Use a Bigger Bowl
Probably, because I grew up with a father who was amazingly frugal, so am I. My dad would reuse, repurpose and conserve to a fault. At one point, and maybe this was common when he was growing up, he would save the wash water from the clothes washing machine in the basement sink and reuse it for the next load (never the rinse water).
If a recipe called for a cup, he might use three-quarters of a cup. He’d map out his drive to make sure it was the shortest route to save gas, even if it meant making a left on a busy street. He once talked me out of changing undershirts, underpants, and sox every day, citing the amount of extra laundry that would make.
He washed with a sink half full of water, he never let the tap run. He turned the shower off while soaping up, rinsed bottles for the last bit of mustard, wrap the smallest of leftovers, and he’d use small bowls and plates so he could fit more dishes in the dishwasher (he bought one of those when his kids started getting jobs and going to college and no longer had their own dishwashing duty night).
For years, when cooking, I’d choose a mixing bowl or saucepan, to fit what I was cooking. Sometimes that meant stirring so cautiously as not to spill. It wasn’t until after my pop passed and I was making tuna fish in a small bowl, cautiously and slowly stirring that I decided to use a bigger bowl. I dumped that tuna salad, not into the next size bowl, but a large mixing bowl. Guess what, nothing spilled, and mixing was a breeze.
Same with pots, same with buckets, and even the box I use for garden clippings. Any time stuff needs mixing or transporting – I now use a bigger container – a bigger bowl.
I’ve learned that using a bigger bowl keeps all the ingredients in place. This is true for mixing watercolor paint, wall paint, soups, and sauces – even dirt. I dug up compost for the garden and wanted to mix it into the dirt. I had a bucket that I thought was big enough and shortly thereafter I had dirt all over the place. The following year when I went to the compost pile with the largest container I had.
So now I say, use a bigger bowl and forget about fitting it into the dishwasher.
