PEP BB nest.sand.dishes - Wash Dishes by Hand

Dave Burton wrote:This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum.  Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Nest.

In this Badge Bit you will wash your dishes without a dishwasher.



Here are some related threads.
  - Washing Dishes by Hand vs Dishwasher
  - Can You Wash Dishes Without Soap?
  - Low water technique hand washing dishes
  - A Way to Rinse Dishes with Little Water

Here are some related articles.
  - Hand Wash Dishes with Minimal Water
  - No Waste Way to Wash Dishes
  - How to Hand Wash Dishes
  - Washing Dishes by Hand
  - Why I Prefer Washing Dishes by Hand

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
  - wash dishes without a dishwasher
      - use minimal soap
          - must be greywater friendly soap (the soap usually says "greywater safe" or "readily biodegradable")
      - fill a dishwasher with clean dishes using less than 3 gallons of water
          - or approximate equivalent
              - might require five rounds in a small dish rack
          - yes, you are using the dishwasher as a dish drying rack

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must:
 - post a picture of the dirty dishes in the sink
 - post a progress picture of the dishes being washed
 - post a picture of the completed dishes with obviously less than 3 gallons water used
 - describe the soap used, its grey water friendliness, and a link to the verifiable biodegradeable dish soap
 - OR post a 2 minute video of you washing the dishes by hand

For this BB, I used the Oasis All-Purpose Cleaner / Dish Soap at the Fisher Price house:
[https://www.bio-pac.com/oasis-biocompatible-cleaners/oasis-biocompatible-all-purpose-cleanerdishwash/](https://www.bio-pac.com/oasis-biocompatible-cleaners/oasis-biocompatible-all-purpose-cleanerdishwash/)

This evening we had bread soup bowls for dinner, so there were plenty of dishes to take care of afterward. I included two photos of the measuring cup with the soapy water — one showing the starting amount, and the second showing what was left after all the dishes were washed.

Everything was gently rinsed and then loaded into the dishwasher to dry. The cast iron skillet got a proper seasoning afterward as well.

Dave Burton wrote:This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum.  Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Nest.

In this Badge Bit you will wash your dishes without a dishwasher.



Here are some related threads.
  - Washing Dishes by Hand vs Dishwasher
  - Can You Wash Dishes Without Soap?
  - Low water technique hand washing dishes
  - A Way to Rinse Dishes with Little Water

Here are some related articles.
  - Hand Wash Dishes with Minimal Water
  - No Waste Way to Wash Dishes
  - How to Hand Wash Dishes
  - Washing Dishes by Hand
  - Why I Prefer Washing Dishes by Hand

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
  - wash dishes without a dishwasher
      - use minimal soap
          - must be greywater friendly soap (the soap usually says "greywater safe" or "readily biodegradable")
      - fill a dishwasher with clean dishes using less than 3 gallons of water
          - or approximate equivalent
              - might require five rounds in a small dish rack
          - yes, you are using the dishwasher as a dish drying rack

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must:
 - post a picture of the dirty dishes in the sink
 - post a progress picture of the dishes being washed
 - post a picture of the completed dishes with obviously less than 3 gallons water used
 - describe the soap used, its grey water friendliness, and a link to the verifiable biodegradeable dish soap
 - OR post a 2 minute video of you washing the dishes by hand

For this BB, I used the Oasis All-Purpose Cleaner / Dish Soap at the Fisher Price house:
[https://www.bio-pac.com/oasis-biocompatible-cleaners/oasis-biocompatible-all-purpose-cleanerdishwash/](https://www.bio-pac.com/oasis-biocompatible-cleaners/oasis-biocompatible-all-purpose-cleanerdishwash/)

This afternoon we had our Christmas dinner, so there were plenty of dishes to take care of afterward. I included two photos of the measuring cup with the soapy water — one showing the starting amount, and the second showing what was left after all the dishes were washed.

Everything was gently rinsed and then loaded into the dishwasher to dry.

Trying again with a different soap. I did more research on greywater safe soaps and found this one. I bought a small bottle of it at my local Walmart.
https://www.seventhgeneration.com/blog/dos-and-donts-greywater-systems

I used empty ice cream buckets to measure my water usage. Each one is a gallon and I filled them between halfway and three-quarters of the way.
Entire dishwasher is full to the brim with clean dishes now!

Washing a ton of dishes by hand (no sweat), with greywater friendly soap (check), with 3 gallons of water or less (OMG 😱).

Not sure how to put photos online with text here,  but Photo 1 is my soap, Meyers Clean Day.  

Link for soap:  https://mrsmeyers.com/collections/dish/products/liquid-dish-soap-lavender?variant=50673243685138

Photo 2 is my sink and counter with dirty dishes and pots.  And Photo 3 is my 3 gallons of water.  At this point, I am thinking I will just need to be mindful compared to my usual running-water-guzzling style.  

Photo 4 is 1 gallon of water in the sink and the first batch of dishes.  I am beginning to feel genuine concern.  Photo 5 is of my water jugs.  Photo 6 is after I added another half-gallon water. Its getting done,  but I am faced with the fact that I truly am a water hog.  

Photo 7 is clean but unrinsed dishes on left side, and Photo 8 a measly gallon of rinse water on the right.  Why didn't I start with something easy,  like a hugelkulture???

Photo 9 is my rinse water after rinsing,  and the last few really gross pieces (gotta love teenagers and their honey mustard addiction).  Photo 10 is the rinsed dishes on the right side of the sink (this load did not include the bread slicer,  it was still there from yesterday).  

Photo 11 is how I do most of my pans. I used a little of the rinse water,  and heat it up on the stove,  then pour it out, and scrubbie a bit, and they come out great.

Photos 12 and 13, pans clean and all the rest of the dish load.  

This BB is pretty easy considering my dishwasher has been broken for 3 years

I don't have a dishwasher or enough dishes to fill one rack, so I am submitting three separate loads together. I used no soap, a few teaspoons of baking soda, some paper towels, and about 2.4 gallons of water in total. The steel bowl holds about 11 cups maximum. I collected all water in the bowl and pot during washing to later use it to flush the toilet.

I don't have a dishwasher, so I did two large loads of dishes for this BB.

I used a small squirt of Mrs Meyers Clean Day Lemon Verbena for each load of dishes.

The first time, I scrubbed with soap and then rinsed with fresh running water into the sink basin, using the rinse water to scrub the next items. I saved the largest and dirtiest items, my pot and pan and casserole dish, for last. That helped to keep the water clean longer, but for the second load I switched it around and used the pot and a big bowl to hold soapy and rinse water, replacing the rinse water as needed. Other than the pot I still waited until the end to wash anything with food stuck on.

Total water used looks like roughly two gallons? A bit more for the first load, less for the second one since I didn't turn the sink on as many times.

Okay, trying this one again.

I'm not really sure how many dishes I'm supposed to do, but I used 4.5 litres of water, which turns out to be 1.2 gallons, so I've lowballed myself a bit.

I think the link to the soap website's on the label, a photo of which I'm uploading.  It's pure olive oil soap, anyway, which is detailed on the label.

The two rackfuls took 2 pitchers, and the extra dishes along the worksurface were done with the third.

Hoping it's enough!

-- Jojo