You Need a Mesh Laundry Bag for Your Dishwasher

You know those small bags you can use in the washing machine for underwear and other delicates? You can use them in your dishwasher, too. Think of all the smaller items you find yourself fishing for at the end of every cycle — they could all be contained in a mesh bag and still be just as clean as they’d be without it. This is especially true for the types of small items that have been lost or broken inside your dishwasher in the past.

What to put in the dishwasher in a mesh bag

Here’s an incomplete list of possible items for your mesh bag:

• Tupperware lids
• Small plates
• Ramekins
• The tiny spoon you use to serve sugar on fancy occasions
• Sippy cup lids
• Skewers
• Stir sticks
• Reusable straws

Consider, too, that there’s a whole world of non-kitchen items that you aren’t washing in your dishwasher yet — but should be. We’ve written in the past about washing your range hood filter, grates, and drip pans in the dishwasher. Stove knobs and burner grates are small and dirty as well and can be tossed in your mesh bag. Use it for these other household items, too:

• Small kids’ toys, like building bricks or action figures
• Sponges
• Brushes (for paint, makeup, or anything else)
• Baby bottles and associated accessories

The difference between a mesh bag and your silverware caddy

You might think, “They already make silverware caddies for things like this.” And that’s true, to a point. Not all of these things, like small plates, will fit in the slots of a silverware caddy; plus the caddy is usually designed to go on the bottom rack, which isn’t as gentle as the top one. With a simple mesh bag, you can pick and choose which items get a harder or gentler washing just by moving it from rack to rack each cycle. And they’re pretty inexpensive: You can get five on Amazon for $US8.99 ($12). That’s enough to put some items on the gentle rack and some on the rougher one at the same damn time.