonymous with landfill rubbish. Many eco-friendly options are biodegradable and sustainably sourced from natural wood, plant materials, or bamboo. If you’re really in a pinch, use compostable disposables so you’ll only need to worry about cleaning cookware before calling it a night.

9. Make It Count

If you are about to mess up the kitchen, make it worthwhile. Batch cook for the week to increase the food to dirty dish ratio, and to reduce how many times you’ll be expected to repeat this chore. As you meal prep, plan to reuse pots and pans. For example, use the same pan for browning meat and sautéing vegetables. You can use a large bowl for meal prep, then rinse it and serve food from it. Cover serving dishes with lids (or aluminum foil) so you can store leftovers without transferring them to another storage container. If you’re going to have to wash dishes after dinner anyway, plan to cook more than one meal, so that the entire routine feels worth the trouble.