I usually do the big scrape into the garbage, but certainly end up having a lot of food go into the disposal. I avoid any peelings, leafy veggies, onion skins, cut flower stems (I had a roomate that did that one time! yikes!).

Growing up, our usage was more in line with your husband's family. We generally scraped everything into the garbage and only used the disposal for the balance of what was left on the plate. Today, I live in an area where table scraps are accepted in our yard waste bin and are then formed into compost. We place fruit and vegetable scraps in our own compost bin and then put the balance in our yard waste bin. Further, we are on septic so we are very careful not to use the disposal unless it is really necessary.

After 15 years in the same house my sink got clogged. I called the plumber, who had to eventually call in the "big guns" to snake down beneath the kitchen floor where the clog was.

They told me that no matter how good the garbarge disposal is, stuff cakes on the insides of the pipes, kind of like arteries clogging over time. He said most plumbers do not even have garbage disposals in their house! He warned me about using it to dump food and said it should only be used as a final rinse before putting dishes into the dishwasher. No egg shells, peels, skins, etc.

We now "baby" our disposal and use it only to rinse dishes and help the sudsy water go down fast. Sounds like your DH is correct on this one!

We are also on septic and try to minimize the use of the disposal. However, I would not want to be without one. We scrape our plates into the garbage, but it is nice to have the disposal for things like leftover stew/soup. During our renovation, we had to pour a few things like that into the toilet. Yuck.

Big dumps definitely go in the trash, but lots goes down the disposal too-
We do avoid the large amounts of peelings, and another thing to avoid, trust me, is a large amount of PASTA. Seems weird BUT combined with hot water and "blended" in the disposal it turns into a gelatinous mess that plugs the pipe and no water can pass. Trust me --I know, and now, so does our plumber :)

Very conservative use in my house hold, all plant products are composted if possible and put into the garbage, just what ever bits of things caught in the strainer get dumped into the disposal after wash dishes usually. I personally would not put bones in the disposal even though my new one can handle it. Just does not appeal to me these things need a lot of water to get flushed down into the main drain.

Especially we love to compost the banana, cantaloupe, water melon peels etc. I am trying to setup a space that will hold a little box to temporary store our compostables to take out to the garden every few days.

I have a septic tank so I am more careful about what I put down it than I was in my last house which was on city sewer. I scrape most stuff into trash can, but use the disposal for little bittys. I was without my disposal for about a year after it quit working and we decided not to replace it until we renovated the kitchen. Even though I don't use it for heavy duty, I really, really missed it!

When we owned a rental property, the tenants thought the disposal was for shrimp shells and bottle caps, but then they also thought it was a good idea to cut the screen out of a floor level window so the dog could come and go as he pleased, so maybe they aren't the best example of responsibility.

We compost everything (vegetarians-no meat) until the compost pile is frozen. In winter everything except celery and onion skins and banana peels goes down the disposal. Use the disposal for carrot and potato peelings, egg shells, citrus, cantaloupe and watermelon rind. Maybe my time is coming. I've never had a problem in 27 years.

Thanks for all your input! Hmm- sounds like I need to change my ways! But why invest in a super duper GD if you are not going to use it? Poorowner- how do you compost the left over fruit, etc?

I put (almost) everything down it. Eggshells, citrus peels, etc. What doesn't go down: onion skins, potato skins, fish skins (ugh, learned that one the hard way).

I don't put bones in it either.

I've been told that eggshells are good to clean the blades and pipes.

When we had molded strawberrys and cataloupe and I just dump them in the compost bin (it has 2 levers you turn to secure the lid) We don't have bears or other critters around here. There are ants and small flies that hang out in the bin but never any real vermin. As long as you keep any kind of meat protein out of it... Just let it rot kind of thing. And, I do not live in a large yard, the bin is 15 feet from my back window.

There are people totally obsessed with composting, if you are interested I included the link to GW compost forum :)

Here is a link that might be useful: gardenweb compost forum

Gracie - you don't have to invest in a "super-duper" GD if you're not going to use it heavily. I bought a very basic, low hp model because I knew it would be used lightly. It's worth it to me not to have to use the crumb-catcher stainer thingy (yuck!). Decide what it's use will be, then buy the appropriate GD for the job.

We invested in a heavy-duty insinkerator and used it for EVERYTHING! In 15 years of use we never had a clog or need to call a plumber. The instructions even said to put bones down it because they will clean the gunk off the blades. One caveat though, we had good plumbing and were on city sewer. My mom has a 200 year old house and I won't put anything down her disposal since we had to call a plumber on Christmas. We are in temporary housing now while waiting to build and don't have a disposal and it is one of the things I miss most. To me, even if I just used it to eliminate cleaning out those little strainers, it would be worth it. Just remember to use COLD water while it's running and keep the water running for a while after turning it off, and put the stuff in gradually, and you shouldn't have any problems. But I can't stress enough that it has to be a good disposal. I just wouldn't waste my money on a cheaper one that you'll end up hating.

plates scraped to the garbage, leftover bits down the disposer. We are on sewer and had old pipes but this is along time practice. We'll have the new house built in about a year and I'll still continue with that practice (DH is a plumber :) )

We also have a heavy duty In-sink-erator and use it for most things, except bones, celery, onion skins,banana skins (anything stringy) and we are also on city sewer. Our present disposal is 30 years old and when the kitchen is done we will replace it--it owes us nothing. Over the years it has also ground up at least a dozen teaspoons--the only thing that ever seems to fall down there.

