How to minimize water use

[LoupGarou]

What reduced my water consumption was taking out the sink and replacing it with an enamel wash basin. I can fill it with just enough water that I need and place it directly on a single burner butane stove to heat up.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=enamel+w...sprefix=enamel+wash+basin&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_17

 

[becida]

But here is a link to a youtube channel from a woman who is using a very small pressure cooker making meals including pasta for one person.

The video was good! Thanks.

 

[WanderingRose]

Doing pasta in a thermos is a great idea, and I’m going to have to try that.

I have a small InstantPot, and you can add pasta to your own sauce & fixins done on the sauté function, add water just to cover, stir well, and pressure cook about 6 minutes.

No boiling, add some chopped kale or broccoli and you have a one dish meal.

Now, the trick for one person to using less water while not cooking enough to feed four adults.

 

[becida]

I have a small InstantPot, and you can add pasta to your own sauce & fixins done on the sauté function, add water just to cover, stir well, and pressure cook about 6 minutes.

Now, the trick for one person to using less water while not cooking enough to feed four adults.

Do you run your instapot off batteries or are you plugged in?   Can't you just put enough food in the pot for that one meal?

 

[WanderingRose]

I haven’t tried it off batteries, but doubt they would be enough.

I have only used it on electricity, but am going to try it with the generator later this year.

You could put just enough food for one person/meal in it, but that would seem a real waste of power.

I strive for cook once, eat twice.

 

[ckelly78z]

I strive for cook once, eat twice.

 A very good habit for saving electricity, and water. Sometimes a larger pot of chili, or spaghetti, will yield several helpings of leftovers, that actually taste better than the first day you prepared it.

 

[maki2]

Of course thinking that cooking pasta with a whole lot of water is the only way it is done, well that is not true. Opinions have changed on pasta cooking techniques. People do love to experiment with methods of cooking. So now some well known chefs use just enough water to cover the pasta making sure to stir it now and again so the pieces don't stick to each other. This technique would be suitable for lower water use.

Here is an article from "CookingLight" that has other things to say about the method of cooking pasta with a lot less water and how to use reuse the water you cook it with.
https://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/your-pasta-water-is-liquid-gold

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

You ever cook pasta in a pressure cooker? . . . 

Yes I cook pasta in a 3 qt. pressure cooker.  Put in noodles and water, heat up to pressure, put in insulated bag and let cook for 4+ hours.  With the correct amount of water out come hot, wet, cooked noodles.  With pasta or rice, don't fill over half full.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

It becomes apparent once you boondock, hauling water becomes a precious commodity, especially in the desert. Conserving it yields benefits such as you can go farther and longer without the costs/time/travel to resupply.
Not much can be done for personal intake other than stay in the shade and cool.

That leaves cooking and cleaning
Low water cooking and cleaning helps.
Spray bottle with vinegar mix to clean dishes and wipe right away is one method.
Garden sprayer with the mist attachment for showering is another. Challenge yourself to see how little water it takes to do the job. Possible with .5 gallon or less? Wash your hair in the morning over the sink with a 500 ml water bottle is another challenge, as well as keeping your hair short.
Compare the original misting nozzle to the sink sprayer conversion many recommend to see the difference in effectiveness and volume of water used. Try it at home in the shower.
Spritz baths are another method in between full proper showers. Alcohol wipes or simply alcohol with a pad can be another cleaning method in between.
Washing your clothes at the laundromat is another viable option to conserve toted water.
The savings and convenience add up creating significant benefits when you conserve your water.
You appreciate it much more when you have to work to haul and are away from an easy, plentiful supply.
Just some tips and tricks that may be of help if they haven't been thought of before.
Cheers to that over a nice glass of conserved water!

 

[maki2]

This won't help solve today's question about water conservation, but it will make it less of an issue some day in the future for RV nomads, even those who are boon docking in the desert. Imagine not even needing to go into town to fill up water containers but being able to capture it right from the air at your own campsite!

They do exist now but it is not yet ready for retail. Two pounds of crystals can capture water molecules from the air and produce approx 3 liters of water per day and then release it into a container for storage. That is nearly a gallon of water.
Here is the link from Science Magazine about this proven to work technology.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/new-solar-powered-device-can-pull-water-straight-desert-air

I sure hope they get fantastic funding and can make it both affordable and small enough in size to be reasonably portable for RV use. Many areas in the world are in huge need of this type of device.

