I also firmly believe in no soap in the backcountry. Even minute amounts of so-called "biodegradable" soap are harmful to aquatic life, especially amphibians which are having lots of problems anyway. The soap dumped 200 ft. from a current water source will be in the water source after the next hard rain or snow!

My cooking method is simply rehydrating home-dehydrated meals. I pour the hot water into the freezer bag containing the food, stir and let it sit 10-15 minutes in a cozy. I then eat the food out of the bag, which is later re-used for garbage, such as that toilet paper that must be packed out. The only item I have to wash is my spoon. Lick it off, pour clean water over it, dry and I'm good to go. Many thanks to Sarbar of trailcooking.com for saving me from my most hated activity, washing dishes!

I hopefully will be frying some fish this summer (gotta catch 'em first, though!). To clean the frying pan, I'll be using the boiling water method described above, dumping the water a long way from camp or water sources. If your pan isn't non-stick, sand works great for scouring. Just to be sure, the frying pan will be stored in the bear bag at night.

When out with my grandkids, I rehydrate the foods in bulk, several servings in one plastic bag. We each have a cup, spoon and bowl to wash. I use a small piece of paper towel (which goes in garbage or in campfire if we have one, or in the used freezer bag if not) to wipe food off the dishes. I then boil a pot of water, dunk the dishes in the boiling water and dry.