doing dishes...saving water??

[livesimply5]

It seems like I go through a ton of water doing dishes. Are there any tricks beside spending money to buy plastic silverware and dishes that could possibly save me some water?? Thanks!

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I use a two dish pan method that my grandmother used even when conserving water wasn't an issue.  One with about a gallon of warm soapy water for washing them.  Wash all the dishes at once and then rinse them in a second dish pan with a gallon of clean water all at once.  Then dry them with a dish cloth after the rinse and they are very clean.  Depending on the amount of dishes, you could probably even get by with using a half gallon for each of the dish pans.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Spray bottles work well. One with a few drops of Dawn and one with clear water.
Wipe out goopy pans or dishes to make washing easier.

 

[Hippiechk]

I use a one litre garden sprayer to conserve on water. I use it so much I made it a holster! *smile*

 

[ice_maiden]

water is something I have to use very conservatively, so I do use paper plates. That still leaves plenty of dishes to do.

As Every Road said use the dish pan method... fact is I use the same one he pictured.

Wipe all the food from the dishes with a paper towel or napkin before putting them in the dish water. Your dish water stays cleaner so it last longer or you can use less water to begin with.

Or if you are using the faucet do not turn it on full blast to rinse, turn it on very low over a dish pan. Then you can reuse some of the water in the dish pan for silverware and such

when rinsing a bowl or pan catch some of the water, swirl to rinse, then use that water to rinse something else.

 

[rvpopeye]

I have seen some that had a mini herb garden on the dash and that rinse water can go there !
Also , if you have an RV with a toilet the water can be reused to flush saving the fresh water for food prep or drinking.

 

[Gypsy Jane]

I've written about the spray bottles. When I have a lot of dishes, I use two dishpans, but only fill the soapy one. Then I use a teapot full of Very Hot water to rinse, pouring over each dish, then there's enough in the pan to swish the utensils but it uses less water than filling the rinse tub to begin with, usually. Unless you've fed a crowd.

 

[USExplorer]

Wash your dishes in the bathroom sink of the local park.

If you eat a water-based diet, washing dishes is very easy. Pour enough water in a pot to cover the bottom, scrub it with a brush while swirling the water around, then toss out the window. Repeat if necessary. No dirty hands, no soap or hot water necessary. Baking soda helps with light grease and crusted-on food, but I've never had to use it.

If you use grease in cooking, first wipe out your pot with a paper towel, then add baking soda and a little water to your cooking pot and bring it to 180 degrees F or so on your stove. The baking soda will undergo a chemical reaction and become sodium carbonate, which is a very powerful degreaser. Scrub and dump as before. Rinse once with a small amount of clean water. Unlike dish soap, sodium carbonate is non-toxic in small quantities and does not make a mess. Save the greasy paper towels for starting campfires.

On the road, many of us have very limited resources and have to leave sticks n bricks habits behind. The complete table setup with silverware and tablecloths and saucers and glasses and centerpieces is reserved for stationary housing. When cooking on the road, there is nothing wrong with eating right out of the cookware using the cooking utensil, drinking out of a canteen, and washing dishes in a creek or bathroom (as long as we don't throw the dirty water back in the creek or clog the sink).

Just a note on reusing graywater for plants; the food particles in dishwater can produce a foul odor when decaying, so it is not ideal for indoor plants.

 

[Gypsy Jane]

Wash your dishes in the bathroom sink of the local park.

I'd rather not carry them into the bathroom, which is probably less than sanitary shall we say, and likely to have those annoying kind of faucets.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[highdesertranger]

I am surprised no one has mentioned prewashing. I have a prewasher, he is also a car alarm, camp guard, and overall great companion. highdesertranger

 

[akrvbob]

99% of the time I use spray bottles for dishes. Wipe them down with paper towel, srray with water from quart bottle, wipe again. Repeat till clean. One final hit with a spray bottle with pure white vinegar, leave it for a few minutes, final wipe--done.

