Washing dishes in the backcountry

Hi all (first time poster here) ...

My family and I have camped for years, but this year we'd like to begin backpacking (the kids are finally old enough we think). One question that comes to mind is, how do you wash dishes in the backcountry? What are the eco laws about the food waste, soap, river water, etc.? I want to do this the right way.

Thanks!
adam

This really depends on what your family style of cooking is going to be. How many will you be cooking for?

If you are just eating cook in the bag type food then simply rinse out with some left over water and dry with a bandana or packtowel. There are of course nature's own tools such as grass, pine needles, moss, pine cones etc.

If you plan on gourmet cooking for you and your family, then washing up is going to be a royal pain in the backcountry and I would try to limit the amount pots you will bring. I usually select foods which are not only nutritious and tasty, but which are also easy to clean up afterwards.

If you must use soap, then get biogradable, it really is no more expensive. Of course do not wash directly in the river.

There are also a couple of current threads on water treatment of river water which are worth a look.

As for waste: pack out what you pack in.

As mentioned, it depends how you cook, and what you cook.

I keep my meals simple - mostly dehydrated "freezer bag cooking" style or commercial freeze dried stuff that just puts water in a ziploc, I eat out of the bag, and pack the bag out - the only thing that gets "dirty" is my spoon and I lick it off

I also do some cooking in my pot. Generally pastas or couscous type stuff, good oatmeal, fish I catch, etc. Then I use minimal grease. I tend to wash dishes by completely cleaning out such a pot with my spoon, then going downstream of any water collecion, and scrubbing out my pot in the stream using sand as the scrubber. This works admirably well.

On the rare occasions (fish fry) I get it really greasy, I will collect a bit of water, put a little biodegradable campsuds in the pot, warm it up a bit, and scrub, again with sand, then dump the whole greywater and sand appropriately away from camp and not in a water supply. I then go to the rinse out with sand in the creek routine after that.

Note, no leftover *food* in this scenario. if I can't eat it all at a meal, it goes in a a ziploc in my pack and gets eaten at the next meal cold. (or I just eat it all...)

but my vast preference in the backcountry is simply not to do dishes at all - hence my cooking style.

Well, I suppose the general rules are along these lines:

Dig a small hole at least 100ft from any water source (lake, river, stream, etc).

Boil water to wash and rinse your cookware.

Wash your cookware with bio-degradable soap and water and pour the dirty water and rinse water in the hole.

Fill the hole and cover it with the natural debris in the area, leaves, twigs, dirt etc. The goal is to make it look like it never happened.

Personally, I almost never boil the water I use to clean my stuff, we have good water here. I don't use much dish soap either. Sometimes I don't even bring any at all. I carry a couple lightweight washcloths and a piece of a scruff pad to clean and wipe the stuff off when I'm done eating and then I lay them out to them dry overnight.

Here are the guidelines from the "Leave No Trace" people, which the US Forest Service and National Park Service strongly recommend and/or require. Note that they suggest 200 feet from water sources for dumping your dish/washing/laundry water. In bear country, you need to filter your dirty dish water (small piece of screen) and pack the particles out with your garbage.

Be sure to check out the rules for the area in which you are backpacking--they differ from place to place! Some places want you to camp 200' from the trail and 200' from water sources. Others don't care about the trail. Others say 100' is enough. In one Wyoming wilderness area it's 200' from the trail or lakes but only 100' from running streams--I have no idea why. Some jurisdictions want you to use "established sites" while others want you to spread out away from already used areas. Rules on campfires differ, too. In alpine areas, fires are usually discouraged or forbidden--it's a matter of inadequate wood supply as well as scarring fragile meadows. At lower elevations, there's plenty of firewood, but they usually want you to use already existing fire rings. When the fire danger is high (normal in western summers), fires may be forbidden altogether. Do your research before you go!

I don't wash dishes--I use the Freezer Bag Cooking (actually rehydration with hot water, not cooking) method described on Sarbar's excellent website. After dinner, my food bag becomes the day's garbage bag and I lick off my spoon--that's all I need to do!

Hi new poster. I learned in the Boy Scouts that the only thing that will make you sicker than eating Boy Scout food is eating Boy Scout food cooked in dishes with soap residue in them. Since then I have never washed dishes camping, with soap that is. Instead I clean the dishes out with a little sand, rinse and put a little bit of water in the pan and boil it and and use my spoon to clean the pan.
Jim

Here is an excellent article from the home page of this site:
http://www.backpacking.net/. There are lots of other great articles for beginners and those seeking to lighten up, if you haven't already discovered them.

I will just re-emphasize what everyone else is saying about using soap. It is both unnecessary and likely to cause more problems than it solves when it comes to washing dishes.

I do not carry soap unless I am going to be on an extended hike lasting two or more weeks - and even then I only take a very small amount. I do not ever use it for dishes, but after about a week it feels great to stop somewhere and wash my clothes. The soapy wash water and rinse water are both transported at least 100 yards from the water source before I dump them on the ground.

For dishwashing, Jimshaw's method works excellently well. A bit of wet sand, and bit of hot water. If I am making a dry camp, I tend to put some water in the dish and scrape any sticking bits of food into the water. Then I drink the water!

Yeah, and I teach my Scouts that I better NEVER catch them using soap on one of the cast iron skillets or dutch ovens ( I realize that these are not backpacking items, but the principle is still the same).
They were amazed that we clean them just using water and some aluminum foil (put some water in the skillet/dutch oven and heat it to slightly boiling). Wad the foil up in a ball and use it as a scrubber. Usually we have some foil left over from cooking bread or some other item. Works every time.

It's the same principle as Jim's sand method but around here we don't have sand; just clay mud.

“how do you wash dishes in the backcountry?”

I’m another one that never had to with freezerbag cooking (pour boiling water into pre-fixed Ziploc bag).
It’s nice not to do dishes .

-Barry

leave only footprints, take only memories