I try to do most cooking and home and we pack lunches everyday. This is usually leftovers - so it generally goes in a Tupperware. So all of that + the kids 900 meals a day makes a million dishes. Any tips to deal with this? Or does everyone just drown in dishes like us 
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Paper and plastic? Ha. Kidding. Sort of
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@Littlebit7: belive me I’ve considered it!
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We do paper plates and bowls a lot. Id say 50/50. I recycle them if they aren’t too too messy. I don’t feel too bad. It’s a stage of our life, we won’t always make a gazillion dishes and the kids won’t always be needy little human beings so I’ll have more time.
Oh and I also cheat sometimes on snack dishes. Like if I give him a little bowl with goldfish or even whole blueberries I just rinse with water
I wouldn’t do that with cut fruit (like cut strawberries or something) but if it’s a whole fruit that I just rinsed or a cracker that touched the bowl for like 10 minutes, I just rinse. Whatever.
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@SweetiePie: I think that’s a wonderful idea and I need to start doing it! Even cut strawberries, I would totally rinse and reuse. Not like yogurt or something like that of course
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My dd just had a stomach bug so we started using disposable stuff for her and I totally get the appeal!
I just don't cook elaborate things and I use the dishwasher.
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@SweetiePie: haha I just gave my little guy frozen blueberries, looked at the spoon and bowl and put them right back in the drawer lol
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other than reusing kids bowls/plates with a quick rinse and wipe, I try to make use of the dishwasher as much as possible. I run a big wash overnight with dinner dishes, and then unload/reload during the day and run another quicker wash with breakfast/lunch items, reload with afternoon & dinner stuff to run overnight. Its as much a pain as handwashing them with the unloading/reloading, but I figure my hands stay dry!
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I actively work to reduce the amount of dishes I generate when cooking - I make a lot of one-pot meals.
One thing that has helped a lot was buying a really small cutting board. (I think they are called bar boards.) It sounds weird, but it's like, 4x6 inches and I use it to cut most things that I cut on the fly - so I don't have to pull out a whole cutting board, and it takes up a lot less space in the sink and the draining rack.
We also transitioned to using only glasses/mugs at the dinner table with our 3yo - reducing the amount of sippy cups we have to clean makes a big difference.
We pretty much use only things that are dishwasher safe and we run it at least every other day, sometimes with all the pots and pans in it. I bought glass tupperware which holds up better to being run through the dishwasher and the glass part can be run on the bottom rack, which also makes a big difference in terms of optimizing space in the dishwasher.
I also often pull out a prep board for cutting things and then just use it all day, instead of cleaning it between uses. Sometimes I wipe it down but not if I wasn't chopping something messy on it.
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@Ms.Mermaid: a small cutting board is a great idea, we have a huge one that doesn’t fit in the dishwasher and I HATE it with a passion. My husband bought it of courss
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We each have a stainless steel water bottle that we drink from throughout the day, and use hardly any glassware. I didn't even realize this until we were at my SiL's, and I noticed how quickly the top rack of her dishwasher filled up.
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@lady baltimore: same! My kids use the same water cup all day and I use the same bottle. DH tries to use the same cup but doesn't have his own special one like me haha.
We use glass Tupperware so that's easy to throw in the dishwasher. We basically put everything in the dishwasher after a quick rinse and run it nightly. Large items get washed right after use and dried and put away. I do not have a drying rack - I hate dishes sitting out. I'm a big fan of everything going in the dishwasher.
ETA: when we first lived together we didn't have a dishwasher and we used paper plates often.
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@SweetiePie: oh I do that too. My kids use the same bowl for the day usually.
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Eat out of the pot! Doesn’t help for kids and I don’t actually do that much because I make too much food so there’s more than one serving left. I make a million dishes for every meal and while I’m cooking I throw spoons and knives in the sink so it’s not an exagerration for me to say I use at least 5 of each just in the cooking process.
I used to work in daycare and for snacks, morning and afternoon, we would serve it to each kid on the table if we could so I try to remember that sometimes if I can. So just have a clean table and serve washed fruit, muffins, goldfish, etc on the table and then wipe it down after and you’re good to go with only a cup and a knife and a chopping board used if that.
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@Mrs. Goose: also a great idea!
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I was literally just thinking about this today and if there was a dish drying rack that could make things look less terrible! I don’t have tips, just wanted to say I’m right there with you.
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Yeah, I'm not sure there is an answer. On weekdays with all the lunch Tupperwares, breakfast dishes, dinner cooking stuff, plates, etc. etc....it's a disaster. Can't wait till baby #2 comes in May and we get to add bottles and pump parts again
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@Becky: ha! Yah it’s nuts here
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When I’m solo parenting I do a lot of paper plates. It feels so wasteful when I have a dishwasher but it’s just one less thing to worry about. For some reason loading and unloading the dishwasher is such a drain. I never use serving bowls and just scoop from the pot to the plate (my mom always put the food into a bowl on the table). I reuse dishes that just had dry snacks or whatever like others said. I try to think of how I’ll reheat things when I store them- like I don’t like to microwave in plastic so I put the leftovers in Pyrex that can go in the microwave. But I am pretty much always behind in dishes!
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EVERY item in our kitchen is dishwasher-safe.
We run a load every night & put away.
We drink out of Camebak bottles and LO drinks out of the same 360 cup - we store in the fridge when not in use to minimize bacterial or mold growth. The Camelbaks get washed each weekend, the 360 each night.
