Transporting liquids without a lot of weight, without taking up a lot of unnecessary space and without breaking it …. is not so easy on the road. And it should also be refillable….

For me, the Platypus system has proven to be practical. I use it for my detergents and washing-up liquid. We have also tried it out for shower gel. Actually, it is designed as a drinking bag from the sports industry. So it can also be used for that.

We always have clothes with us for 1 week. If we are on the road for 3-4 weeks, we have to wash them in between. Of course we find a campsite with a washing machine, but there is not always detergent, or the „right“ detergent, on site. And because you have functional clothes AND wool, you also need two detergents, at least I do.

At home, I fill the liquid detergent into the Platypus for 3x washing and label it with a permanent pen. Since the bag is not filled to the maximum, I squeeze the air out before screwing it shut and don’t have any unnecessary loss of space. With each wash, I need a little less space. At the end of the trip, the platypus disappears rolled up in a box or somewhere. I use different colored bags for the different detergents. That way, even in chaos, I know which one I’ve grabbed and don’t even have to look it up.

The same with washing-up liquid. Here I use the pull cap, which is quite practical. With detergent, I have the simple screw cap. The 1-litre containers are enough for us, but there are different sizes and different closures.

I don’t like the Platypus as a drinking container. Cleaning it is a little difficult. For me personally, it’s too unhygienic. But you can also use the 2l Platypus as a water storage container and then fill it into small water bottles. More space-saving than a half-full 5l canister!

There are now bags with handles or hooks. I can imagine that being very practical for shower gel. The 1l containers are too big for that. At some point, they don’t stand up properly anymore and it spills out. If you can hang them on, it will certainly be better. We’ll try that again!

For food and oil, I prefer to use the 4-cornered bottles from Nalgene. They stack better in our kitchen box.