refrigeration without a refrigerator...

[michaels]

i'm going on a four day camping/wheeling trip two days after christmas. i've decided to take meat, eggs, and cheese this time so i don't just have to eat Ramen noodles for four days again.

SO, what are your tried and proven methods for keeping food cool (and not spoiled) over four days?

i do not have a refrigerator and my method of attack as of now is a cooler and ice. however, i know the ice won't hold up during the four days and i don't want my food to go bad.

so what should i do? wrap this stuff up in an warm/cold bag with ice, then put in a cooler with ice?

should i freeze the food before hand to help to stay cold longer?

i plan on taking ham, cheese, and eggs for breakfast and lunch, and possibly a couple steaks for dinner.

so what techniques do all you food gurus have for me to do over a four day period?

or am i just stuck with eating good the first day and noodles for the rest of the time?

i wanna eat well this time!:chowtime:

EDIT: i'll be in the mountains, so it should be cold enough so the food won't spoil outside, but it'll all be inside the warm truck during the whole day.

[Ireland]

Get some dry ice, should easily last for 4 days with a decent cooler...

[Jacket]

I was at the Expo Trophy for 5+ days running a cooler and ice. 90* days, and around 40 at night, and nothing spoiled. Pre-freeze everything you can, keep the cooler in the shade at all times, try block ice instead of cubed ice (or dry ice is even better), keep the cooler door closed and tight at all times, and make sure you have a decent cooler. And be practical about your menu - things that will spoil more easily should be eaten first. I think 4 days is definitely doable.

Oh yea, and double or triple bag everything....

[michaels]

ok so the consensus is:

double bag everything.
each what will spoil first.
dry ice is best, followed by block, then cubed.
good cooler.

all i have are those hard plastic coolers. i would think one small one would do the trick, possibly two if i really pack it with ice.

any suggestions of food to bring? i'll have a two burner camp stove and water a gallon or two of water for boiling. (i'm buying a case of bottled water to drink)

so far for breakfast and lunch, i'm definitely taking:
ham
cheese
bread
PB&J (i know, i go BIG)
eggs
chips and salsa
crackers
easy mac
ramen noodles
hotdogs
condiments
but i want to go semi fancy(for a college student) for my dinners (three nights), so i was thinking of what else to bring. i've had steaks while backpacking before, so i was thinking at least one steak and possibly ground beef for burgers and/or hamburger helper (mmm.:chowtime: )

so what's your favorite recipes for good camp food?

[efuentes]

For years we have used this approach,

Two coolers, one with food and instead of ice, lots of 1 liter bottles with frozen water in it, sealed with duct tape and only opens once or twice a day. Another general cooler with block ice, soda, beer and sealed supplies. Precool everything and it should last at least a week. Plus you will have nice ice cold water everyday.

Saludos

[1leglance]

remember that our modern fridges are a recent thing and mankind went a long long time before they came along...
Some ideas...
Meats:
Summer sausage, salami, peperoni and other such things can be stored dry and cool, make up some pasta and add some of these meats, also good with cheese & crackers for lunch.
Canned meats don't have to be cold and if you go with smaller cans you have enough for 1 meal.

Drinks-Freeze plastic bottled drinks & they are fine, I like the 2L frozen water bottles for cooling & drinking water.

Eggs are fine if kept cool & dry

Cheese again lots of cheese varieties don't req a fridge

So really for 1 week or less you are fine with any decent cooler, dry ice, 2L bottles of frozen water, pack eveything in tight, open the cooler the least amount possible, keep it out of the sun and all will be well...hey reminds me of my backpacking days :)

[michaels]

THANKS GUYS.:wings:

i'll just be taking normal foods (yes i knew eggs were fine...).

looks like it'll be a great trip!

[kerry]

Rafters running western rivers in summer using good coolers can keep this cold for at least 5 days, and if planned well, even longer. Some rafting outfitters will put things like meat in a cooler, fill the cooler with water and freeze the whole thing into a giant block of ice which will last a LOOOONG time. Your freezer is probably not big enough to do that.
Don't put anything warm into your cooler. Everything should be frozen or chilled. Get a bigger cooler than you expect to use and fill the additional space with frozen water bottles. Freeze any liquids you will use, like iced tea or milk.
I've kept cheese unrefrigerated for a month on a canoe trip by covering with cheesecloth and dipping in hot wax.