We rinse & reuse for many plates.
LO does a lot of snacking and so we use the Gerber bowls that have lids, so we just snap a lid on an unfinished items, put in the fridge, and re-serve later. We do the same for ourselves, with Pyrex.
We try to use the smallest size of Pyrex or tupperware that will work, so to conserve space in the dishwasher.During times of sickness we use paper plates. We don't bother with plastic utensils because utensils take such little room in the dishwasher, we don't use paper bowls because they're too shallow, and we like our reusable cups much more then paper cups.
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We use smallish medium plates for breakfast and lunch and use saucers for snacks, so they can go in the top rack. I unload the dishwasher every morning while making my breakfast. I stack/match them as fast as I can see on the counter and then I load them in the cabinets. Takes just a few minutes. I throw utensils in a low (second) drawer and DDs chore everyday is to sort. DH is the loader on most nights. He takes awhile so sometimes if he works late and I feel like it, I’ll load for him. We almost always have a full load every night and if we skip a night, it really jams us up the next day bc then we have too many dishes. Also thin cutting board mat (goes on wooden base) and a nice small Epicurean cutting board helps. Now I need to get a decent size strainer. That is usually the biggest item.
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Instead of Tupperware, can you plate leftovers right on the dish to eat it out of? I have some ceramic ramekins that are about the size of a cereal bowl that have lids that I can put leftovers in and eat right out of, instead of plating.
For kids lunches, can you switch to a stainless steel bento box type thing?
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I usually do dishes after dinner for pots/pans/spoonware/lids/knives/other as mentioned below. Everything else is put into the dishwasher.
All leftovers are put into glass pyrex which can be placed into the dishwasher on the bottom, microwave, and oven. These are taken to work by DH and me. They are heavy, which is my only complaint. (We transit by walking and train.)
For the kids, I use these, located at bottom. I put breakfast on top and lunch on the bottom. I use silicon cupcake holders to separate food as needed. The top and pull out section are put into the dishwasher and only the bottom is hand washed. I have three for each kid and if I run the dishwasher on Tuesday, I don't have to run it again until it is full. I also hand wash the cupcake holders.
Around the house, I reuse plates depending upon how dirty they are. Water bottles for the kids are only cleaned when I run the dishwasher. DH and I use the same cup for water until I run the dishwasher. DS often goes through lots of cups, but we have the room in the dishwasher.
When I had bottles as well, I only washed the nipple. The rest of the bottles went into the dishwasher. Pump parts were kept at work and washed there. On rare occasions when I pumped at home or other than my normal office, most of those pump parts also went into the dishwasher. I had enough spare bottles to make sure that I had three days worth available.
I go two and sometimes three days between running the dishwasher. With bottles, I never managed to go more than two days without running the dishwasher during the week.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Classic-Cuisine-Square-Expandable-Lunch-Box-with-Dividers/46100763
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So we don't have a dishwasher, everything gets hand washed.
I use paper plates for meals. I know it creates a lot of waste but the less time I'm spending doing dishes the better for everyone!
We use little plastic bowls for snacks, super easy to rinse out. I only give them soap if they had something like yogurt,
Foil is my best friend. If I'm cooking something in the oven I cover whatever pan/dish I'm using with foil then put the food on. Washing goes faster if I don't need to scrub.
The kids use bento boxes and I use tupperware. Sometimes it's a pain but I've gotten used to it. I usually only wash them after the kids are in bed and I make lunches for two days, one less thing to do one night of the week.
I also wash things as soon as I can, usually only takes me 5 minutes or less. I can't stand dirty dishes in the sink (unlike my DH...).
Sometimes I feel like I'm always washing dishes but I know this stage will be over soon. My almost 6 year old will have dishes for one of his chores (with supervision and I will wash knives of course).
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I'm terrible at remembering to bring tupperware back from work. So what I've started doing instead is putting lunch sized portions of leftovers in ziplock bags. Then I put it on a paper plate at work when I reheat.
For the kids I will often put things like goldfish or crackers right on the table, or maybe on a napkin, instead of using a dish.
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no tips, just commiseration. DROWNING IN DISHES. I run the dishwasher at least twice a day
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@looch: off to search for ramekins with lids...you always have great ideas!
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I tend to store leftovers in the dish I cooked it in. I will also use two smaller Pyrex dishes instead of a 9x13 since the small ones I can stand up and they take up less space in the dishwasher. If a pot or pan isn't really dirty, I won't wash it. i.e., if I cooked pasta I just dry it off.
@MrsADS: Ughh... I have #2 due in June and I totally forgot about how much space bottles take up in the dishwasher.
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We don’t have a dishwasher now, which is a huge bummer since I used it pretty much every 24 hours before. We reuse the same water cups all day and just wash at night. For the kids snacks, I just put them directly on the table, assuming it’s not something too messy, then I just have to wipe the table after instead of washing another dish. My LOs are only allowed to eat at the table, so it’s not like they are used to having bowls of something in the living area. But we have to wash dishes and can’t let them pile up, otherwise it attracts insects. If it’s me, I put on my headphones and listen to a podcast while I wash up, so I don’t mind so much.
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We use dishwasher safe glassware to store leftovers. So much easier when they go right into the dishwasher.
I also will prepare a lot of one pan meals. So taking a sheet pan, putting a meat in the center, veggies on one side and starch on the other. One pan to clean at the end of dinner rather than 3.
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