Posted By: Tay Roberts
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Posted On: 7/6/2025
Today’s dishwashers are engineered to work smarter. Most models use soil sensors to detect how much grime is on your dishes at the start of a cycle.
If you pre-rinse your dishes, glasses, and silverware, those sensors can be tricked into thinking they’re already clean. The result? Your dishwasher automatically uses a less-intense wash, which can actually make your dishes come out dirtier than if you’d skipped pre-rinsing before you put them in the dishwasher.
In the late ’90s and early ’00s, dishwashers became more energy efficient, and most modern models include smart soil sensors. To find out if your dishwasher has them, find your model number—it should be on the inside of the dishwasher’s door or in your user manual—and look it up on the manufacturer’s website.
These days, dishwasher detergents are formulated to break down food particles. As a result, they work best when there’s actual residue to cling to. It’s true: Your dishes need to be dirty to get clean in the dishwasher.
Truly Free Home’s Dishwasher Soap, for example, uses powerful natural enzymes to cut through grease and grime. Without food soil to dissolve and carry away, the soap can’t do its job as well.
Not only can prerinsing make your dishes less clean, it also wastes a significant amount of water and energy. In fact, Consumer Reports estimates you waste 1.7 to 6 gallons of water every minute you run your faucet. Compare that to Energy Star-certified dishwashers, which can use as little as 3 gallons of water per load.
Most of the time, you should skip the pre-rinse, but there are a few exceptions:
Older or less efficient dishwashers: If your machine struggles, a quick rinse for heavily soiled dishes might help.
Caked-on or dried-on food: For large, stuck-on messes, a brief presoak can boost results.
Keep in mind: adding Truly Free Home's Dishwasher Booster & Rinse Aid to heavily soiled loads means you can skip the pre-rinse and wash your dishes more sustainably.
How you load your dishwasher matters. Here’s how to do it properly for best results.
Unless you’re using an extremely old or inefficient model, pre-rinsing dishes is unnecessary and can actually keep your dishes from getting sparkling clean.
The good news is Truly Free Home Dishwasher Soap is strong enough for loads full of real food residue—no pre-rinsing required. Even better, our safe, plant-powered formula is tough on grease and stuck-on messes without exposing your family to toxic chemicals.
And unlike toxic dishwasher pods, our Dishwasher Soap is biodegradable, rinses clean, and is phosphate- and plastic-free.
With the answer to the great pre-rinsing debate answered, now’s the time to make dishwashing easier, safer, and greener for your family.