 

[Dingfelder]

You ever cook pasta in a pressure cooker?  
I'm a big fan of spaghetti but that uses a lot of water so I cut way down when I have to carry the water. I never thought of a pressure cooker...

Don't need much water if you do it a way that became famous a few years back.  I can't find the link that started it all, which I remember used to be available from Martha Stewart's site but seems to have disappeared and been replaced entirely by her own version, which was brought over by someone who witnesses it for the first time in Italy, if I recall correctly.  Anyway here is another decent one that at least gives food for thought:

https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/05/how-to-cook-pasta-salt-water-boiling-tips-the-food-lab.html

There are ways that do it with less water, but ... damn I wish I could find that other recipe ... been searching for an hour now and I give up.

Ah I found it through more stubbornness!

https://food52.com/blog/13936-the-l...-us-martha-stewart-s-one-pan-pasta-7-new-ones

 

[Dingfelder]

I strive for cook once, eat twice.

Me too, at a very bare minimum (I love my giant slow cooker), but I have reliable access to electricity now, so I don't have to worry that if I can't eat a second serving by breakfast or so, it will be no good or even dangerous.

Cooking is much less onerous when you divide cooking time by a decent number of meals.

 

[WanderingRose]

Using a jar of pasta sauce, then just enough water to cover your pasta works well in the small instant pot, then no water to pour off and less water overall than if you are boiling in a separate pot.

I would like to find small jars of pasta sauce, or maybe the answer is canned tomatoes and my own seasonings.

I like the little stove top pressure cooker shown in the link in post #20.

Have never seen one of those.

 

[WanderingRose]

On another water conservation note, throwing away toilet paper separately rather than flushing conserves a tremendous amount of water.

 

[Tool Amour]

I found a tiny pressure pump sprayer (think like the 1-gallon chemical sprayers, but about the size of a Nalgene bottle) at the ReStore, still in original packaging. I'll be testing it this summer to look for ways to minimize water use while boondocking. My mother-in-law clearly has never lived without running water, and wasted WAY too much water while washing/rinsing dishes. I can also imagine this thing being just the ticket to rinse off and feel like you'd really had a shower, as opposed to scrubbing oneself down with a washcloth and drying off. I never feel like I get truly clean.

 

[becida]

 I can also imagine this thing being just the ticket to rinse off and feel like you'd really had a shower, as opposed to scrubbing oneself down with a washcloth and drying off.  I never feel like I get truly clean.

I always found a rented shower well worth the money... wet wipes in between.

 

[michaelwnoakes]

Man! That's a rough way to live!! I gotta have my coffee!! And Ramin soup! Can't forget the Ramin!!

I use a french press, only using the amount of grounds and water for one cup at a time. Wipe out grounds with a rag.

 

[becida]

I use a french press, only using the amount of grounds and water for one cup at a time. Wipe out grounds with a rag.

I use a drip cone, just enough water for my one cup, then get I toss the filter. https://www.amazon.com/Clever-Coffee-Dripper-Large-Ounces/dp/B073X5CT33?th=1 

Cleaning the french press was more work than it was worth IMO. It would be different if I was making more than one cup at a time... 

I boil my water in a whistling tea kettle I got from a goodwill. I keep looking for one with a two tone whistle!

 

[Dingfelder]

I would like to find small jars of pasta sauce, or maybe the answer is canned tomatoes and my own seasonings.

I can find cans of anywhere from I think 4 to 32 ounces in many supermarkets.

I do like to start with canned tomatoes,though, and cook them down.  I enjoy the extra texture and lack of salt and other weird ingredients you'll likely find in pre-made tomato sauces.  I caramelize some onion first, a bit of tomato paste, maybe add some garlic, and then use the canned tomatoes to loosen up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot, as a first step.  Comes out with a lot of flavor that way and it's cheaper than most decent canned sauces too.

 

[becida]

I've seen tomato paste in a tube, tomato paste helps a lot when added to canned tomatoes. 

FWIW I once made some sauce from a few Roma tomatoes in a pan, they broke down all by themselves into a sauce before very long. Add spices & some tomato paste to thicken it up... One serving!