cleaning cooking wear during and after a trip

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Mikeblack

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Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Michael
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I'm curious everyone's here method on taking care of cleaning your cooking Ware. Be more conscious of environment using materials that is environmentally friendly is becoming the standard these days. I was also wondering what cleaning product to use to take care of your stainless steel and cast iron cookware the last part of my question is what is your method for clean down and getting out those tough stains and baked or cooked on food that kinds of stays there after a few trips.
 
Our process is to first attempt to minimize how much gets dirty during any given meal. We collect all these items in a plastic dish tub.

When it is time to do the dishes any remaining solid food is scraped off or wiped up with a paper towel and put in the garbage or fire (if we have one).
Then we heat a small amount of water over the stove an add biodegradable camp soap. Once the water is almost too hot to touch we use a scrub brush to clean the dishes, rinse them using minimal water, and put them to dry on a net under our camp table. One key is to wash things in order of clean to dirty to keep the soapy water clean for as long as possible, so usually scraped plates (little residue) first and and anything with raw meat or eggs last.

Stainless steel can be tricky if it gets really dirty. I carry a non-stick pan for things like eggs, and we make sure to not burn items in the stainless pans so that they can be cleaned with a scraper and water. If anything did burn on we have Bar Keepers friend at home.

At the end of the season I run everything through our dishwasher.
 
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Plastic scrubbing cloth, very hot water, minimal soap. I use a military style wash basin, as a wash up area.
If I can have a fire I have a small pit beside the fire with a tin can in it for waste water. I just let the water boil off and collect the can. In very sensitive area's I use a old milk jug and lug it home or dump at a sani dump if possible.
 
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Mikeblack said:
I'm curious everyone's here method on taking care of cleaning your cooking Ware. Be more conscious of environment using materials that is environmentally friendly is becoming the standard these days. I was also wondering what cleaning product to use to take care of your stainless steel and cast iron cookware the last part of my question is what is your method for clean down and getting out those tough stains and baked or cooked on food that kinds of stays there after a few trips.
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I heat up my cast iron griddle after cooking and add water. Boil off all the stuck on pieces and scrub lightly with a brush. I got a wash tub on amazon that pops down into a cutting board. Works soooo good for cleaning other things. - Courtney
 
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Like slomatt said - bio-degradable camp soap (I use Coghlans) and Bar Keepers Friend once home for stainless steel.

I keep a squirt top bottle with soapy water handy. Good for washing hands or dishes in a small pop-up sink. I think the bottle also helps me use less water, since I can see it getting emptier. I keep things pretty minimal, using as few dishes as necessary, so I don't need to make clean up a big production. I usually have a cup or two max of grey water to dispose of when I'm done. When I grow up, I want to become a better camp cook. Then clean up will be more involved.
 
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Bio safe soap for washing, for cleaning my cast iron I use hot water and a piece of chainmail I found on amazon. It works great at getting the stuck foods out and is what they recommend for cast iron.
 
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Good topic! I use a hand pump with a sink sprayer attached. I scrape all waste in a bag and and wash in plastic tubs. I then boil water in a large pan and everything gets dipped or rinsed. I have a non stick fry pan and the rest is stainless, plates are Melmac. Waste water is dumped in the firering if there is one or a sump dump away from camp. When I get home everything gets hand washed and put back for the next trip.
 
We only use Cast Iron to cook when out. ( Most of it gotten at flea markets and yard sales)
1x Large Pan, 1x Griddle/Grill Plate, 1x Flat top pan that I use as a lid for the Large pan, 1x Dutch oven that is also used as a pot when needed
To reduce the need for cookware dishes we try to cook all we can at home before the trip and vacuum seal most of it so it is done more like Boil a Bag meals. This has reduced our cook a cleaning time huge as that is really just a pot of water boiled.
Everything else really depends to the seasoning of the pan. If WELL seasoned it can be wiped down. If very dirty it gets washed in the hot water after the plates and mugs are done.
Everything gets a full cleaning once home and re-seasoned if needed. The large pan is going on 2 years without the need to re-season and it is used at least 2-3 times per week.

The water used for wash is put in a large jerry can and either dumped at a RV Dump station or at home in the shop sink
 
Cast iron, particularly Dutch ovens, I learnt some stuff a while back on a week-long river float on Fork of the Salmon River. The guides prepared at least one, sometimes two big meals per day in multiple Dutch ovens. They ALWAYS lined them with parchment paper. Saved much cleanup. They had cooking for 20+ people down to an art. We were REMOTE floating through the Frank Church Wilderness so they had to conserve. Another cool thing was collecting all our water from springheads on the mountainsides. Tasty! And, the hot springs were nice too.
 
Keeping cookware clean on trips can be tricky! I always pack some biodegradable soap and a small scrubber. It makes cleanup easy, and the gear is ready for the next adventure.
 
I cook on stainless so I take either some citrus juice or vinegar in water to deglaze while it's still warm. A quick wipe with a paper towel cleans it out and then a quick wash with biodegradable soap.
 
Like Ronald Howard said ^, I use the chainmail cleaning pads found on Amazon. Sooooo much better than steel wool! It doesn't take off the seasoning just the stuck food bits. I try to not use dishes, by myself I eat out of the cook wear. If I have a fellow camper paper plates or bowls. I use Dawn dish soap if it's safe enough to clean oily animals..............
 
I have a rotopax water container on the side of my jeep (2 gallon), and wash my items there.
Things are easier to clean when they're still a little hot.
I use one of those scrubbers that holds soap inside. Once dry, they go into my large totes.
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With limited space in a 2dr JK water is a valuable commodity not to be wasted. Over the years we have narrowed it down to a spray bottle with vinegar and one with a 10 to 1 bleach mixture.

We wipe out any food residue and then spray with the vinegar and wipe again. After drying we disinfect with the 10 to 1 bleach mix and let air dry.
 
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