Clean Baked on Food, Little Water

Introduction
Water is a precious commodity and it will only become more so, I see people every day running water at full bore to wash their lunch dishes or drinking cups. I cringe when I see people wasting water that way. I have reduced the amount of water needed to clean even the most burnt and caked on foods.

This instructable will demonstrate how to wash hard dried baked on foods from big pots with as little as a 1/2 a cup of water…

The Story
This started because we eat a lot of rice and there was always rice stuck to the bottom and sides of the pot. Conventional wisdom says to fill up the pot with soap and water, let sit, dump the loosened food and water, refill the pot and wash. That is a lot of wasted water. Conventional wisdom is not always best. Here is an exception.

This technique will work for any hard dried baked on food and it is scalable from a large crock pot to a small fry pan. In this illustration I am using a 6-quart pot we use for cooking rice.

Next Tools

Tools:
1) Dish soap,
2) Water,
3) Sponge.

Skill Level:
Easy

Time to Complete:
4 – 7 minutes per pot.

Next Remove Loose Food

I added 1 oz of water before scrapping the loose food.

Scrap, Scrap, Scrap the food
Remove the loose debris
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Soon you will succeed.

Next Just a Little Water

Cover bottom with a thin layer of water.

Add, add, add a bit
A thin layer will do
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Enough to soak through.

Next Swish the Water

Move the water around the bottom and sides.

Swish, swish, swish around
Up and down the sides
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Take small steps in strides

Next Soak

Let sit for a min. Let the water soak into the remaining food.

Soak, soak, soak your pot
Clean it all with ease
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Use less water please.

Next Scrub

Apply force while you move the water around. Here you may have to Scrub a little.

Scrub, scrub, scrub your pot
Apply this time with force
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Just a matter of course.

Next Dump

Dump dirty water and add soap. I added too much soap, you will see in the next picture, but I will use it to clean the fry pan after I am done with this pot.

Dump, dump, dump the waste
Add a squirt of soap
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Almost done don’t mope.

Next Wipe Soap

Wipe soap and Rinse.

Wipe, wipe, wipe the soap
Rinse your almost done
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Using less water is fun.

Next Observations and Summary

The above pictures show that I used 1 oz to clean a Fried Chicken pan, too.

Observations
This technique can be applied to all pots and pans. Overall it is less work when the pot or pan has just been used, still warm and has not completely dried. I have used this on countless times when pots were unable to be washed until the next day. I use it for my crock pot on Chili night, for my pan when browning meat or pepper and onions. I even use it for my banana bread pan. The smaller the pot or pan the less water I use. Long gone are the days when the pot or pan were filled with water to soak. Now are the days of less water, swished around to loosen food, scrub, drain, wipe soap and rinse.

Lets do some math; The pot holds 6 quarts, so I will round down to 4 quarts to soak the pot and another 4 quarts to wash the pot, now I am at 8 quarts or 2 gallons or 256 oz. In this illustration I used 4 oz to clean the pot. I saved just shy of 2 gallons of water. Your results may vary.

Less is More. Less water saves energy and resources so it saves you money. Benefits can be received now and in the future.

The benefits of this technique are:
1) Easy technique to apply,
2) Less water used,
3) Less waste produced,
4) Saves you money.

Summary
I am satisfied with the results.

- Hear advice, and receive instruction, so that you may be wise in your latter end.