[rusty_tlc]

For years we have used this approach,

Two coolers, one with food and instead of ice, lots of 1 liter bottles with frozen water in it, sealed with duct tape and only opens once or twice a day. Another general cooler with block ice, soda, beer and sealed supplies. Precool everything and it should last at least a week. Plus you will have nice ice cold water everyday.

Saludos
We use the same approach.
We freeze all the meat except the deli stuff. Frozen stuff goes on the bottom then layer up to stuff like eggs and cheese.

Open the cooler in the morning and take out what you need for that day. Then close it back up and wrap with blankets, I have been using some movers blanket we got from Harbor Freight. We can keep stuff frozen for three or four days in the summer this way. This is in the desert.

The bonus is you have built in supply of emergency water in the frozen water bottles.

[Flounder]

Last summer a few of us bought Coleman Ultimate Extreme coolers. They're only $50, but wow....do they work! We had one small block of dry ice in a cooler with a couple frozen blocks of ice and on day 7 (in the summer) the blocks of ice were still frozen.

Last weekend I did a bike race in Phoenix and use the cooler. It's been a week and i don't think the ice has melted more than about 40%. Granted the cooler is sitting on my deck and night temps are in the 40s, but that's pretty awesome.

[MattScott]

what is the best cooler made?

[Flounder]

what is the best cooler made?I can't imagine anything superior to a Coleman Ultimate Extreme and for $50, I can't imagine a better value.

[MattScott]

I might have to pick one up, an engel would be overkill for my needs.

[jeepmedic46]

Dry ice for us:arabia:

[rusty_tlc]

what is the best cooler made?
If money is no object check the type used by rafting outfitters. The high end chest tend to be large.

I find one large ice chest isn't efficient to pack or use for 2-4 people. Two or three smaller ice chest work out better. When it's time to load or unload vehicles smaller chest are lighter to move and easier to pack around. I pack the beverage ice chest near the rear so it can be accessed while traveling. The food ice chest is buried under sleeping bags and other gear which insulates it.

[Conrad_Turbo]

I tried dry ice on one camping trip, works great for it's weight. If there was ever a next time I would definately line some 1/8" foam around it since some items got a wee bit too close to it and froze absolutely solid. We did wrap the dry ice in a few layers of newspaper too.

What we do now is use our Coleman Extreme (59L capacity) cooler and an aluminum mold to allow us to freeze a block of ice in our deep freeze. The block of ice is laid into the bottom of the cooler before the food is packed into it.

http://www.aceengineering.ca/Temp/IMG_3820.JPG

It takes a few days to freeze and we are still adjusting our block size to minimize weight but still keep our food/drinks cold. 8-10L block along with some loose ice cubes kept all our food cold for 4 days easily. Our friend's brought another cooler (same as ours) and we had a similar sized block in theirs which lasted the 4 days as well. We will probably be trimming down to 6-8L next year, since we always seem to have extra ice left over.

[jeepmedic46]

Coleman extreme is the way to go.:REOutIceFishing:

[bmonday]

what is the best cooler made?

Look into the coolers made by Iowa Rotocast (http://www.irpoutdoors.com/html/allcoolers.html). Cabelas sells these under their store brand (Outfitter series (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20075-cat20093&rid=&indexId=cat20093&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat20093&id=0020842)). Best cooler made for any price, in my opinion.

I have also seen similar coolers at my local Sportsman's Warehouse, for slightly cheaper.

BMonday

[IH8RDS]

The last extended trip I used my Coleman marine 150. It is rather large, but I is able to internally seperate it into compartments. It came with dividers/cutting boards. I prefroze some of the meats and froze two 2 liter bottles a week prior. I packed the "freezer" side with the frozen bottles, meats and ice real good and and the other side was full of beer/soda and other fridge stuff, milk, eggs etc.. On the drive down I left the cooler drain open and it consumed about 1/2 of the ice due to the beer/soda being warm. Before I hit camp I bougt more ice and closed the drain and it lasted me the rest of the 5 day trip. One of the meats on day 4 I still had to set out for a little while to thaw. When I got home I still had ice cubes left and cold cold beer while I unpacked.

