Ok, I said I wouldn't do any more polls, but I wanted to try this one. I'm feeling "deja vu," so I am hoping I haven't done this poll on this forum, I know I did it on another forum..... I carry paper plates, I try to buy recycled materials. I prefer the Chinet type, because they don't crumble easily when you are trying to cut your food. I carry those harder plastic utensils that you can wash and reuse a couple times, then toss. I use paper cups. I use this because of "weight." I am a "gadget" person, I have a lot of "never know when you could use this thing" gadgets in my RV. My heavy "gadget" is my power station I bought from Costco. It weighs about 30 or 40 pounds, I can carry it, but not too far and not too long.... It's not an inverter, but if it's charged up, it can power up appliances up to 300 watts. It also has an air compressor so I can pum air in my RV tires. Plus, I carry a Red Cross radio that someone gave me, it has a crank on it, and you can get radio as long as you can "crank" it. Hey, never know..... I also carry some two-way radios, bought those at Costco. Hey, never know.... I carry paper plates to offset the weight of these interesting gadgets! JJ
JJ, I'll refrain from critiquing your poll this time. I do, however, question your logic for using paper and plastic products. How much wieght do you think you are saving? A cheap place-setting (plastic glass and dishes, metal flatware) might weigh what - 2 pounds tops. I know you travel alone, so why would you need any more than 3 or 4 of each item. Also, being a solo traveler, you are already carrying half the extra weight (clothes, toiletries, etc. - not to mention the actual second person) that couples do. Your rationale eascapes me.
After a year full-timing, we've evolved. :lol: DH loves cooking, so we have proper pots/pans, knives and such. The stainless flatware moved from house to RV. For some reason, the nice plates never got used much, so recently unloaded them into storage. Have a few favorite drink glasses for the adults...and a minor stash of plastic cups and flatware for when the grandkids come to visit. Less is more.
QUOTE(Jerry S. @ Jun 14 2008, 07:11 PM) [snapback]11860[/snapback] JJ, I'll refrain from critiquing your poll this time. I do, however, question your logic for using paper and plastic products. How much wieght do you think you are saving? A cheap place-setting (plastic glass and dishes, metal flatware) might weigh what - 2 pounds tops. I know you travel alone, so why would you need any more than 3 or 4 of each item. Also, being a solo traveler, you are already carrying half the extra weight (clothes, toiletries, etc. - not to mention the actual second person) that couples do. Your rationale eascapes me. Well, I've only been RV'ing four years, I'm still learning.... Perhaps my rationale should be that I have less dishes to wash???? Ok, I have another rationale. Let's say...... something happens and all the plates come flying out of the cabinets. A whole bunch of paper plates landing on my head won't hurt as bad as a four place settings of plastic plates! Also, yes, the most I would ever need is... say, two place settings. But I guess I carry the paper plates so I can easily accomodate more people and not have to worry about the fact that I "only" have two place settings....... Again, "never know when....." Ok, I use paper plates because of the "you never know" factor, just like the reason I carry a lot of "gadgets." I travel solo, but remember, I have a cat! SO, the "second person's" weight is utilized by my cat. I carry a 3 foot tall carpted cat climbing tree in my RV. This cat tree has a little "cat condo" on the bottom, so the whole tree is kind of large and bulky. Plus, I carry an "arch of bristles" that my cat loves (ok, this is only two pounds), plus cat toys. Ok, even all that doesn't.... EXACTLY..... equal a second person. Ok, maybe it's 2/3 of a second person..... Well, let's say my rationale for using paper was the "weight factor," but Jerry is questioning my logic so I guess it's back to the drawing board.......
JJ, I made my comments based solely on what you said in your post. You wrote "I use this because of 'weight'." You gave no other reasons or give any other indication there were any other contributing factors. If you had said "partly because" or "One of the reasons I use", I would not have questioned your rationale. A couple years ago I bought several sets of dishes (dinner plates, sandwich plates, and soup/cereal bowls - all with snap on lids) made by Ziploc. They are lightweight, sturdy, unbreaklable, and can be used in the freezer and microwave. I don't know if they still make them, but every piece is still servicable. I don't think all 20 pieces weigh more than 5 pounds. That is why I did not see using paper as a logical way of saving weight. Again, especially in your situation, saving 5 pounds is insignificant. By the way, my Ziploc dishes are lighter than your typical storage container lid, so I doubt the could harm anyone if they were flying around the rig. Knowing what a "worrywart" you are, I am surprised that you don't wear your bike helmet while driving. You "never know when" you will have a traffic incident when everything in the back of the rig will come hurtling 10' to 15' forward and target the back of the driver's head. I just saw your footnote. I think I addressed the main issue above. On the "footprint" issue, I think most heavy use RVers should feel a bit guilty. How much guilt depends on how much we offset the RV use in other areas of our lives.
