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The Thanksgiving meal is done and you’re enjoying a tryptophan-induced haze when a wave of dread washes over you: There’s still a sink full of dishes to deal with. What a buzzkill, right? Cooking a Thanksgiving meal is a lot of work, but so is cleaning up afterward.
What most hosts want after a Thanksgiving meal is to get the dishes done as quickly as possible. That way, they can go back to visiting with family or reclining on the couch watching football. We reached out to some professional household cleaners trained in the most efficient ways to tidy up, and asked for their very best tips when it comes to tackling the Thanksgiving dishes. Putting their advice into action is going to make your holiday a lot more enjoyable ― and restful.
Do what you can in advance
Holly Moore, owner and founder of the in-home cleaning company Maids and Moore, told HuffPost that you can take steps to make your post-meal cleanup less overwhelming before you even begin cooking. For example, she recommends buying disposable pans for cooking the turkey and some of the sides, like macaroni and cheese, that tend to result in a lot of scrubbing. You can plate your turkey and the sides on something that looks nicer, but using disposable pans will cut down on the number of items you’ll have to clean later.
Rhonda Wilson, a quality lead cleaner at FreshSpace Cleaning, said that pre-lining baking sheets with foil, or laying down parchment paper in pans, can also save you some effort later.
When you’re cooking, Moore recommends washing the dishes as soon as you don’t need them anymore. You don’t need measuring cups, mixing bowls and wooden spoons adding to the mountain of dishes you’ll already have after the meal. “While you’re waiting for water to boil or pasta to get al dente, you can easily wash a couple of things, and before you know it, you won’t have a huge mess to deal with once you’re done eating,” Wilson said, giving one example of what this looks like.
Molly Mock, the president of Molly Maid USA, also told HuffPost that cleaning while you cook is majorly helpful. If anything needs scrubbing, start letting it soak so it will be easier to wash later. If anything you cooked with can be put in the dishwasher, do it. Moore recommends running the dishwasher while everyone is eating, so that by the time the meal is over, it’s ready to be unloaded and used again.
Moore also suggests delegating tasks to a few key people. “Often, people want to help; they just don’t know how,” she said. “But as soon as they hear you say their name, they’ll know what you need them for.” For example, one person can be on trash duty, another person can be in charge of setting the table, someone can be in charge of loading the dishwasher and another person can dry the dishes after they’ve been washed.
The best way to utilize the dishwasher
A dishwasher is a huge timesaver, but not everything can go in it. All three experts said that fine china, crystal and silver are not dishwasher-safe. If you used any wooden bowls, Wilson recommends washing those by hand too.
“Lighter-weight plastic may not be able to withstand the heat of the dishwasher, so [I] recommend hand-washing it,” Mock said. And anything aluminum or tin should be hand-washed too, according to Moore: “Technically, tin is dishwasher-safe, but it could leave black streaks on your dishwasher and other dishes.”
Kseniya Ovchinnikova via Getty Images
To maximize the dishwasher, it’s important to load it correctly. Moore said there’s one mistake virtually everyone makes: washing plates off before putting them in the dishwasher.
“Dishwashers made after 2021 have food sensors, which detect the amount of food, and if you rinse your dishes too much, the food sensors won’t pick up the leftover residue, so it won’t turn on the heating element on your dishwasher and won’t clean them as well,” she said. “So you need to leave some food on your dishes for your dishwasher to operate properly.”
On the other hand, if your dishwasher was made before 2021, it probably doesn’t have a food sensor, which means you will have to give dishes a little rinse before loading them in. “If you’re putting dirty dishes straight into the dishwasher without scraping off food bits, you might as well be asking for a clog,” Wilson said of these older machines.
All three experts said that when loading the dishwasher, what’s most important is that nothing is blocking the spinner. Other than that, you can get creative with how you make everything fit. If you have any plastic items, Mock recommends loading them in the top part of the dishwasher, so they’ll get a more delicate spray. As for utensils, Wilson said it’s a good idea to put them in the dishwasher all facing the same direction. That way, whoever unloads it later won’t get poked.
How to hand-wash efficiently
Ready to start hand-washing everything left? The first step is to fill the sink with hot water ― “the hotter the water, the better,” said Mock. “Hot water can cut through tough messes. Just be careful not to make the water so hot that you burn yourself. The only exception to the rule is [dishes with] dairy-related foods. Dairy tends to grow stickier with warm water, so cold water is best for cleaning cheesy dishes.”
Next, Mock said, identify which dishes need soaking, and let them sit in the hot water for anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours, depending on how caked-on the grime is. Again, hopefully your dishes have been soaking while you were eating so they’re ready to scrub. “After soaking, empty the water and pour some baking soda into the pan,” Mock said. Then, grab a sponge, add a few drops of dish soap to it and start scrubbing.
If you are washing anything delicate, like china, Moore said it’s important to use a non-scratch sponge, or you’ll end up damaging your dishes. If there’s a burnt spot on a dish that you just can’t get out, Mock recommends putting baking soda on the spot, pouring vinegar on it and waiting until the chemical reaction occurs before wiping over it with your sponge.
If you have a double sink, Mock recommends filling one side with cold water, for rinsing. “This cuts down on water usage by skipping the open tap to rinse dishes,” she said. If you just have the one sink, turn on the faucet to rinse the soap and grime off a dish before putting it on the drying rack.
With these tips, you’ll finish the dishes in no time. And if you need a hand and no one has volunteered, Moore has a hack for that. “In my house, there’s no pumpkin pie until all the dishes are washed,” she said. That should get you some helpers pretty quick.
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