Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I've almost always carried dry foods when camping, but my boys are now in Scouts and that makes for actually cooked food. But being a bunch of kids, their cleanup skills leave MUCH to be desired.

It's got me thinking about the best way of cleaning. How do you clean up after a oatmeal, stew, or whatever on the trail?

One of the best ways is to scour it with sand. Sand is generally plentiful at the bottom of a stream. Scour the bowls and pots then just rinse them off in the water. Dry or air dry and done . Make sure they are dry before packing them up.

Ditto on the sand.

Be careful about your water source for rinsing. You could fill the pot after it is clean and let it boil to prevent organic contamination.

You can also apply soap to the outside of the pot prior to use over a campfire to prevent carbon build up. Be careful that this soap does not get into the food inside of the pot.

I've used a bundle of Equisetum ('horsetail') before in a pinch. It's nature's pot scrubber--has ridges and natural silica that make it mildly abrasive. Carry a bundle or gather fresh.

There is a really neat trick to cleaning greasy dishes. If you have a greasy bowl or what not, all you have to do is take some of the wood ash from the fire and toss it into the bowl. As you rub the wood ash around the vessel, just as if you were washing it normally, the wood ash reacts with the fat/grease to create a kind of lye soap. Seeing as the two ingredients for traditional soap are wood ash and animal fat, it makes sense! It is extremely helpful, especially with cleaning frying pans that have just cooked meats such as bacon or sausage. I can imagine Samwise loving this technique!

Ruinar Hrafnakveðja wrote:There is a really neat trick to cleaning greasy dishes. If you have a greasy bowl or what not, all you have to do is take some of the wood ash from the fire and toss it into the bowl. As you rub the wood ash around the vessel, just as if you were washing it normally, the wood ash reacts with the fat/grease to create a kind of lye soap. Seeing as the two ingredients for traditional soap are wood ash and animal fat, it makes sense! It is extremely helpful, especially with cleaning frying pans that have just cooked meats such as bacon or sausage. I can imagine Samwise loving this technique!

I actually have read about this before, but had forgotten. That one's perfect for on the trail.

One thing that I was taught as a wee rangerling is to really work to eat all my food. I'll get into it with my fingers at the end to get all I can. Then I'll heat some more water in the pot, swishing around quite a bit to get the dregs loose and drink down the "broth".
That way, cleanup is really minimal.
For fatty stuff, like bacon, make sure to have some bread to soak up the drippings to eat. Even rice or grits would work for that.
The less you leave in the bowl, pot, cup, or whatever, the less cleanup there is.
For the actual washing, I like to just rub down with a wet rag or bit of sponge with a little soap and rinse with some hot water.

imaginatus wrote:I'll heat some more water in the pot, swishing around quite a bit to get the dregs loose and drink down the "broth".

This is also my preferred method and uses little water (often a concern) while utilizing all available calories. I often follow up meals with tea, so it can be a two for one deal.