How to wash dishes without soap

Dish soap is a widely-used surfactant that can remove grease and bacteria from kitchen utensils, but what you should use instead when you are in an emergency or camping? Don’t worry, we’ve listed some other choices that are both safe and efficient. Read on to learn more.

Clean dishes with baking soda

At first, rinse large food residues or use a sponge to wipe them off. Then sprinkle baking soda evenly on the surface of the plate. If they’re stubborn food residues left, just leave them for a while before washing. Pay attention to the consistency as only the right water-to-baking soda ratio will form the best paste. After that, rinse the plate clean with your hands under running water.

Clean dishes with wood ash

Wood ashes are natural, traditional cleaners before dish soap was invented. Note that any ash from plastic or trash doesn’t have the same use because they contain toxic substances.

First things first, you should remove large food residues. Then add the wood ashes and hot water into the plate or pot until they form a paste. Leave them for a few minutes, and let potassium salts resolved from the ashes interact with the fatty acids in the grease.

Because the wood ash paste can harm your skin, wear gloves to erase the paste and rinse the utensils in clean water.

Sanitize dishes with chlorine bleach

Baking soda or wood ashes can remove the grease, but the bacteria could still exist. In this case, you can sanitize the dishes with chlorine bleach. Prepare a bucket, pour in 1 gallon of cold water (hot water will make the bleach unable to sanitize things), and 1 tablespoon of unscented chlorine bleach. Soak the dishes for at least one minute, then rinse them clean and let them air dry on a dish rack or well-ventilated space.

Sanitize dishes with hot water

If you find it a bit complicated to follow these methods, try hand washing dishes with hot boiling water. It can help remove odor, grease, and bacteria as well. Make sure you wear gloves as the splashing hot water can harm you. Let the dishes soak for at least 30 minutes. And use a sponge or microfiber cloth to scrub them clean.