QUOTE(Jerry S. @ Jun 15 2008, 07:53 PM) [snapback]11874[/snapback] JJ, I made my comments based solely on what you said in your post. You wrote "I use this because of 'weight'." You gave no other reasons or give any other indication there were any other contributing factors. If you had said "partly because" or "One of the reasons I use", I would not have questioned your rationale. A couple years ago I bought several sets of dishes (dinner plates, sandwich plates, and soup/cereal bowls - all with snap on lids) made by Ziploc. They are lightweight, sturdy, unbreaklable, and can be used in the freezer and microwave. I don't know if they still make them, but every piece is still servicable. I don't think all 20 pieces weigh more than 5 pounds. That is why I did not see using paper as a logical way of saving weight. Again, especially in your situation, saving 5 pounds is insignificant. Well, "Weight" was actually my rationale! It was how I justified it! Then, when you questioned it..... well, I had to go back and try find other "justifications." Let's just say, you are basically doing to me what I used to do to other people during my working career (I'm an ex Auditor). Well, now I know. As long as I phrase it as "one of the reasons" or "partly contributing to..." then Jerry won't try to "audit" me. JJ
Despite the fact that I use plastic plates and stainless flatware, I still carry plastic flatware and paper plates. My wife and I have used the RV most (so far) for tailgating at football games and the plastic plates just wouldn't work for all the people there. And sometimes, we kinda... skip... doing dishes.
QUOTE(RLM @ Jun 16 2008, 09:00 AM) [snapback]11885[/snapback] We're from WVA. We eat out of the pot with our fingers. Don't get upset Mountaineers, it's a joke. I was hoping someone would say that and be SERIOUS. JJ
JJ, Well, you caught me. A number of the people you audited during your career contacted me recently and asked that I go over your posts with a fine tooth comb and "nail" you on every little thing. I am being paid handsomely to correct every error, point out every misleading or unclear statement, and claim that the way you do things is irrational and/or illogical. Your past has come back to haunt you. By the way, I didn't bother to vote in your poll because the stuff I use does not fit well into any of your categories and you did not offer "Other" as an option.
HHHMMMM, sounds like Jerry may be in the same category as RLM. Fingers have worked for us many times, too. I voted for the hard plastic dinnerware and beverageware, and stainless flatware, but when we first started RVing we had only paper and throw away plastic. This worked well for us except some foods just didn't work well on paper or even heavier plastic, and we never could find a decent plastic bowl. After about a year we were ready for "better" dishes, but we didn't want to buy one of the sets at Walmart because they were usually for 8, and we didn't need that much. Finally we went to a Corningware store and bought items from their Correlle open stock. We got 2 dinner plates, 2 salad plates, and two large bowls. The Correlle dinnerware has the look and feel of china, but it is lighter and doesn't break, so we really like it for the RV. JJ might still need her bike helmet if it flew out of the cabinet and hit her, but at least it wouldn't break when it did. Now we mostly use the Correlle, but we still carry some paper and plastic items to use on occasion.
JJ, Now you"re getting the hang of this "criticizing" business. Too many people assume criticism is always a negative and, sometimes, a personal attack. Your recent posts in the Solar Panels and St. Parks Polls, while seemingly negative, were attempts to show that, in one case, there was a problem with the poll and, in the other, that JJZS's original post needed some clarification. Your criticism was made in an attempt to achieve positive results: to let the forum readers know that there was a flaw in the poll and to give JJZS a chance to better explain his opinion of public and private parks. "Well done, Grasshopper." (Can anybody identify this really "off the wall" reference?)
