- 3 wash tubs
- Dish Soap
- Scrubbing pad or brush
- Water
- Steramine tablets or household bleach
- Gather enough water to fill each of your tubs half-way. For standard dishpans, this is about four gallons.
- Heat about 1 gallon of water to boiling. Start heating your water as soon as the meal comes off the stove.
- Line up your three wash tubs. Fill the middle one half-way with cold, clean water. Fill the last one half-way with cold, clean water.
- Put two steramine tablets into the last wash tub, crush them, and stir the water.
- Put about half of the hot water into the first wash tub. Put about the same amount of cold water in the tub. Adjust the water temperature so that it is hot but not painful. Put a small amount of dish soap in the first tub.
- The cooking crew should collect all cooking utensils, pots, pans, etc. They should scrape them thoroughly before placing them at the cleanup area.
Do not wash the cast-iron skillets or griddles using this method.
- If food is burnt-on, stuck-on, etc., try simmering a small amount of water and scraping while the pan is hot.
- Announce the start of cleanup. Tell people to scrape their plates and utensils into the garbage bag before delivering them to the cleanup area. Scraping is important and will keep your wash water cleaner.
- Work from cleanest items to most dirty. This usually means washing personal gear first.
- Thoroughly wash and scrub all surfaces of the dishes in the hot soapy water. Give the items a final dunk in the soapy water. Shake off excess soap into the wash water.
- Put the items in the cold rinse water. The cleaner you can keep this rinse water, the better.
- Remove the items from the cold rinse water and fully submerge them in the sanitizing water. The items need to be under the sanitizing water for a full minute to work.
- Lay out items on a clean table, open-end down to dry.
- Make a "last call" for cleanup. Inspect the campsite for any dishes that might have been forgotten. It is super annoying to dispose of the dishwater and then find some more dirty dishes to clean.
- Recruit a friend - this works fastest with three people.
- If the camp has a sump, go there. Otherwise walk to a nearby wooded area away from the campsite.
- Fling or broadcast the soapy wash water into the forest.
- Using the cold rinse water, rinse out the soapy wash water tub.
- Fling or broadcast the soapy wash water tub and cold rinse water tub contents.
- Using the sanitizing water, rinse out the cold water and soapy wash water tub.
- Fling or broadcast the contents of all three tubs
- Leave the tubs face-down in the cleanup area to dry.
- Store the cleaning supplies together - the soap, scrub brush, sanitizer tablets, etc.
- Call for people to come get their personal gear
- Collect the patrol cooking equipment and store in the chuck box
- Also clean the stove. After the stove cools, take off the grating and scrape food into the trash. Wet a cloth from the soapy water and wipe down all stove surfaces.