I've done that every day for 8 years, never an issue.
Bob

 

[Hippiechk]

I am surprised no one has mentioned prewashing.  I have a prewasher,  he is also a car alarm,  camp guard,  and overall great companion.  highdesertranger

Mine just takes too darn long...

 

[GotSmart]

I am surprised no one has mentioned prewashing.  I have a prewasher,  he is also a car alarm,  camp guard,  and overall great companion.  highdesertranger

Is his name "Coldwater?" 

 

[ilovemyvan]

One more trick, do your dishes as soon as you finish your meal. It makes the whole process much easier than dealing with dry sticky food to plates etc.... Oh ya, speaking of easier to clean, if you use cheese in your cooking, add it to the dish at the last minute.

Nicole

 

[jimindenver]

This is how we have done it in a tent, van and now the trailer.

First use as few dishes as possible. I have never understood cooking something in a pan only to dump it out on something else to wash.

Second as others have mentioned, wipe everything down as soon as possible.

Use as little soap as possible and you will use less water to rinse.

We usually do dishes once a day. The hot water comes from the solar cookers, the coffee pot run off of the solar, the residual hot water from showers or if we have to the stove.

The silverware goes in to the largest glass/ cup with one drop of dish soap and filled with hot water. Those are washed and the water sent to the next cup so the glass and silverware and first cup can be rinsed with hot water again. And so it goes with the hot soapy water going from item to item and so is the hot rinse water.

Now you only start out with a cup or two of water and that's not a lot to do a days worth of dishes and pans. That's why we use hot water to rinse. It gets soapy but as long as it is hot it is added back to the dishwater as needed so that in the end you have enough hot soapy water to do the pans with ease. (still not a lot)

The last few items the rinse water doesn't go into the dishwater, it is saved to rinse the wash bin after the dishwater goes into the fire bucket. All in all a days worth of dishes take less than a gallon of water.

 

[accrete]

We incorporate many of the above ideas related to water conservation. It's usually just my wife and I so we have our own plate/silverware/mug we keep track of during the day. Mostly for anything other than the final meal before closing galley up we simply wipe with a moistened paper towel and remove any food. Then we do the same thing before using said items. Then after use for the final time that day we do the pre-wash-rinse with paper towel, and a spray bottle with some diluted cider vinegar. We've had no issues that we are aware of health wise due to utilizing this cleaning method. There are times we utilize paper plates if the meal calls for a bit more room than the ~7" titanium plate.

Thom

 

[livesimply5]

I use a one litre garden sprayer to conserve on water. I use it so much I made it a holster! *smile*

very cool holster! i will try this!~

 

[livesimply5]

I am surprised no one has mentioned prewashing.  I have a prewasher,  he is also a car alarm,  camp guard,  and overall great companion.  highdesertranger

ha ha!

 

[livesimply5]

99% of the time I use spray bottles for dishes. Wipe them down with paper towel, srray with water from quart bottle, wipe again. Repeat till clean. One final hit with a spray bottle with pure white vinegar, leave it for a few minutes, final wipe--done.

I've done that every day for 8 years, never an issue.
Bob

Thanks. So no soap just water..then vinegar spray..

 

[Almost There]

I use a 1/2 gallon of water or less per day for dishes. I also only do dishes once a day, it's not my favorite chore so I tend to ignore it until I can't any longer...

Somehow I just can't get past using a spray of water on anything to get it clean, maybe it's all a mindset but there ya go.

I use a regular sized plastic dishpan with maybe 1/2 or 3/4" of an inch of cold water then add seriously hot water from the kettle. Silverware and kitchen utensils first, then plastic cups/mug etc, plates follow then pot lids and then the pots.

I do wipe down really yucky plates and pans with a paper towel first.

By the time the last pan is clean, the water is some seriously dirty. I carry a 2 1/2 gallon 'gray water' tank and pour the dishpan water in to it with a funnel. Wipe out the dishpan and dry the dishes...task done!!