4 day trip in the plans suggestions please

[jgeck90]

I have a 4 day trip to the Dusy Ershim trail. It is a 31 mile overland type trail.
Can i get some suggestions on how to keep the raw meat cold? We usually pack hamburgers/hot dogs, carne asada, sausage for breakfast etc....I am thinking about cooking it all at home first so it's much faster once on the trail what do you guys think? I can then just throw it on the pan and warm it up. I am also open to other meals that are quick and simple. I just thought about how old the same food for every trip we do is getting.

My main concern is keeping the food cold that will go bad.

I am not sure if i will be able to afford a fridge but can someone please suggest one in case i come across the money for one? I dont want some off brand one that will crap out on me in a few months. I still have to get a whole bunch of things for my cherokee before this trip.
Thanks guys!
Jeff

 

[spressomon]

The larger the block of ice the longer it will last. When I had an ice cooler for longer trips I'd freeze gallon jugs of water. Or in addition to ice grab a chunk or two of dry ice. Wrap it good in newspaper or similar so it doesn't freeze whatever comes in contact with it...leave a window open if its in your main passenger area and call it good. If you have space two coolers work better than one big one for longer trips. Set the first cooler up for the things you need everyday and the first couple of days. And leave the other cooler closed up and more efficient until you need what's in it later in the trip.

Precooked, whether you make them or buy them, bbq ribs are super easy to heat up on the grill, grill pan or over the campfire. Most of our stores including Costco have really good fresh once cooked pork carnitas that are always super easy to fry up at camp and turn in to tacos...and always a hit with fellow campers.

Tons of ways to take good food without doing all the prep work in camp. And great ideas within this forum.

I've been perfectly happy with my 50L Waeco for going on 6-years of hard regular use. They tend to be a couple hundred bucks less than some of the other's.

 

[BorntoVenture]

Check out the Coleman 12v Fridge/Cooler at Wal-Mart, it's $90 and works great! I recently used mine on for the trip to the NC Overland Rally and it worked perfectly in high 90's heat, the warmest it ever got was 39°F. It won't keep things frozen forever but it will add a couple of days on small frozen items and will keep everything else cold for as long as needed. I bought a wireless thermometer at Home Depot and tossed it into the middle of the fridge so I could keep and eye on the temps.

I would highly recommend this for someone needing a cheaper way to keep food cold as I'm in the same boat as you right now, no room in the budget for a $700 fridge that will only get used 3-4 times this year.

Link to the fridge at Wal-Mart's site: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-PowerChill-40-Quart-Thermoelectric-Cooler-with-Power-Supply/4810828

 

[jgeck90]

I will definitely probably end up getting that fridge! It will be nice to not have to worry about meat going bad. I do want to eventually get that ARB fridge one though. It's pretty affordable, big, and reliable.
What wattage of power supply would i need to run that?

 

[Alchemyguy]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned freezing your meat. We freeze everything (steak, burgers, stew, chili, etc), pack it in a cooler and eat it as it defrosts. For certain adds a day or more to your raw goods.

 

[Plannerman]

We use a couple of techniques with our coolers for long trips (I can't bring myself to buy a fridge).

We plan our meals for each night. Meat for later nights gets frozen. Sometimes we pre-cook and then freeze to make things easier in camp. We try to maximize the amount of frozen material in each cooler. We freeze water bottles and use ice blocks, as well.

 

[FLYFISHEXPERT]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned freezing your meat. We freeze everything (steak, burgers, stew, chili, etc), pack it in a cooler and eat it as it defrosts. For certain adds a day or more to your raw goods.

We use a couple of techniques with our coolers for long trips (I can't bring myself to buy a fridge).

We plan our meals for each night. Meat for later nights gets frozen. Sometimes we pre-cook and then freeze to make things easier in camp. We try to maximize the amount of frozen material in each cooler. We freeze water bottles and use ice blocks, as well.

Freezing is a great way to keep your cooler cold! The block of ice is another great way. We always hated having water in the bottom of our cooler so we began freezing water in these Starbucks coffee traveler liners.

Link to blog post.

 

[BIGGUY]

I used a couple of the Igloo "Ultra" or whatever they were called that were supposed to keep stuff cold for up to 5 days. I froze water bottles at home and along with the frozen meat, I also added frozen veggies in ziplocs that were separated for each meal. I spread the water bottles out between the food and kept the meat and veggies for each meal together to save time when having the cooler open. I was able to make it 4-6 days depending on the temperatures in the area I was at.

 

[BIGGUY]

I will definitely probably end up getting that fridge! It will be nice to not have to worry about meat going bad. I do want to eventually get that ARB fridge one though. It's pretty affordable, big, and reliable.
What wattage of power supply would i need to run that?

I'm not sure of the wattage, but I have the older Engles and at full power they are listed at using 2.5 amps. I had some extra 12v sockets installed in the console of my FJ and run the fridge off them. I'm not sure what the specs are on them, but they are the same 12v receptacles as the stock one in the dash.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Another note on freezing water, add a tablespoon of salt per gallon of water, it lowers the freezing temp and in turn raises the temp at which it melts. And I also pack my meats in order by which they get used, so they thaw as needed.

 

[Alchemyguy]

Another note on freezing water, add a tablespoon of salt per gallon of water, it lowers the freezing temp and in turn raises the temp at which it melts. And I also pack my meats in order by which they get used, so they thaw as needed.

My cred: I'm schooled as a chemist.

You're half right; salt water freezes at a lower temperature but most certainly does not melt at a higher temperature. There are very few things in this universe with that property, and they're all perform this feat at very extreme conditions (thousands of degrees, thousands of kPa). If you salt your icy driveway in the winter, the ice melts despite it being well below freezing. If it gets cold enough to freeze your salted driveway (it can be done!), it melts at the same temperature it froze at, not further up the thermometer.

If you freeze salt water you're managing to "store up" more "cold" (that's not how it actually works, but it'll do for today) than if you freeze pure water, so you'll have more cold for longer.