View Full Version : Purified water needed to dishes??????
jelloitsalive
06-06-2012, 22:03
If i use a sponge with soap is it ok to wash dishes with non potable water?
Lone Wolf
06-06-2012, 22:04
fingers and sand are all ya need. soap ain't needed
no soap required. you cook and eat out of your pan. Rinse and wipe with fingers or leaves when finished. Next time you use your pan you are boiling water which sterilizes it. Swirl your spoon, fork or spork in the boiling water before adding your pasta, rice, ramen,etc. Repeat as needed.
BigHodag
06-06-2012, 22:15
If i use a sponge with soap is it ok to wash dishes with non potable water?
No, and you want to be careful about using soap as soap residue can cause gastric distress.
Soap is a wetting agent and merely makes water water (reduces surface tension). While some modern soaps contain anti-bacterial compounds, you should not count on soap killing all food born pathogens.
All rinse water likewise should be pure so as to not introduce pathogens.
Personally, when outdoors I avoid soap and doing dishes. I use freezer bag cooking and dispose of the bag after one use. When family camping, we remove all solids with a napkin and boil our dinnerware without using soap. I'm a big fan of pasteurization and sterilization.
FYI, U.S. military sanitation steps for field mess kits are: remove food solids, immerse in hot soapy water, immerse in hotter soapy water, immersion rinse in hotter clear water, immersion rinse in hottest clear water. (5 stages). Before eating the mess kit and utensils are once again sterilized by immersion in boiling water.
BobTheBuilder
06-06-2012, 22:17
Its OK with me.
If this is a concern, you can carry chlorine drops that you can use to treat your ware. These can also double as water treatment.
coach lou
06-06-2012, 22:34
fingers and sand are all ya need. soap ain't needed
I'm with ya on this one Wolf!
chiefiepoo
06-06-2012, 23:41
After a few days on the trail, my threshold for "sanitary conditions" drops considerably. Sponges hold food residue and cooties. I'd rather the sand and fingers.
Mountain Mike
06-07-2012, 00:03
I use a small scraper like this one http://www.rei.com/product/750412/gsi-outdoors-compact-scraper to get last bits of food out. I eat every last morsel then add some water swish around & drink it. Then boil water in the pot cooking next meal to sterilize. On a thru-hike after cleaning up ourselves there was still a bad funk in motel room I was sharing with some other hikers. At first I thought it was our boots. It ended up being one hikers scouring pad. They just breed bad stuff.
Saprogenic
06-07-2012, 13:21
I picked up these http://www.amazon.com/2pack-Dishcloths-scrubber-scouring-Backpacking/dp/B004KU7P4K/ref=pd_sim_sg_4 and they're real nice. I usually just pour a little water from my bottle, and wipe it clean with a rag or those cloth I linked above.
16214
Moose2001
06-07-2012, 13:26
As others have said, sponges can be bad. I take along a 6" x 6" piece of plastic orange sack. Store it inside a ziplock. Works well breaking up any burnt or stuck food inside the pot. I do use a tiny drop of Dawn as well. Works well for me. I wash and rinse the pot with drinking water. However, if you use untreated water just make sure the next time you use the pot you bring everything to a boil. Should be fine if you do.
The absolute hardest thing to clean on the trail is a titanium spark after eating Mountainhouse Chili Mac or Lasagna.
I don't know what they put in that cheese but you can glue tiles on the Space Shuttle with that stuff!
Sand? lol
coach lou
06-07-2012, 14:14
Sand? lol
It's a Parris Island thing!
SouthMark
06-07-2012, 15:41
It's a Parris Island thing!
Not just a Paris Island thing. I am not a Marine nor a member of any branch of the service but I learned over 40 years ago the value of sand to scrub and clean pots and dishes but of course that was back before paranoia was a backpacking staple.
coach lou
06-07-2012, 15:51
LOL means lots of laughs...... all the sand in p-a-R-R-i-s Island is a joke to we Marines......... Does anyone on this site laugh anymore?
hikehunter
06-07-2012, 23:02
Mountain Mike is right. Use the "KIS" method.
rocketsocks
06-07-2012, 23:23
If i use a sponge with soap is it ok to wash dishes with non potable water?I would not bring a spong,as they harbor extreme amounts of bacterium.I use a little rubber scrapper for the pot,and a very dilute splash of water,potable(same water I drink).
