Cooking for the holidays is no joke. Between juggling a dozen dishes, keeping everything hot, and making sure there’s enough food for the whole family, it’s a full-on stress fest. So, when one mom shared her time-saving kitchen hack, you’d think people would be grateful.
Spoiler alert: They were not.
Instead, social media users were horrified when Janelle, known as @thedailynelly on Instagram, revealed how she washes her Thanksgiving and Christmas potatoes—in the dishwasher. Yep, you read that right. The same appliance that scrubs dirty plates and silverware is apparently doubling as a vegetable washer.
In a viral video, Janelle and another woman are seen dumping bags of raw potatoes onto the top rack of the dishwasher. “Guys, this is a dishwasher!” someone off-camera exclaims in shock. But Janelle stands by her method, responding, “I know! This is the best way to do it. It saves so much time.”
Her reasoning? Scrubbing potatoes by hand takes forever when you’re feeding a crowd. So instead of washing them one by one, she loads dozens into the dishwasher, filling not just the racks but even the cutlery baskets.
Before you freak out, Janelle insists she doesn’t use soap—just a four-minute rinse cycle. But that didn’t stop people from losing their minds in the comments.
“You truly CANNOT eat at everybody’s house,” one person wrote.
Another horrified viewer asked, “What about the detergent residue? I can’t even think about that. No thank you!”
Some were quick to call it out as plain inefficient. “This is stupid af. Hand wash them in the sink—it’s quicker,” one person argued. Someone else added, “They don’t even scrub them! They’re just getting wet!”
And then there were those who simply refused to take the risk. “I would never. Never for me. Not a good idea at all.”
As for me? I think I’ll stick to the old-fashioned way. I’d rather have sore hands from scrubbing than wonder if my potatoes taste like last night’s lasagna. But hey, to each their own…
Would you try this hack, or is it a holiday horror story waiting to happen? Let us know!
