dish cleaning

[kayak karl]

what do you carry? how do you carry it? how much?
.....to clean your eating utensils and pots.

could hand sanitizer or even toothpaste be used as a substitute? bleach?

thank you
KK

[bigcranky]

I have a little tiny dropper bottle I got from backpackinglight, which has maybe 1/2 ounce of dish soap in it. A couple of drops in hot water is plenty. To scrub I use a piece of an onion bag -- wadded up, it does a great job scrubbing, then it shakes dry. No nasty wet sponge to grow things inside my pack.

I put the dish soap in the dropper bottle a couple of years ago and it still has plenty in it.

[warraghiyagey]

I use just my cooking pot and spoonie. . . just rinse them clean with a little water from my platy and wipe clean with bandana. . . . no dtergents needed, for me anyways. . . :)

[Helios]

I bring a 1/2 of a green scrub pad and scour the daylights out of my spoon and jetboil. Works for me.

[Anumber1]

I use just my cooking pot and spoonie. . . just rinse them clean with a little water from my platy and wipe clean with bandana. . . . no dtergents needed, for me anyways. . . :)

I do the same thing, whatever doesnt come clean from rinsing will get boiled or steamed out while cooking the next meal.

[kayak karl]

if the container you hydrate your meals in in plastic you can't boil it. so what then?
i got very sick in sept last year. just thinking this stuff out.:)

[Sarcasm the elf]

I bring Doc Bronner's soap in a small bottle with a twist cap and use it for almost all my cleaning/hygiene needs when camping including dishes. This along with a small piece cut from a Sham-wow towel is more than enough to clean the few dishes I use.

[leaftye]

I'm still figuring this out. I don't want to use my bandana because it's not as clean as I'd like. I also don't want to carry around extra soap and a sponge. I'm thinking next time I'll put soapy sponges in my resupply boxes. I'll give my shaker bottle a good cleaning when I get in town. That's enough to keep my bottle pretty clean since it's already rinsed out many times a day by new drinks and occasionally straight water.

[Cabin Fever]

Make Garvey Soup! (see Model T's Walkin' on the Happy Side of Misery)

[kayak karl]

i need to read a book.
what did it say about that????????????????

[Danielsen]

I always just scour dishes out with coarse grass, and add something abrasive like sand if necessary. Even plain ol' dirt is generally clean enough and scour-y enough. I know that sounds wierd, dirt being clean, but getting the old food out with relatively benign (and mostly sterile, apparently) dirt is better than letting your old food bits fester in your pack all day for bacteria to multiply on.

They taught me this on a canoe trip back in highschool and I've never been on a trip where myself or anyone else doing so has gotten sick.

[JAK]

I think there is a good case for metal vs plastic here, for anything in contact with food. This is especially true if you have a wood burning stove, like a hobo or kelly kettle, here going all the way to 212F is not an issue. If you do use plastic for bowls, and an alcohol stove, I think they can be sanitized just as well at 160-180F vs 212F, if you are thorough, but there is nothing like pouring water that is still boiling to know for sure you are cleaning the heck out of everything in sight. Scalds are an issue though. Everything has a downside.

Wood ash is great for cleaning also.

[garlic08]

I never carried soap, either, when I used to cook. Like many others, I would scour the pot with whatever was on the ground, give it a quick rinse, then boiling before eating out of it again.

[Gray Blazer]

The hand sanitizer has been working for me past coupla years.

[Feral Bill]

Hot water does it. Metal cookware does not hold grease. Leftover hot water makes a nice hand wash. (poured over hands)

[Don H]

I do freezerbag cooking. The only thing that needs to be cleaned is my spoon. Just lick it clean after then stick it in the boiling water before the next meal.

[warraghiyagey]

I do the same thing, whatever doesnt come clean from rinsing will get boiled or steamed out while cooking the next meal.
Eggzactly . . . . :)

[kayak karl]

been reading about the ONE pot system like some have said. if brought to boil each time your good.
ive never tried freezer bags:-?

[Pedaling Fool]

I always feel good when I get sick even when I've been sick on the trail...Seriously, I really do feel good, because I always get a feeling that my immune system is getting stronger. So in a strange way I welcome sickness.

I don't carry soap, I use the one-pot system (never knew there was a name for it). But I'll have to admit that it always has a oily feel to it because I don't scrub it after eating, I just get the debris out and pack away. The oily film is because I use a lot of oil when I cook my dinners. I do clean it with soap when I get home.

[Lyle]

No soap for my pots unless I'm at a kitchen with hot and cold running water to guarantee a proper rinse.

handful of mineral soil works well as a scrubby, or, in winter, a handful of snow (especially course, "corn" snow).

As others have said, heating the next nights dinner, destroys any remaining nasties.

[GeneralLee10]

if the container you hydrate your meals in in plastic you can't boil it. so what then?
i got very sick in sept last year. just thinking this stuff out.:)

You could possibly boil it, if the container will fit in your pan. Just need to be able to put water around the container. Maybe three small pebbles in between the plastic container and the bottom of pan. This would act like a steamer, kinda.

I say this cause I made a few muffins on the Trail this year in a 2qt PanLiner Bag. In my pan with water and a small alum. disc under it acting as a stand inside the pot/pan.

[Jonnycat]

I do freezerbag cooking. The only thing that needs to be cleaned is my spoon. Just lick it clean after then stick it in the boiling water before the next meal.

Same here, another one of the benefits of FBC.

[Jester2000]

I always just scour dishes out with coarse grass, and add something abrasive like sand if necessary. Even plain ol' dirt is generally clean enough and scour-y enough. I know that sounds wierd, dirt being clean, but getting the old food out with relatively benign (and mostly sterile, apparently) dirt is better than letting your old food bits fester in your pack all day for bacteria to multiply on.


This is what I do as well.

[JAK]

Dirt is good. The bugs in it are actually beneficially, or so I understand. Not that I wouldn't rinse afterwards. I've also heard that changing you kids diapers actually boosts your health for similar reasons, because it provides conatct with healthy bugs. In the home you find the most dangerous bugs in the kitchen, not the bathroom. So if you have to eat off the floor, the bathroom would actually be the safer choice. It does make sense that dirt in the middle of nowhere is likely to be safer than places around where people congregate and handle food and stuff. Bugs that infect people, tend to be around people, not dirt.