Paper plates

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
mockturtle said:
Although I know it is convenient to use disposables, I prefer not to when possible. I do, however, use toilet paper. :D

If you want to be REALLY green, use both sides :D :D :D

-- Spiff
 
It is like a soufflé , you only brown it on one side :^D
 
Terry, I'm sorry for your loss. I know exactly what you are saying. Activity helps ease the sadness.
 
This is just a warning on plastic plates (those foam ones). The first time I cooked breakfast with them, I drop some hot bacon on one, it went straight through the plate and dropped to the ground...
 
anm said:
This is just a warning on plastic plates (those foam ones). The first time I cooked breakfast with them, I drop some hot bacon on one, it went straight through the plate and dropped to the ground...

Yea, Styrofoam is not known for it's ability to withstand hot objects. If it's hot enough to eat, then it's too hot for in Styrofoam.
 
p 14:
One Awesome Inch said:
I saw one RVer on youtube wrap his plate or bowl in plastic wrap / saran wrap. I thought that was a good idea.  
On the road, that would be, for me, an useable practice when cooking. I usually have small cans/pouches of food that I consume cold, in one meal, or a meal plus snack later. For hot stuff, I would probably get fast food, or hot deli.

One Awesome Inch said:
You could also wrap your cooking pan, just the top, in tin foil to warm up chilli etc.

THIS, I think I love! Several years ago I bought a huge roll of Costco heavy duty tin foil for a project, and still have most of the roll. I will try this. Lining the steel pot and maybe skillet with tin foil. Even if I toss it after each use, it has the potential to save me a lot of energy. Right now I need that help... I will cart that box in asap!
I could even use the commercial non stick ones I have. I quit using them a while back because of the health risks.
THANKS,OAI!   :cool:
 
I acquired a silicone bowl at Wally World - it folds down to about 1" thick cleans easily, and can cold boiling liquids. Right now I keep it in my locker at work for lunches.
 
I use paper plates from time to time and carry some in the van. I maybe use 7-10 a month, and I don't worry myself overmuch about them.

What I do most of the time with my dishes is the same as SternWake: I wipe my utensils and dishes down with a napkin until they're visually clean. Then I use an alcohol wipe to disinfect all the dishes. Of course, I can't see that working with a pan that has burned eggs on it, but it works for the simple stuff.

It's interesting that SternWake and I came up with the same solution. He must have realized what I did, that soap and water is a means to disinfection, not the very definition of cleaning. Alcohol or even a Clorox wipe disinfects. If I had a solar oven, I'd even consider baking my dishes to kill the buggies instead of using a chemical agent.
 
I own only one large-ish glass (high quality ) bowl and i use it for everything. When done I wipe with one paper towel then wipe with one baby wipe. Works for me!
 
Ella1 said:
p 14:
On the road, that would be, for me, an useable practice when cooking. I usually have small cans/pouches of food that I consume cold, in one meal, or a meal plus snack later. For hot stuff, I would probably get fast food, or hot deli.


THIS, I think I love! Several years ago I bought a huge roll of Costco heavy duty tin foil for a project, and still have most of the roll. I will try this. Lining the steel pot and maybe skillet with tin foil. Even if I toss it after each use, it has the potential to save me a lot of energy. Right now I need that help... I will cart that box in asap!
I could even use the commercial non stick ones I have. I quit using them a while back because of the health risks.
THANKS,OAI!   :cool:

Welcome!
 
I eat off my frisbee, what's the point of cleaning all those dishes, they're just going to get dirty again. (<;
 
You can wash dishes in cold/room temp water. The warmer water is better for greasy stuff, but cold water is still okay. I have used the Proforce Pink dish detergent (my normal hand wash dish detergent) in cold water. I imagine Dawn would work well in cold water. I also have put the water in a dirty pan (the one I just cooked in) popped the flame back on for a few minutes to heat the water up a little and loosen the cooked food. Shut the heat off and put a little dish detergent in the pan to wash it. I put a little bleach or commercial sanitizer in the rinse water if using cool water to wash with. I use bamboo plate holders lined with the paper deli sheets from the food service section of Sam's Club, not regular paper plates. If it's too wet for the deli sheets, then it's too wet for a cheapie paper plate. I also RV and do not boondock so this might not work for some people. I don't dare mention how I have been doing dishes for the past week..
 
as mentioned elsewhere... my wife and I full time in a 40ft 5th wheel and go out on monthly week-long adventures in our van conversion. We do use paper plates at _home_ quite often. It was one of those silly things I said back in ~2010 when we were planning to sell the farm and move into something smaller and mobile (the fiver)... "Honey, if we are gonna live in an RV I want to use paper plates!" . . .she was all for it. We do have corelle ware plates and bowls, and nice mugs for beverages. It's not that we don't use the corelle ware plates, we just choose paper when it makes sense.

When on the road we most often use titanium utensils, plates, bowls and cookware. Cleans easy with a wipe and a dash of bleach in ambient temp water.

: ) Thom
 
I don't like the feel of paper plates/bowls, and even less the feel of styrofoam.  Something about the way the fork scraps across the surface.  Kind of like how people are freaked out about scratching a chalkboard with their fingernails (that actually never bothered me).  
Generally I just eat out the pot I cook with.  Less to clean that way.  

Even in my apartment where I have plenty of dishes, too many really, I'll eat what I take off the stove straight out of the pan/pot.  My steel cut oats come to mind.

I know, I know, I need to get a larger stove and gas canister.  I use this thing so seldom and it boils water so incredibly fast, I'm really not sure when I'm going to get around to it.  :p

 
Top