I would of used even less ice if I would have cooled the beer/sodas first. You could also do with this with 2 coolers. You have to minimise the opening of the freezer cooler for this to work efficiently

http://www.mcsports.com/largeImage/index.jsp?LargeImageURL=http%3A//MCS.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p100065dt.jpg

[dieselcruiserhead]

I can't imagine anything superior to a Coleman Ultimate Extreme and for $50, I can't imagine a better value.
X2. They seal well and last.

I've been out 8 days and had a few of the frozen bottles with ice in them still. The bottles are nice as they melt they provide cold drinkable water and don't make a mess.

[pnorvell]

Wow, I would have never thought of half of the ideas! Great info

Peter

[Hatari]

One of the things that my brother and I used when canoe camping in the Everglades is to freeze 1 gallon jugs of water and use those to keep everything cool. We were able to keep everything cool for 5 days in 90 degree temps. Also +1 on only opening the cooler at meal prep time.

[Cackalak Han]

If you only have a few things to keep cool (meats and such), you can also buy what's called a food jar. It's like a thermos but has a larger opening to store hot/cold foods in. I bought one to carry lunch in and it works really well. If you put frozen meat inside of that, then put that in a cooler, I'd think it would stay cold for a long time. I bought mine at Target for ~$20.

[EricG]

I bought one of those coleman 4 or 5 day coolers, only kept ice for a day or so, may have been me getting beer our every 15 min for 2 days.

[michaels]

i'm still on my trip, but i stopped at a friends house near the area where we were for a few days before i return back to birmingham. i bought the coleman five day one for $45. the steaks are still frozen along with teh water bottles frozen on the bottom. the eggs could probably be tossed, but overall this was very succesful witht his cooler and the trip has beeng reat so far. thanks guys.

[Hilldweller]

Coleman Extreme here too.
I use my vacuum sealer for the steaks, freeze them, etc. Everything is portioned-out into serving sized bags.
I also vacuum seal some of the ice; it makes it easier to move around to get to the food quickly. And when the ice is melted and the trip waning down, it's nice clean cold drinking water.
Our ice lasted 4 days in 85 degree heat last week.

[off.track]

Coleman Extreme .
long time ago, coleman used to make a tin cooler that was the best, hands down.. it held food cold with just ice cubes for 3-4 days.

i make block ice in my deep freezer.. in my old beat up cooler that's good for 3-4 days in the summer heat. i also freeze everything for at least 2-3 days prior to the trip.. i have used frozen bottles in the past.. also agree on having at least 2 coolers.. one for the main long term storage and then a small one for drinks and snacks.

i also like to wrap the main cooler with sleeping bags ro blankets what whatever.. i try to kind of burry it, basically

[craig333]

Must use block ice. I like using gallon milk jugs. Not too tall. Dry ice is fine if you plan well. Get a little careless and you have rock hard eggs (don't ask me how I know that) and exploding beer bottles (see above).

Want to start an argument? Drain the water or not. Coleman says not to drain.

COLEMAN® XTREME™ COOLERS
How to use and clean
To achieve five-day performance in your new Xtreme cooler you must use it properly. Use plenty of ice and pre-chill items before you put them in the cooler. The following guidelines will allow you to achieve extreme performance.
37.5 lbs. for the 50 qt wheeled ice chest (model 6263-707)
43.5 lbs. for the 58 qt ice chest (model 6273-707)
27 lbs. for the 36 qt wheeled ice chest (model 6251-707)
Coleman recommends using .75 lbs. of ice per rated quart of the coolant. We highly recommend using cubed ice.

For best performance, always pre-chill food and drinks.
Two six packs or one gallon (3.7L) of liquid will use approximately 2.5 lbs. (1.13kg) of ice just to cool from room temperature. So plan ahead and cool off everything before you head out. You can even empty a few trays of ice into the cooler to pre-chill its interior.

Put the ice in last
Cold air travels down, so if you want your beverage well chilled, load cans and bottles first, then cover with ice.

