Food waste?

[Zybane]

Believe it or not, the one appliance I miss the most since going full-time in an Airstream is not the dishwasher or laundry machines. It's the garbage disposal!

How do you guys handle food waste? With a garbage disposal, food waste is disposed of very neatly and cleanly. When cleaning pots and pans etc, the food now must be trapped by the sink strainer, the sink strainer dumped in the garbage can with invariably it being all gunked up/nasty have to scrape crap out. Then you have to empty your garbage can every single day due to the smell.

Surely there must be a better way! I'm almost to the point of trying to figure out a way to put in a disposal under the sink.

[HeadWest]

I do my best to wipe out, scrap out any food waste from pans and plates before washing them. This way I'm keeping the grey tank cleaner and lessening the chance of problems down the road. I usually don't have a lot of crud in the strainer after dishes.

The bigger challenge we have is finding a trash disposal option when boon docking. Some places it is easy but sometimes it is tough to find and we don't like storing trash for very long, especially with the food waste.

[AWCHIEF]

Garbage and trash goes in can. I have a cat and empty the box several times a day. Poop goes in a covered can and then emptied into the trash can and tossed daily.

[Lily&Me]

Never having had a garbage disposal, and having no place to put a garbage can in the Interstate, I hang a Brawny, 3 gal black trash bag from a hook on a lower cabinet....and use it.

[Sphere Guy]

Wipe all dirty stuff with a paper towel before going into the sink or down the drain, left over liquids as well. And they all go into the trash.

Emptied daily to the large trash bins or whatever the park provides. Usually a short walk. Gives us exercise and another chance for the dog as well.

If it smells, we put into a larger bag and into the back of the truck it goes until the next day. So the park critters don't get into it.

No problems with any of these. Just have to do it, that's all.

[centennialman]

I took the garbage disposer out of my house and compost everything. In the Airstream, I wipe everything off with a paper towel so that the least amount of grease etc.. is going to the gray tank. Then I wash the dishes with dawn detergent which is a great grease cutting agent.

[Foiled Again]

DITTO on what prior posters have said. Garbage grinders just movery waste around (to rot in sewer lones,septic systems and regional waste treatment facilities.
PLANNING can cut the amount of waste you will have... and simplify disposal. I use paper towels and junk mail catalogs, spare napkins I got from Starbucks to pre-wipe plates. Being single I've even eaten a few snacks directly from a boiling bag!
Coffee grounds are good fertilizer for evergreens so they can be tossed on the ground in many places.

A rubber scraper really gets most of the gunk off of plates and skillets, too. If you want something that can create a lot of grease.like bacon or meatballs, then make it in quantity to heat and use as needed. Get rid of 99% of the grease up front by pouring it into an empty can or jar.... then seal it and/or freeze it until you find a Dumpster or trash can.

You're going through an adjustmemt... that will quickly become normal. Happiness is finding the missing diamond from your ring in the drain elbow which will not happen if you're used to running a disposal after every meal!

Paula

[nvestysly]

We don't have much food waste but when we do, including scraping/cleaning the strainer in the sink, it goes into a small plastic zip lip bag and goes in the refrigerator. In the refrigerator it doesn't smell. We add to it when needed and leave it in there for up to a week.

We don't make much garbage. We empty our trash twice a week or so. Even at that it's typically only a small grocery bag. When we empty the trash the "specialty" bag from the refrigerator is thrown out too.

Sounds strange to store food scraps in the refrigerator but it doesn't take much room and keeps the regular trash from stinking and attracting insects.

[dkottum]

I wouldn't want that going into the gray tank. Unlike the black tank there is no flush system. Use garbage can liners in the can, wipe the dishes/cookware as clean as you can before going into the sink for washing, and empty the can daily if possible.

[CRH]

I let the dog lick the pots and pans.

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by CRH

I let the dog lick the pots and pans.

Ha,ha,ha, and we thought we were the only ones who do this


George

[Hittenstiehl]

We also, scrape well before washing and use Dawn or biodegradable soap.

We keep those plastic bags that you put your fruit and vegetables in at the grocery store. Unlike the regular grocery store bags those clear bags usually don't have holes in them.

I will usually deposit our small plastic bag with meal scraps in a larger dumpster if we are near one after every meal. If not we have a Homer bucket in the back of the truck with a lid and it can go in there untill we hit civilization again.

[McDave]

While I appreciate the convenience at home, I probably wouldn't use a garbage disposal in the AS even if one were available. Grey water capacity seems to be our primary limiting factor, and it would definitely run out sooner with a garbage disposal. I suppose this wouldn't be so much of a factor if we were staying where there were full hookups, but we tend to avoid those places as much as possible. Scraping and dog licking solves most of the waste in sink drain problems.


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[Rich W]

Although I put a new Waste King in the house last year, the wife won't let me put anything down there but liquids. She says it smells when food is put in there and ground up. So we don't use it at home and there isn't one in the AS. Since we don't use the one at home, we're used to it now and don't miss it in the AS. Like the others, we throw food waste in the trash can, but we don't have a lot anyway. To keep smells down in the trash can we put some scraps (like raw chicken or fish) in a Ziploc bag.

[Glenritas]

Paper towels and zip lock bags are your friend !

At home my wife bakes bacon in the oven a pound at a time on a baking pan lined with foil and when done and cool enough I put the pan in the refer to solidify the grease. When solid I fold the foil into a small square and place in a zip lock bag then put in the trash. The pan remains clean.

In the trailer I wipe the dishes and pans with a paper towel before washing.
Depending on location I may put the towels in a zip lock bag for later disposal.