You have all the dishes to cook up some great meals but how do you clean them? Don’t use plastic or Styrofoam plates or spoons. Paper plates do have their place but regular silverware and dishware is much more sustainable and a lot more pleasant to eat with.
There are basically four items to make sure are packed in your camper. First, a couple of big pots or at least one big pot. Secondly, environmentally friendly dish soap. Third, a couple of dish towels. And finally, a couple of containers for washing and rinsing dishes.
Make sure you have a big clean pot(this pot will be the priority after the meal once cleaned) or have two big pots to use at your campsite. Designate one strictly for heating water to have on hand for drinking water that you have boiled for 3 minutes and cooled before use. Remember, to make drinking water, boiling is the best method to kill any organisms in the water. Or this will work for your hot water to have for cleaning and rinsing the dishes.
Next, you’ll need a dish soap safe for the environment. There are biodegradable soaps considered environmentally friendly that are chlorine and phosphate-free. To be considered biodegradable, at least 90% of it breaks down into water, carbon dioxide and biological material within six months. Use soaps like Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Soap or No Tox Life Vegan Dish Block. For additional information with products based on the toxicity of a products chemical components, consider the nonprofit, Environmental Working Group(EWG) as a resource.
You will also need a couple dish towels and/or a landing place for clean dishes once they are washed and rinsed. Also two containers, one for washing in soapy water and one for rinsing the washed dishes (rinse well otherwise you’ll need a bathroom close by for several visits). We like our containers to be multi-purpose, so collapsible containers fit nicely in the trailer, work well for washing and rinsing and with handles on them, they work for a quick shopping trip(no bags needed).
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