QUOTE(Jerry S. @ Jun 17 2008, 08:57 PM) [snapback]11928[/snapback] JJ, "Well done, Grasshopper." (Can anybody identify this really "off the wall" reference?) Let's see... it was what's his face in that whatzit Kung Fu show that was on in the early 70's..... oh, here it is. Wikipedia has it. Kung Fu, with David Carradine. JJ
QUOTE(DXSMac @ Jun 16 2008, 10:26 AM) [snapback]11886[/snapback] I was hoping someone would say that and be SERIOUS. JJ We do this on occasion! Also, we frequently use one paper plate and both eat off of it with our fingers while drinking wine out of the bottle. When we first moved into our traveling home, we had no clue about anything. So we put all of our Fiesta dishes (in multiple colors and sizes) in the top cabinets and proceeded to drive to California. As hubby negotiated a pothole on the on-ramp of some highway, all of our service for 8 came flying out of the cabinets. Most of them became hundreds of small pieces of ceramic shard laying on our floor. Oddly enough, there were two stacked purple dinner plates sitting in the midst of all this chaos untouched by breakage. It must have been a sign because purple is my favorite color. Hubby felt so badly because I had collected these over many years. I said, it's obvious that we have way too much kitchenware. :lol: After that we started using paper plates that we find here and there that are made of compostable sugar cane or other fibers. We don't feel so guilty contributing to the trash when we know they will easily break down. Every once in a while for a special occasion, I take out my two fine purple plates and two carefully boxed wine glasses.
I started this thread (and poll) as an "idle curiousity" question. "Just wondering...." Well, those who responded were so passionate about their choices, and whether or not each choice was the "green" choice, I decided to put it in an article. I do occasionally write for Jaime Hall and Alize Zyetz's "RV Lifestyles" E-zine. They needed an article for their next issue, and this issue filled the need. So, I sent in an article. Don't worry, I didn't use any "names." Like I said, it didn't start out to be a potential article, but people were so passionate about their choices, I just had to make an article! If you want to read it when it's posted, let me know!' The article is the combined reponses from this forum and one other forum. JJ
After we first started in our trailer (and filled the grey water tank at a state park too early in the trip), we went to paper. Since then, we went to washing the pots and pans outside in tubs. This trip I dug out the plates, etc. Since I was already washing at breakfast and supper (lunch is always sandwiches), it was no problem to wash these (saved up the lunch plates to wash at suppertime). I did take enough paper bowls and cups to get us out the last morning (cereal day). Real plates, cups, bowls, and flatware from now on (except for last morning).
QUOTE(HappiestCamper @ Jul 5 2008, 11:03 AM) [snapback]12169[/snapback] After we first started in our trailer (and filled the grey water tank at a state park too early in the trip), we went to paper. Since then, we went to washing the pots and pans outside in tubs. This trip I dug out the plates, etc. Since I was already washing at breakfast and supper (lunch is always sandwiches), it was no problem to wash these (saved up the lunch plates to wash at suppertime). I did take enough paper bowls and cups to get us out the last morning (cereal day). Real plates, cups, bowls, and flatware from now on (except for last morning). I've made that mistake on dry camping, too! (Fill the grey tank too early.) My last RV had TWO grey tanks, that was nice! My current only had ONE grey tank,
I carry paper plates, but use my stainless or melamine plates most of the time. The metal plates are easiest to wipe off ( I use a paper towel to clean off the plate before washing in the sink) For bowls I use corning ware as they can go in the microwave. A couple of Pyrex casserole dishs round out my microwave safe cookware. Cast iron skillet 9 inch and 6 inch for indoors, and around a 12 inch for over the campfire. I don't use the smaller ones outside as the soot they collect over the fire is hard to clean off the counters. Sauce pan I have a faberware plus a small anodized aluminum pot from gsi for heating water in the morning.
Hi BiGKaT. Put liquid dishwashing soap on the outside of your "campfire" cooking pots/pans and let it dry before use. Most of the soot will wipe off on a paper towel--and the rest will come off with regular washing. QUOTE(BiGKaT @ Jul 12 2008, 05:51 PM) [snapback]12245[/snapback] Cast iron skillet 9 inch and 6 inch for indoors, and around a 12 inch for over the campfire. I don't use the smaller ones outside as the soot they collect over the fire is hard to clean off the counters. Sauce pan I have a faberware plus a small anodized aluminum pot from gsi for heating water in the morning.
