How to properly wash and take care of your cooking pot

Whether it’s simple aluminium, has a non-stick coating, or maybe it’s anodised aluminium, your cooking pot is one of the essentials in your camp. ~So, it’s a good idea to ensure you take care of it, so that you can keep on using it for a long time in your greatest mountain adventures. To do this, we have a few tips and tricks ;)

Clean your cooking pot with river sand

Here’s a tip from Sabine, our merchandiser.

"If, like me, you use a traditional aluminium cooking pot, there’s no risk of scratching the non-stick coating by scrubbing your pot to clean it. My tip is to go to a river (you have to think about this when setting up your camp), then, firstly, rinse the pot in it, and then put a handful of river sand in it with a little water. Put the lid back on the pot and shake while turning it over. Gradually, the sand will remove the food stuck to the walls of the pan. You don't even need a cleaning product!"

PLEASE NOTE: for a cooking pot with a non-stick coating, things are different: the sand would risk scratching the coating.
You can also use plastic cutlery to scrape off part of the residue, or use a piece of wood, cut grass, or even leaves to scrub the inside of the cooking pot.
But we also thought of a very simple little tip, which will make your camp life easier.

Making a special fragile coating mini-sponge

For this, you need:
-1 sponge specially designed for "ceramic hob"-type coatings
-1 pair of scissors
-1 piece of felt
-1 length of cord or string

Cut a piece of the sponge (about 3cmx4cm), mark a point at the top with the felt tip, make a hole in it, and pass the doubled end of the string through.
The scraping surface will let you clean your pot without damaging it.
When the dishes are done, rinse your mini-sponge and let it dry. Thanks to its little string, you can hook it onto your backpack, so that it dries while you walk.

Prepare soap flakes for spotless dishes

Although you can use a multi-use organic soap to clean your cooking pot, its weight could discourage trekkers. So why not use the tip of a TicTac box, very practical when cooking?

For this, you need:
-1 TicTac sweet-type box, empty of its contents
-1 knife
-1 biodegradable soap (real Marseille soap, Aleppo soap or black soap) to avoid polluting the water and soil

Using the knife, cut the soap into small chips and place them in the sweet box for easy carrying. Perfect for degreasing if required, and for washing clothes, too.

What do you do with the left-over fondue attached to the bottom of the cooking pot?

Anne, product manager at Forclaz, also has a tip:

"In winter, when we go camping in the snow, we like to make a fondue on the stove. Obviously, there is always some left in the pot. The most practical thing is to start by scrubbing well with plastic cutlery, then fill the cooking pot with snow, and leave it like that all night. The next morning, the snow and ice will have unstuck the remaining fondue, and the cooking pot will therefore be very easy to clean."

Make a cooking pot protector/mini-towel, using an old fleece

The aim is a dual one: to have a mini, multi-purpose towel, and a cooking pot protector against scratches that the gas cartridge can cause when stored in the pot.

The mini-towel should be able to wrap around the gas cartridge, and fit in your closed pot. It must not be too big.
So, for a 1-person pot, we made a mini-towel 40cm long by 23cm wide.

You will need:
-1 old fleece, or a fabric offcut
-1 pair of scissors
-your pot
-the gas cartridge that fits your stove

And we’re off:
- Place your cooking pot upright and remove its lid.
- Cover the top of the cooking pot with the fabric, cut the ends of the fabric so that the walls of the pot are covered by the fabric up to the top.
- Place the cartridge on the fabric and lower it into the cooking pot.
- Once the cartridge is at the bottom of the pot, fold the fabric back over the cartridge and cut it, so that it protects the cartridge well and does not stop the lid from closing.