I believe that this first tip comes from Kris (here in the comments) from some time ago. I wanted to share this for anyone who is concerned that they don't have an easy way to sanitize dishes without a dishwasher.
If you have a plastic-coated dish drainer that fits in your sink, after you wash and rinse all of your dishes, put them in the drainer in the sink. Then bring a tea kettle of water to a boil and pour the contents completely over your washed dishes.
Alternatively, you can plug your sink, place all of the cleaned dishes in the sink, and pour the boiling water over all to immerse the dishes. This may take a couple of kettles of water. Allow to soak for at least 30 seconds. the temperature of the water would need to be at or above 170 degrees F for the duration of the soak. (source:http://stopfoodborneillness.org/news-from-stop-clean-sanitize-disinfect/)
The website Stop Food Borne Illness also recommends a bleach/water solution for sanitizing dishes. When I volunteered for kitchen duty for fund-raisers at our church, we were instructed to add a small amount of liquid bleach to a sanitizing water after dishes had been washed and rinsed. 1 tablespoon of liquid bleach to 1 gallon of cool water (hot water stops the sanitizing effect of the bleach). Allow dishes to sit in this solution for at least 1 minute. Wear gloves when handling dishes.
What I've always heard is that it is better to allow dishes to air-dry, as opposed to towel drying. So, don't feel like you're being lazy when you let the dishes dry on their own! One less chore!
Anyway, check out that website linked to above. If one member of your household does become ill (with any virus), these instructions could help prevent infection with the rest of the family members.
If you do have an automatic dishwasher
My family does have a dishwasher and we've begun washing on a higher temperature setting than usual. This may cost a bit more in electricity, but worth the expense for peace of mind and perhaps keeping us all healthier in cold and flu season.
