How many American people really know how to properly wash dishes clean when camping in the field with no hot water, no soap, no sponges? Typical answer: "Why would I want to wash paper plates and plastic utensils?"
I did not give this much thought at the time you asked but recently I have been wondering about this. How does one wash the dishes when away from civilization?
This question is open to anyone to answer.
Jeanette Isabelle
It depends on your definition of "away from civilzation."
Are you out for a few days or a couple of weeks hiking trip? Carry a small bottle of dish detergent. The travel size (2 oz) bottles of shampoo are available from almost any drugstore for around a dollar or so. Once you have emptied the shampoo, fill the fill the bottle with dish detergent. Used in small judicious amounts, this bottle will last quite a while.
There are other methods of cleaning pots and dishes such as using sand, ashes etc. However getting them completely clean of food containaments is vital as there is nothing worse then getting a severe case of the trots 20 miles from home because of food posioning. One thing to keep in mind also, food poisoning can develop in as little as a few hours to a few days after intial contact. This would not bode well if you are 3 days into a hike with no methods of rescue. Attempting to walk out in such as weakened state could be life threatening in it's own right.
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Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
John Lubbock
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