Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 4: With liquid soap
• Method 2 of 4: No soap
• Method 3 of 4: The second method without soap
• Method 4 of 4: Using a household spray
• Tips
• Warnings

What to do with dirty dishes while hiking? You just fold the dirty dishes and then you can't use them again. Disposable tableware will not work as it will require you to carry garbage bags with you. Fortunately, there are several options for how you can wash dishes in nature, and in this article we will tell about them.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: With liquid soap

1. 1 Apply a thin film of biodegradable liquid soap to the bottom of the cookware before you start cooking. This will prevent the pots from turning black, and it will be easier to clean them later.
2. 2 Boil dishwashing water over a fire while you eat. It is much easier to wash the dishes immediately after eating, because otherwise food residues will stick to the edges and harden.
3. 3 Prepare three pots or pots.
   • Boiler for washing. It should contain hot water with dissolved drops of biodegradable liquid soap.
   • Hot water for rinsing. The water must be clean.
   • Cold water for rinsing. A small amount of bleach or a similar substance must be added to the water to kill bacteria (see tips at the bottom of the article).
4. 4 Wipe off any leftover food from the dishes before washing them. Wipe down plates, pots, and utensils with a napkin to remove food debris. This will keep the wash water cleaner for longer.
5. 5 Rub the dishes in the dishwashing kettle. If you do this right after eating and cooking, you will need to rub only a little (unless you burned the bottom of the pot while cooking).
6. 6 Dip the dishes into a hot water rinsing kettle and hold them there with tongs. This is a mandatory step, since you need to wash off all the soap from the plates so that you can eat from them later without fear of health.
7. 7 Immerse the dishes in cold rinse water for 20 seconds.
8. 8 To dry the dishes, place them on a clean towel on the ground or on foil. Let the dishes dry naturally or dry them with a paper towel.If you want to air dry the dishes, place them in a clean, dry bag with drawstring made of mesh material and hang them on a tree branch or anywhere else so that the bag of dishes does not touch anything. The air and the sun will dry everything quickly enough, and clean dishes will not come into contact with dirty surfaces. The bleach will evaporate.
9. 9 Drain the water left over from the dishes by passing it through a sieve to retain any pieces of food.
10. 10 Take the cauldron of water 60 meters from your camp or river, and then throw it out into an open area or flood a fire with this water.
11. 11 Transfer the contents of the sieve into a bag, and put the bag into a backpack.
12. 12 Pour the rinse water into the dishwashing kettle to rinse out any remaining detergent. Then drain the water to the same place where you poured it the first time.
13. 13 To disinfect the kettles, rinse them with cold water in which you rinsed the detergent from the dishes, and then dispose of the water in the same way as before.

Method 2 of 4: No soap

1. 1 Take sand or gravel. It is best to take them from the riverbank, as there will most likely be no organic matter.
2. 2 Heat the water as described above.
3. 3 Spread the cooking fat over the crockery, top with the wood ash from the fire and add a few teaspoons of hot water. You should end up with a thick dish soap, but it might be too aggressive (see warnings at the bottom of this article).
4. 4 Rub the dishes with sand or gravel to remove food from them in the dishwashing kettle. Rinse in another pot.
5. 5 Blot dishes or dry in the sun.
6. 6 Heat the dishes before cooking to get rid of bacteria.

Method 3 of 4: The second method without soap

1. 1 Before lighting a fire, clear a place for it. Do not throw rubbish into the fire. Wood ash is an excellent dishwashing detergent. After you finish eating, let the coals cool to medium heat.
2. 2 Take the large cauldron. If you have a cauldron with crusts and residues of fat, this will work.
3. 3 Use a long spoon to place food into the cauldron with hot coals. About two cups of charcoal should be enough for you.
4. 4 Add a little water to form a liquid mixture with ash pieces. It should be hot, but not scalding.
5. 5 Spread the mixture over the dirty dishes. It will look terrible, but this method actually works. Rub the charcoal on the frozen food. If any adhering pieces will not come off, leave the mixture of water and ash for a while in this area.
6. 6 Take a cauldron with clean water and dishes and move 60 meters from the camp. Place the dishes up the hill and start rinsing them. Pour water on top of the slide to save money. Set each clean plate aside in a clean, dry place. Don't forget to rinse your hands.

Method 4 of 4: Using a household spray

1. 1 Use nonstick cauldrons and grills, and a separate, cheap camping kit (one you won't mind). When the kettles are still hot after cooking, wipe them off with a paper towel, holding it with tongs to avoid scalding your hands. Use as many towels as needed. The boiler should appear practically clean.
2. 2 Apply window cleaner or any other household spray to boilers (a small amount is sufficient) and leave it on surfaces while you eat. After eating, spray onto plates.
3. 3 Dry the dishes with paper towels so that there are almost no marks on them.
4. 4 Rinse with clean water.
5. 5 Understand why this is a good way. Less water is polluted and discharged into water bodies. Food in the water does not start to rot, and therefore ants or rodents do not come to the camp. Food leftovers are wiped off and thrown into the trash, or incinerated rather than dumped into the water. If you want to make your hike sustainable, dry the dishes with a cloth towel and then wash at home.

Alternative way.Lick your plate before the food hardens. You can pour water to loosen the stuck food, and then swallow the water. The same can be done with pots and pans. This method is chosen by radical conservationists.

Tips

• It is good to remove the remnants of adhering food with pine needles or fallen leaves.
• One cap of bleach will be enough to sanitize 20 liters of water, so for 5-8 liters you will need very little of this substance. Place 10 drops in an 8 liter bucket. This way you don't have to lug around a large can.
• Think about the order of washing dishes: cups, plates first, and cauldrons at the end. Boilers are always the most polluted. In addition, when cooking, they heat up, and this in any case kills all germs.
• If you don't have enough buckets or kettles with you to wash and rinse dishes, you can grab a heavy-duty garbage bag and insert it into the box.
• The warmer the water, the better. The high temperature allows you to better wash dishes and kill bacteria.
• Always wash your hands before handling dishes to keep germs from spreading.
• You can take some plastic dishes and fold them in half (this will cut down on the weight of the backpack and quickly wash the dishes). After eating, lay out the plate - it will be much easier to wipe and rinse.
• If you do not have detergent and cannot find sand or gravel, you can wipe off food leftovers that adhere to the dishes with dirt, but you will need to wash the dishes in practically boiling water.
• Some travelers give up bleach. If you are washing dishes with hot water and detergent, this should be sufficient.
• Teflon dishes can be simply wiped off with a paper towel and disinfected.

Warnings

• Alkaline water from the mixture of ash and fat can damage your hands. In rare cases, its use results in burns similar to acid burns. Wear gloves if you have them with you, or skip this remedy and wash your hands after you're done.
• Do not rinse soap dishes in a nearby body of water. Even if your dishwashing detergent says “biodegradable,” it will still harm the inhabitants of the water.
• The use of bleach and other detergents has a negative impact on the environment. They cannot be used in protected areas.
• Bears and other animals go for the smell of food. Do not leave food or food waste near tents and camps.
• Do not use stagnant water as it is likely to contain dangerous parasites.