I grew up in the UK, where there are no GDs. Now that I live in the US, I use it once a day but during prep rather than for food scraps. I was told that it's not a good idea to put meat down. I'm on city sewer. I would be fine without it, but it does help to reduce how often I'm taking out the trash.

I put almost everything down it. If you're going to do that, I think it's worth it to upgrade. My Evolution Excel Insinkerator is so much better than the builder-installed Badger (which backed up if you put too much into it).

We use ours sparingly and still had to call a plumber recently. He said it was oil hardening in the pipes and believe me we don't throw grease down there but of course, there is always some left in pots and pans.

For several years now, I put everything down my 3/4 hp Waste King that the instruction booklet says I can, which includes peels, artichokes, corn cobs, onion skins, rinds and bones. I have never had a clog. I specifically bought a Waste King so that I would not have to worry about things not grinding and then clogging. The Waste King even changes torque on harder-to-grind items. The instruction booklet says it's safe for septic too, although I am on city sewer.

I use it for almost everything (no meat). We live in the country and the previous owners created a grey line by our garden area. Pull off the lid and it's alive with worms. We clean it out and put it in our garden. We are careful to use only eco friendly soaps in our kitchen.

Always mix soap and water with grease before sending it down a disposer! Then it won't stick to the pipes. Our set up has been in operation since 1973 with no problems. We have a 3/4 hp in-sink-erator.

My dishwasher drains through the disposer so it's always clean.

We have always put almost everything down ours. Every once in awhile i cut up a lemon and put it down, helps with the oder.

I love, love my disposal. Can't live without it now. I have used one for 15 years, and put virtually everything down it. Eggshells, cantaloupe rinds, potato peelings, chicken bones. I do avoid celery and banana peels, but almost everything else is fair game. I am on city sewer, so I understand that makes a difference. I always wonder what do people do with things like leftover soup, cereal, chili- things that are "wet", but still have substance to it. Would hate to have to put that in my garbage can.

Another compost fan here! I practice all year round. Although the pile is frozen solid right now, I figure it will undergo enough freeze/thaw cycles that its contents will practically melt into nothing when summer finally arrives.

Still, I love having a disposal. I don't put large volumes down it, and seldom greasy stuff, but it does make clean-up so much tidier.

I've had a Sears disposal for 18 years. I put everything except bones in it. I've never had to call a plumber! Works great, I just use large amount of water for a few minutes after it is turned off and feed "normal" amounts at a time.

I have a heavy duty Insinkerator and put everything down the disposal except for bones. I scrape all plates, watermelon rinds, onions, yucky meat, pasta, all veggies, everything goes down the disposal.
I've never had to call a plumber due to the disposer. It's never clogged.

I think it depends on the disposal. The one that came with the house would clog easily on things like potato peels and onion skins. We upgraded and got a better one and I put everything down it with no problems. My husband even puts chicken bones in it, I don't because I don't like the noise. I've probably had it 15 years or more. It's a 3/4 HP heavy duty in-sink-erator.

I have the Kitchenaid 1 hp batch feed disposal. I put almost everything down it. I use it constantly, and am particularly grateful for it in the summer when otherwise my garbage would smell really bad.

I am surprised that people are saying they don't put banana peels down their disposers. I do, including that hard thing on the end of the banana peel. I've never had a problem (I have a 1960's house with 1960's plumbing). Also, in my house growing up, we had a Kitchenaid batch feed disposal. That thing lasted about 17 years or so, until my parents remodeled and replaced it with a new KA batch feed, and there was never one clog or one problem.

About once a month I grind up a bunch of ice cubes in the disposer which is supposed to clean off any gunk on the grinders.

I compost almost everything, but love having the disposal for the little stuff I used to have to clean out of the sinks with my fingers - ugh.

No, but we know we have roots growing outside and other issues so we don't take any chances... we use it very conservatively... it is nice to have and do use it for very small stuff and as a back up for food in the sink but anything big and veggie stuff, etc. we put it in the trash. Better to be safe than have to replace the outside line which will be several thousand min.

I haven't had a disposal since our renovation began in June - it's one of the things I miss most about our kitchen. That said, I believe I will use our differently in our new kitchen. We used to put everything down , and had to replace it twice. I plan to be kinder and gentler to both the disposal and the environment this time around and just use it, as has been mentioned, for the stuff that gets caught around the drain during rinsing.

I'm on septic also so rarely use it. Long ago when I has city sewer I used it for most everything. I used to have a compost pile where I live now but I don't use the compost so now I just toss any produce type stuff off my deck into the woods - which I'm sure sounds rather barbaric to some people. I'm really not a barbarian though.

Mostle we compost. But we have freezing winters and get lax. We have a hefty 1 HP Insinkerater. I USED to be among the put-everything-in-it-and-let-er-rip group.
Until Thanksgiving when shrimp shells gummed up the works. That was fun.

My take now is that let-er-rip works fine - until the day it doesn't. I got away with it for 40 years.

Now: no shrimp shells or pasta!

I love mine. When we moved in here it was the first thing my husband put in! Mainly because we had one in our other home and I had a bad habit of throwing everything in the sink.

Our pipes froze 2 weeks ago (reason for new kitchen) and my husband pulled out the disposer to get to the pipes and OMG...that thing STUNK. I never smelled it in the kitchen but once he disconnected, it was packed and gross.
He got rid of it and we are getting a new one for the new kitchen. (it was 10 years old!)
Thankfully he is a plumber and gets good prices and no labor!

We also opted for a Maytag dishwasher that has a hard food disposer in it. Things get rinsed...but apparently never good enough because my GE is always getting backed up.