random question: how do you all handle doing dishes on the trail to avoid animals?

[Namtrag]

I am sure the OP is totally straight now on what to do. lol

[Hikes in Rain]

I'd say so. No matter what (s)he does, it's right! Or wrong, depending on your point of view. Mission accomplished.

[atmilkman]

I'd say so. No matter what (s)he does, it's right! Or wrong, depending on your point of view. Mission accomplished.

Isn't doing it all wrong the right way?

[turtle fast]

Food made in pot, eat all food (you need the calories anyway), put in water and boil water for coffee or tea...yeah you may have some extra potato, noodle, oatmeal flavor but it goes to the same place anyway right? Coffee seems to overpower those tastes anyways.

[Grampie]

Use one pot to cook and eat out of. When you are done clean the pot as best as you can using your spoon and finger. When you stop at a hostel or motel give your pot a real good cleaning. I started my thru with stuff to clean my cooking and eating gear with. Soon left it all in a hiker box.

[BigHodag]

What are these dishes of which you speak? Freezer bags, boiled water and 1/4 paper towel to dry my cup. Simple and hygenic.

[Dogwood]

One thing I learned in desert hiking is that you don't need water to wash cookware, Some fine sand works great.

Most of me meals involve precious little clean up of dishes. I don't usually cook lots of sticky messy foods with melted cheese, meat(animal fats), etc. I have one Snow Peak Min Soloist Titanium pot with lid and a REI TI foldable spork or GSI Lexan sliding spork to basically rinse out/off. I don't clean my cookware at, in, or near water sources. Little rinse and hit my pot with my SHAM WOW! Ouila! When in town I rinse my cookware off regularly though even sanitizing it with nonscented bleach or hydrogen peroxide.

[SCRUB HIKER]

I know the OP probably isn't going stoveless anytime soon, because it's kind of a fringe maneuver, but ... my solution for dishes is to cold-soak my potatoes or breakfast muesli in an empty 28oz peanut butter jar, and when I'm done eating, drop a little water in, leave my spoon in (it fits in the jar) twist the cap back on, shake it up good, and disperse the waste water in a wide arc somewhere. Doesn't take too long.

[ChuckT]

I put my wash water into the fire pit. The charcoal filters the water, absorbs odors and any incidental bits of food scraps get burnt or eaten by mice. ...

Thats a great way too encourage the mouse population. May your last meal, @ 30 miles from a resupply be throughly sampled!
Cvt

[Monkeywrench]

I've always cooked in my pot, and I just rinse the pot out with a bit of hot water and my fingers. Every meal starts by boiling water s I figure that will take care of any residue that might still be in the pot from the previous meal.

I do tend to try to err on the side of runny rather than too dry, as it helps in avoiding stuck on glop in the pot.

[Just Bill]

I use a ZipLock twist loc container as my freezer bag. Typically a hot meal is followed by a hot drink, which doubles as clean up of the twistloc. I put a gulp or two in first, give it a good swirl. That takes care of the bulk of the leftover bits and leaves me only taking one good gulp of grey water. Then I pour the rest of my beverage in and enjoy it. I also have plastic concerns. Not just from a leaching standpoint, but from a landfill standpoint. Cooking in bags produces lots of dirty, used bags. Messy to pack, messy to re-use, and ultimately- messy to landfill. I chose the Ziplock Twist-Loc because they are a "safe" plastic. Check the bottoms to find out if the plastic is a number 5. It is safe for hot liquids or even microwave use. Peanut butter jars and other substitutes most likely are not the right type of plastic, and are not likely to be any lighter either. When I get home, or to a resupply, I fill the ziplock with water, lid too, and zap them in the microwave to kill off any accumulated yuckies. I wash my pot well too. After that they are ready for another week on the trail and stay more than clean enough simply by cooking, eating, and rinsing.

[Feral Bill]

Cook a couple hundred yards or more from your campsite. Bring a teen aged boy to eat all possible leftovers. Problem solved.

[quasarr]

Use one pot to cook and eat out of. When you are done clean the pot as best as you can using your spoon and finger. When you stop at a hostel or motel give your pot a real good cleaning. I started my thru with stuff to clean my cooking and eating gear with. Soon left it all in a hiker box.

LOL Grampie I used this method as well ... Sadly with all the excitement in town I almost always forget or neglect to do the dishes!!

In this case you can also use a handful of grass or pine needles to scrub your pot. And I have drank my rinse water before but only under dire low-water circumstances. Like eating cereal with water, it happened during dark times and it is something I hope to never repeat LOL!!!

[Another Kevin]

Make sure you clean your spork well - or boil it the next time you boil water and don't use it in between. Your pot isn't as important unless you eat cold stuff out of it, because your pot gets sterilized every time you boil in it.

[illabelle]

I'm always cooking for two. We carry the pot that came with our stove, a small frying pan, and two bowls & spoons. Most meals have something cooked in the pot and something else in the frying pan. If the pot is used for anything more than boiling water, I'll use up to a quarter-inch of water to wash it (and the bowls and spoons) with my fingers, give them a quick rinse, fling the water away, and I'm done. I store the frying pan by itself in a dedicated grocery bag, and don't wash it at all. If we were out for more 7-10 days at a time, I'd wash it now and then.

Nothing like a little sauteed zucchini to dress up some ramen noodles.
Rehydrated hash browns fried with a little fake bacon isn't bad, either.
On our last trip, I brought a packet of blueberry muffin mix, added a little water, and fried the batter like pancakes.
Yes, I carry a plastic container with some margarine.

Point is, there's lots of different ways to cook and clean. Nobody is "right."

[Another Kevin]

Point is, there's lots of different ways to cook and clean. Nobody is "right."

Nobody is "right". But washing dishes in someone else's water source is wrong. (Obviously, that's not what you're doing. I'm not talking about you.)

[illabelle]

Nobody is "right". But washing dishes in someone else's water source is wrong. (Obviously, that's not what you're doing. I'm not talking about you.)

Agreed!

[Poedog]

A little water in the pot with a packet of Emergency and drink. Fizziness cleans well and your body will thank you for the electrolytes.