Washing dishes

[RFP]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

We have a double sink which one side always has the sink cover on it so we typically just wash in one sink.

Scape off food scraps into garbage.
Wipe of plates with paper towel
Fill the sink with an inch or two of soapy water.
Stack the plates, normally only 2, in the soapy water.
Use a sponge wand to clean plate.
Rinse plate from sink sprayer for a few seconds
Dry and store
Repeat for other dish
Wipe out fry pan with paper towel
Use left over dish water in sink to clean off pan.
Rinse under spray faucet
Dry and store
Repeat for pots used to steam veggies. I usually drain the water into the soapy sink, scrub with sponge wand, rinse with spray, dry and store.

I've measured where 1 gallon of water comes up in my sink so I can usually wash the dishes with 1 gallon or less of water.

Using paper plates cuts down on dish washing.

Kelvin

Although we have the one huge round sink, this is exactly the system we use.

Originally Posted by Paddledipper

Somewhere on these forums I read a recommendation to keep a refillable spray bottle of Dawn and water to spray the dishes wipe and rinse. We've done this a while and it seems to work well.

Ooooo, that's a good idea!

[Piggy Bank]

Check out this small pan and strainer from Ikea.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f295...te-138781.html

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by Paddledipper

Somewhere on these forums I read a recommendation to keep a refillable spray bottle of Dawn and water to spray the dishes wipe and rinse. We've done this a while and it seems to work well.

That is a really good tip for boondocking.


Maggie

[Len n Jeanne]

Originally Posted by Zybane

I definitely would not recommend wiping dishes with Lysol wipes. Those very strong anti-bacterial chemicals aren't meant to be ingested (they leave a film when dry).

I've been contemplating whether I want to go with disposable paper plates and cups etc vs using water and soap for normal dishes.

Both have their pro's and cons of course.


Dishes Pro's:
1. Unless you break them, they should last forever.
2. No recurring costs besides soap.
3. No extra trash (besides food scraps).

Dishes Con's:
1. Must manually clean every piece after use.
2. No Dishwasher machine in Airstream
3. Heavy water use. Decreases boondock capability.


Paper dishware Pro's:
1. No cleaning, just toss in trash.
2. Much less water use.
3. Less time investment dealing with cleaning dishes.


Paper dishware Con's:
1. Recurring purchase cost.
2. Larger storage volume due to consumable nature.
3. More trash.
4. You still have to clean cutlery, pots and pans with water/soap.
5. You physically have to go out and replenish stock (can be done when grocery shopping).
6. Isn't as nice or sturdy as proper dishes.


I think I may have to settle on having disposable for boondocking, and regular dishware for travel camps. Any thoughts?

Um, er-- actually, we rinse off the Lysol in hot water, and then normally we wash the dishes in hot soapy water, with or without our water conservation method. The wipes are to remove the major particles on the dishes, vs. doing a water-consuming pre-wash rinse.

We use permanent non-breakable dishes except occasionally when we stop for a picnic-type lunch during an all-day drive, or we're serving more people than we have dishes on board.

[Knuff]

Would suggest a week or two backpacking for getting the point of less is more. You do not need to nuke all bacteria. The sun, wind, and dry weather works wonders. For the rest, your immune system is a great invention. To avoid filling up the gray water tank, just use the salad bowl and then water the plants. Paper plates are great fire starters, and paper towels as well.
We do boondocking for 5-6 days without issues using simple principles.


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by Plasma800

We wipe, save in bag - use as kindling along with toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, and saved dryer lint.

Depending what was on the paper plate, we might actually re-use it.

For instance.. sandwiches? Wipe and re-use that night.

Hi, sometimes using our paper plate for Dusty's next meal works great. Has that people food smell, but no people food.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, we have the double sinks. We keep a plastic tub in one of them and a dish rack in the other. Wash the dishes in the tub, rinse them in the rack. Dump dish water down toilet. [make sure there are no forks in the tub when you dump it]

I have also put a towel on the stove top cover and let the dishes dry there.

