A new friend of my DD's came with her family to my house yesterday with my DD for a cookout. We had 12 people. I always use disposables whenever I can when I cook. Everything on the table was disposable, tablecloth, serving dishes, utensils, glasses, napkins. Condiments were on a tray. When we finished eating the young mom said what a mess we made, she told her kids and DH to start helping clearing the table. My DD said No watch my mom. I picked up the corner of the tablecloth and gathered everything up in a big heap. I handed it to DH to take to the trash can outside, wiped the table top and put my table runner on the table. It took about 2 min. Clean up done. DH uses disposble grilling pans and racks. I have to clean pots and skillets though. 8-) I will not cook a big meal and then have to spend time cleaning up after it. That to me is the biggest waste of time ever. :-D

My hero! More time for quilting!

LOL....is there any other way ??

Good going!

good plan, that was nice

I am too tight to throw everything away the guilts would get me.

Bella, I think like you and react like Darlene! But Darlene, I am getting much better at throwing away, and it "ain't "bad. LOL

What would I do with dirty disposables? :lol: By not using the dishwasher every day I figure it evens out. And my stress level is worth keeping low. There are some nice fancy ones for special occasions, looks like china and stainless flatware. After watching Hoarders on tv I have no guilt at all by throwing anything away! :D :D :D :D :D

That's the way to do it :!: :lol: Two years ago I decided to give my girls (DD & DIL's) a gift for Christmas...no dishes to wash. Years ago I had purchased a set of Christmas china at a price to good to pass up, but as the years have gone on it has become a pain to wash them and put them away. And my girls always do the cleanup for me. Then instead of unpacking all those dishes, I went shopping for paper plates & plastic cups. The girls were thrilled when I announced they wouldn't have to go through the china bit. Now even the "boys" help cleanup. :roll: :lol:

I would love to have seen the guests' faces. Very cool!!

That's great. I can't think of a better way to clean up.

Very clever. Great idea.

I am taking notes, I hate when I sepd hour to cook and a hour to clean up. I love your concept. :!:

yes, but if everyone did that, the landfills would fill up fast!!

Once in a while isn't going to hurt. I don't know about your school cafeterias but ours uses all disposables now. Didn't used to when I was first teaching.Now that is a lot of trash every single school day compared to a single home.

I have to agree with PTQuilts- this practice while quick and easy has to be held to a minimum - we already load the landfills.

Sounds good, but I am a recycler, and don't use a lot of paper products. But then I don't host large groups either. I cringe when I see how much goes into land fills.

I live near Dartmouth College. Every fall they have a "convocation", a big meal for all the students, families, community, etc. Hundreds of people.
The one time I went, a few years ago, they had a goal of zero waste. Washable plates, silverware. Paper napkins and food waste got composted. Nothing wound up in the landfill.

I would be cringing. Paper towels and napkins are for "Show" in our house. My family thinks it's a big deal if they are allowed 1 piece. Paper plates are used for picnics but I wait until everyone leaves and separate the garbage and wash the plastic silverware.

I use linen tablecloths, napkins, silverware, etc. at the holidays. I love to use it and don't think it's a burden to clean up.

I guess us Barbs think alike, Barbm! I don't mind doing the dishes and if you have company that means you have someone to keep you company as you do the dishes, which is a good thing too.
Now if there were a ton of people there would be a lot of them doing the dishes.

I'm with you Bella!. The only time I use "real" dinnerware is on Thanksgiving.

Bella, are you in an area where you can burn your trash? My folks do that, but I live in a no burn area, so all has to go to a landfill. I hate that!

I like filling landfills. Keep up the good work.

Or, you could try a division of labor like my grandparents had: him clean up, her cook. She got the better deal.

And, there's always catering. :0D

I love you way of cleaning up. That is a great idea.

I like your clean up way. But I hate plastic anything!

I decided this year to go throw away. However found some that can be washed and reused.

Good for you. I also use as much disposable (recycle) as often as I can and not just for parties. I use disposable cups all the time from my 3 boys and their friends.

We aren't the only ones responsible for everything in the landfills, having them full would should beat having a big hole in the ground. Most stuffs rot.

This way saves water, energy to heat it, dish cloths, dish towels and dish soap and elbow grease.

A woman after my own heart!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to do this next time we have a big family gathering! We don't get everybody together all that much, but it would sure save me a lot of time and work to be able to clean up fast like that. We usually use disposable stuff anyway--I don't have enough plates, cups, etc. to not use disposable stuff. Thanks for the idea!

Several years ago my step son and his then wife came for Thanksgiving dinner. Just as we were about to eat I came down with a bad case of flu or something. I excused myself, asked them to please put the food away and do the dishes when they were done eating. 2 hours later I got up, put the food away, cleared the table and asked them to please do the dishes. 2 hours later I got out of bed again, put the food back in the fridge, cleared the table and asked them to please do the dishes. They spent the night. Breakfast left more dirty dishes, lunch did too. Then all of a sudden right after lunch they got ready to leave. I flat told them that no one was leaving until the dishes were done. The DIL finally did the dishes. She also added a little bit of cooking oil to the water so that everything was covered with a fine film of oil. I told them they were welcome to come back for Christmas dinner. I was serving chips and bologna sandwiches on paper plates and Heaven help the first person that dirtied any dish. She never ate another meal in my home. I only use disposable things now no matter who's here.

My new neighbor came from a city where everything is recycled. She set out her three bins every Monday. My DH finally asked her she did know the trash man dumped each one in the same truck? She thought a different truck came around for each bin. She sure was happy not to have to sort her trash anymore.

Great as far as it went, but what did you do with all the leftovers??