Simple Green: Bring Back the Basin

Last night while making dinner, we kept count of the number of times we turned on the faucet to rinse our hands. Once after cutting each of the veggies (total count, 4); three times in the course of chopping up the cooked chicken, and twice during the bread prep. That brings us to a grand total of nine times to turn on the water just to rinse our hands.

We love to be in the kitchen cooking, and are pretty efficient and green for the most part, from choosing sustainable and organic ingredients to keeping the fridge and oven doors shut as much as possible... But water usage during cooking can be significantly lowered with one very simple, old-school system: a wash basin.

Instead of rinsing over and over, why not set aside a bowl of water to keep your hands clean throughout the cooking session?

We think this system will work wonders for us--and if we have to suds up for any reason, our soap is biodegradable and we can still transfer it to the watering can for our container garden.

We can't think of any downsides; even if we're working with raw meat, using a bowl full of water and a squeeze of soap will prevent our dirty hands from touching the faucet, making it even more sanitary.

Have any of you readers used this technique in your kitchen?

Photo by Bartlomiej Berczynski via sxc.hu.

Comments (7)

i usually just leave about 4 inches of soapy water on one side of my sink to allow me to quickly rinse my hands off when i am prepping

posted by azvillageidiot85 on March 12th 2009 at 2:41pm
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I'm pretty sure it wasn't to save water or anything but my grandmother did this, and my mother did this but they both had a double sink. Cleaning up they just tossed in their prep tools and bowls and such to soak. I currently have one large sink in a tiny (apt) kitchen. When the sink is full of dirty dishes or if I have veggies or what not sitting inside I try to keep a clean but semi-wet washcloth near by and I use that to clean of finger tips or to wipe of my hands in between prep works -- or to answer the phone.

posted by gnomette on March 12th 2009 at 2:44pm
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Once you've dipped chicken-y hands in it, how clean is that bowl of water?

posted by KateNonymous on March 12th 2009 at 3:50pm
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The water's fine so long as that meat's been cooked. Raw chicken will make the water totally unsanitary, but the post says that the chicken is cooked. Then it's really about rinsing bits off your fingers. :-)

posted by matts332 on March 12th 2009 at 9:00pm
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I like the idea of soapy water in the sink and then soaking your prep stuff. I'm going to utilize this (esp since we don't have a dishwasher)

and for raw-meat usage, I follow Alton's rule: 1 hand for the meat, 1 for me. so only one hand gets tainted and then I won't mind running the water briefly to wash that hand off.

http://embritadesign.blogspot.com

posted by EmmieB on March 12th 2009 at 11:36pm
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I use this idea sometimes, but I forget sometimes too. Thx for the reminder.

I also use the basin to catch water during non-cooking times. Like when I'm waiting for the water to get warm, or rinsing an apple, or any reason --- As long as there's not too much food-stuff, since I use it to water plants.

posted by digger61 on March 13th 2009 at 1:54pm
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p.s.
I use EmmieB's (1-meat-hand 1-me-hand) method too.

posted by digger61 on March 13th 2009 at 1:56pm
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