No sink cooking techniques?

We lived for 5 yrs. with no running water in the house. If you know this is a possibility, for a fairly short while, you should have on hand: a large, clean garbage can, filled with water. ( We filled ours at least once a day from the well, via buckets.); 2 wash basins-- larger is better; plastic dish pans work well; a small sauce pan or something similar to use as a "dipper".
You will wash in one basin and rinse by pouring clean water from the dipper, in the second basin. You can use the rinse water in the second basin for the first rinse of muddy vegetables or rinsing dirty dishes before washing, before you discard the rinse water.

The rinse water can go into the garden or down the toilet if the toilet is working. It's amazing how little water you actually need if you don't have it running from the tap.

Edited by: Weaver

Start up the barbie.

We used to have a pot belly. Boiled the kettle on it all through winter. And some occasional cooking. Including baked potatoes in with the coals.

Eat raw food. From plain old salad to marinated fish.

Then there's the old the fridge is broken and I must eat everything in it moments.

Thanks, Weaver, for the practical tips. #3 - I thought of raw foods, but kept mentally bumping into water & sink needs - to wash veggies or clean up after slicing anything. As for the broken fridge --when we had storm damage that took out power for a week we learned we're very fortunate with neighbors and local grocery stores that are set up to temporarily store reasonable amounts of frozen/refrigerated food. Between those offers and ice chests we were slightly incovenienced but not at a stand-still.

My family has a famous Thanksgiving dinner story. It was at my aunt's house where there was no dishwasher. After dinner for 25 people, the first shift of human dishwashers started, only to discover that the kitchen sink trap had a big hole in it. The notion of finding (and paying) a plumber at 5 PM on Thanksgiving was pretty daunting, so we were trying to decide if the bathtub or shower would be better.

Then one cousin had a bright idea. She worked as a home economist and had the keys to a demonstration kitchen about 20 minutes away. The kitchen had two dishwashers. So my cousin and I took the half a ton of dishes, put it in the back of a red VW microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the city dump. I mean the test kitchen. And yes, it was a red VW microbus. I owned it.

We pulled up, explained things to a startled security guard, and sat around and gossiped for a couple of hours until we got all those dishes cleaned.

I've met a couple people who live in remote, mountain areas where at least once a year, a storm takes out power & it can take days to get it back. Both groups have organized things with neighbors. One group pooled their money and equipped the largest house with a couple of fridges with big freezers and a generator. When the power goes out, everyone packs up their perishables and sleeping bags and moves into that house.

The other group just bought a moveable generator. You get it for something like 4 hours, then you put it in your pickup and take it to the next house. Most of this group are on well-water, so they have to stockpile while they have the generator.

Weaver's post is brilliant.

But I disagree with hereandtherenz's Eat raw food. From plain old salad... Raw food needs to be washed in water - hatz's post continues the dangerous misconception that one can only get food poisoning from meat.

The obvious answer in Britain (having, by happy coincidence, camped for about 40 years) is to find a stream - there's always one within five miles in most parts of Britain - but I accept Britain is a tiny archipelago.

Also, a bucket is very useful for collecting rain water, as noted.

Sorry. No can do.

Yes you'd probably have to wash the fish especially. But there are foods that you don't have to wash. Bananas, oranges and other similar fruit, nuts that are still is their shell, veges that get peeled, cheese, dried fruit, a can of mixed beans....I could make a number of nice meals without needing to wash anything except my hands. And the dishes afterwards.

Fresh produce needs to be washed twice before eating - I feel. Running water is a must have.
I always wash and clear up as I go along, rinsing and drying the pans - right up to as I'm serving the food.
After the meal - there is just the crockery, glasses and cutlery to do.
I find it such a burden with dirty stuff in the way, as I'm preparing and cooking.
Running hot/cold water and a sink are essentials for me at home.
However, when camping - a bucket and nearby spring do me just fine.