After a few days on the trail, my threshold for "sanitary conditions" drops considerably. .
Ha...Last summer, I took a friend who had never backpacked through SNP. The first night, she was so meticulous about sweeping out the shelter and instructing us all to be careful because "mouse turds carry all kinds of diseases." By the last night of our trip, she was picking up some MnM's that fell off the picnic table onto the ground (into the area the shelter dirt is swept)!
The absolute hardest thing to clean on the trail is a titanium spark after eating Mountainhouse Chili Mac or Lasagna.
l
Trying Mountainhouse Chili Mac this weekend. Why don't you just let it cook in the bag and save a mess?
A stick works well at scrapping off anything that is hard to get off if cooking in the pan. For me though, I boil water and add it to a Ziploc bag with my food. It is easy, it works and no cleanup is involved!
Cherokee Bill
06-08-2012, 06:21
Use the boiling bag method, then there is no pot/dish to clean! Just packout the boil N bag!
LOL means lots of laughs...... all the sand in p-a-R-R-i-s Island is a joke to we Marines......... Does anyone on this site laugh anymore?
Being a former resident of PI I get it. But tell me this...where the heck to you find "sand" on the AT. When I think of sand, I think of the beach. When I think of "dirt"....I think of the AT. I never really considered dirt and sand as being quite the same. Am I wrong? BTW...I pretty much just boil water in my pot.
Cat in the Hat
coach lou
06-08-2012, 10:53
Being a former resident of PI I get it. But tell me this...where the heck to you find "sand" on the AT. When I think of sand, I think of the beach. When I think of "dirt"....I think of the AT. I never really considered dirt and sand as being quite the same. Am I wrong? BTW...I pretty much just boil water in my pot.
Cat in the Hat
Eddy pools always have sand............Semper Fi Brother!
BobTheBuilder
06-08-2012, 13:22
It's not the MountainHouse bag you can't get the lasagna cheese off of, it's your spoon. It...just...won't...come...off!
rocketsocks
06-08-2012, 14:11
Eddy pools always have sand............Semper Fi Brother!And little "Gold" nuggets too.See"Placer"minning. also see Nessie http://www.keeneeng.com/nessie.html or you could just bring your own sand for doing dishes.
ya know,it just dawned on me ,that after a day of hiking you could take the sand out of your shoes,and use that on them stuburn dishes.
SouthMark
06-08-2012, 14:54
LOL means lots of laughs...... all the sand in p-a-R-R-i-s Island is a joke to we Marines......... Does anyone on this site laugh anymore?
Sorry coach lou, I misunderstood your post.
coach lou
06-08-2012, 15:16
Sorry coach lou, I misunderstood your post.
It's all good, someone b****** me out recently on a post and it was clearly people doing knuckle head stuff. Now on todays EPA thread, in the Humor file, folks are gettin' all serious, and AWBer said so. Just want to scratch my head sometimes. I'm the kind of guy that wakes up with a smile 'cause I woke, and I move on from there! We got a few WBers here that are still getting that PI sand out of their scivvies!
If you move the rocks in a stream around you can usually find sand for scrubbing pots. I always add the suds from a small sliver of Ivory Soap. My pots always come out clean and non greasy when on the trails.
Scrape clean with spork -> pack without washing -> boil everything I cook to sanitize
I can't imagine buying and tossing a freezer bag for every meal. Plus scraping the crusty bits off the inside of the pot is the most delicious part. But then again I don't make coffee or any hot breakfast, so all of my meals have enough flavor to cover up whatever was cooked last.
If I go into town I might wash my pot in a sink, and of course it gets scrubbed well when I get home.
Odd Man Out
06-08-2012, 23:06
...I can't imagine buying and tossing a freezer bag for every meal...
+1 on that. But I have struggled with the need to boil water for coffee and tea and cook in the pot at the same time. I don't want to carry a second pot. So for breakfast I make hot cereal in a large plastic bowl (basically FBC with a reusable "bag") and the rest of the hot water makes coffee. Then at dinner, I cook in the pot and make tea later for dessert/nightcap.