[streaminwild]

Pets make great dish washers................... OK pre wash cycle

[gypsydad]

We started out with the 12" round, 6" deep plastic pans and would fill one with water for rinsing and the other keep in the sink to wash. We just used a microfiber pad to set dishes on to dry, and would wipe out larger items and store as washed. We would throw out the dishwater, to keep the gray from filling. We have since moved to a collapsible, rectangular drain dish rack and collapsible pan from Amazon. This works much better; we still use one round dish pan to wash and we now spray off in dish rack and dump out both pans when done, collapse and put away. Paper plates are also used a lot; we have velcroed a paper plate holder and napkin holder under the cabinets above the lounge/dinning area for easy access. The real solution of course, is AS to get back to the rectangular sinks like they used to offer...(Sorry for the picture size shown...did not know how to size from snapshot at Amazon) :-(

[LBOskiBear]

I forgot to mention that I set my plastic drying rack on a dishtowel while going through the whole rinsing process. I then use the towel to hand dry any remaining moisture. The drying rack ends up being handy in the cabinet to keep cups/mugs in place during travel. It gets packed fairly tightly and the mugs are set in it to keep them from flying around. They are isolated from the bottom surface of the cabinet and also isolated from crashing into each other. When I contemplated getting a new folding, put-away drying rack, it occurred to me that I'd lose this functionality, so I've kept the plastic rack.

[lornahanen]

what's a quick reply?

[MelGoddard]

I really miss the double sinks that my previous RVs had. One to wash, one to rinse/disinfect, and a drain tray on the counter. Airstream used to provide double sinks on certain models, but it looks like they are 'cheaping out' on sinks as well as other things.
BOOO!

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by MelGoddard

I really miss the double sinks that my previous RVs had. One to wash, one to rinse/disinfect, and a drain tray on the counter. Airstream used to provide double sinks on certain models, but it looks like they are 'cheaping out' on sinks as well as other things.
BOOO!

. We miss the double sinks also we had on earlier 25' models! They clearly do not have a women on their design team it seams.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by MelGoddard

I really miss the double sinks that my previous RVs had. One to wash, one to rinse/disinfect, and a drain tray on the counter. Airstream used to provide double sinks on certain models, but it looks like they are 'cheaping out' on sinks as well as other things.
BOOO!

Originally Posted by gypsydad

. We miss the double sinks also we had on earlier 25' models! They clearly do not have a women on their design team it seams.

Hi, I'm sure happy with my Safari's double sinks. 2005 was a good year.

[fran&frank]

I bought a dish rack that collapses like that tub (Lowes -like Home Depot) and an extra long drying mat at WalMart. I have a tub from WalMart that had I used in my Rpod to soak items and then rinsed them in the sink. The collapsible tub looks interesting. I also bought a chrome sink bottom rack to go in the round sink so water drains off items you drain on it in the sink just like my big sink at home. It is rectangular but covers most of the round sink bottom.

[Lily&Me]

The collapsible tub is handy for many things, and stores easily.

Right now is a good time to find round "dish pans" at WalMart...many pretty colors, in the area for patio ware and pic-a-nic-ing.


Maggie

[switz]

Our 2014 Classic came with the double kitchen sink. They are small and shallow. The single round deep stainless sink in the 23D allows for easier washing. (Husband speaking)

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by switz

Our 2014 Classic came with the double kitchen sink. They are small and shallow.

This is one place where Airstream could take a lesson from the boating/yachting industry. There are plenty of small-but-deep sinks made for sailboats that would be much more effective than what Airstream uses. Sailboat sinks have to be deep enough to hold a usable amount of water even when the boat is heeled over at a 20° angle.

[PaulnGina]

Is it just me?

Why would anyone design an RV with a galley in it, then put a single-bowl sink in it? Especially when these vehicles are "premium". Lay out $100K+, then have to buy a $2 plastic mixing bowl to wash dishes? Makes no sense to me.

I would rather have two sinks and choose to not use them than to have one sink and wish I had another.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by PaulnGina

Why would anyone design an RV with a galley in it, then put a single-bowl sink in it?

For the same reason that apartments often have a single sink. Designers just naturally assume that those with small kitchens don't really cook so they don't really need to clean up, either.

Of course, in my case they're half-right… I don't really cook, just heat-and-eat, but I still need to clean up after.