Do not store cooler in hot location.
When storing cooler, avoid hot places such as the garage or the trunk of a car. If this is unavoidable, bring the cooler inside at least 24 hours before use.

Keep cooler out of the sun.
Ice lasts up to twice as long when the cooler is in the shade.

Choose cube or block ice.
Use cube ice to quickly cool food and drink, block ice to keep it cold longer.

Don't drain cold water.
Recently melted ice keeps food and drinks cold. Melted ice water preserves ice better than empty air space.

Close lid quickly after opening.
Do not leave the lid open longer than necessary.

Use separate coolers.
Use one for beverages you'll want frequently, another for the bulk of the food. The latter will keep ice longer because it will be open less frequently.

Protect perishable foods.
Place perishable foods like meat and dairy products directly on ice. Sealed plastic containers will keep food dry.

Use dry ice to keep food frozen.
Place the dry ice on top of the food. Be sure that the dry ice is wrapped in heavy layers of newspaper. Do not let dry ice come in direct contact with the interior liner or your hands.

Cleaning Your Cooler

Clean the inside and outside
Clean the inside with a solution of mild soap and warm water, especially before first use. To remove tough stains, use baking soda and water to clean the inside.

Remove odors with a diluted solution of chlorine bleach and water.
If odor persists, wipe the interior with a cloth saturated with vanilla extract, then leave the cloth in the cooler overnight.

Always air-dry the cooler with the lid open before storing.

[Yudda]

Great advice everyone.

What about buying or making a cooler blanket.

Heres an example. Im going to be purchasing one of these soon.

what do you all think ?


hope it helps,
rob


http://www.offroadtrailtools.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=92
31494

[GetBentFab]

I think the blanket is a great idea. We always pile our sleeping bags over the cooler during the day and it seems to help a lot.

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: Just a plug for this cooler blanket from offroadtrailtools




I've used mine, from offroadtrailtools, for over two years and it's great


http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm83/jimbowby/PICT0033.jpg


http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm83/jimbowby/PICT0034.jpg




No I don't use ice, but the cooler bag is PRIMO !!

:coffeedrink::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

[JohnnyS]

Conrad Turbo,
Where did you get the super awesome aluminum ice block mold?
I don't know of any shops nearby that do aluminum welding.
That is cool (no pun intended)!

[Conrad_Turbo]

Conrad Turbo,
Where did you get the super awesome aluminum ice block mold?
I don't know of any shops nearby that do aluminum welding.
That is cool (no pun intended)!

Normally I wouldn't bump such an old post...but I was searching for the site about vacuum sealers and seen this question and that JohnnyS posted here today. :)

I made the block myself, just measured the inside of the cooler and found some material in the shop that was very close to the right size. Cut it in the bandsaw and welded it up. I'm assuming any capable fab shop should have a TIG or MIG that could weld something up like that for you, heck it could even be made out of thin gauge steel too.

Cheers to a 4 year old post. :D We still use the mold but this year we may just go with two 4L milk jugs with frozen water for most of our shorter camping trips.

[Super Doody]

I've seen commercials for yeti coolers on outdoors network. Very good quality but super pricey:

http://www.yeticoolers.com/

[kickingprop]

Yeti's are as good as they get. Have a Tundra 75 which has been on weeklong adventures and still had ice in it at the end of the trip. You won't find better quality anywhere, but it doesnt come cheap. Luckily I won mine in a raffle!

[stioc]

My progression:

1. Cheap picnic cooler - only good for chilled drinks after the first day (general rule: always pre-cool/freeze contents and the cooler (separately) prior to hitting the road)
2. Coleman 36qt Xtreme 5-day cooler - good for 2 may be 3 days for meats/milk etc (pretty good bang for the buck)
3. Coleman PowerChill 12v cooler - will work to maintain approx. 40F lower than surrounding temps but runs the battery down if you're parked for more than a night. When moving every day and used only during the day light hours it works well.
4. 12v 43qt Fridge: Glamping material but it's nice to be able to eat things that otherwise wouldn't be possible after 2-3 days. Takes up less space than the 36qt cooler but 10x expensive.