JK-Tex

There's probably an obvious answer to this, but what's the best way to keep a cooler full of food COLD for 3-or-more days on the trail? And does it matter if you're talking drinks or food?

My approach is generally to pack the beer-- uh, I mean drink cooler full of bag ice. This keeps the bottled beverages suspended in a frigid sea of ice and water. I periodically drain the excess water, which seems to make the ice last longer.

My bigger issue is how to pack the food cooler. Filling it full of ice is problematic because some of the stuff doesn't do well when suspended in water and ice for multiple days. Some packaging can leak, some gets mushy, and you just generally wind up with a mess. Is the better option to use ice packs:



Or just zip-locks full of ice? If so, how much? I'd welcome others' solution to the problem of keeping food cold for multiple days on the trail.

BIGJ

was thinking the same thing, or take more non parishable items as they do not need to be chilled, then catch and eat what you find on the trails..........you can live on, it just tastes like shit.....Crocodile Dundee.

JeeperDude

If you bring bottled water then freeze it first. It doesn't get everything all wet like bags of ice, plus you can drink the water rather than having to drain off the melted ice.
The downside is that you can't pick some up on the way like bags of ice.
Block ice lasts longer than bag ice.

Other advise is to keep the ice chest out of the sun and keep it closed as much as possible (obviously).

capt scotty

We have always used the frozen bottled water. It freezes super hard. We also had a great experience with the Coleman Extreme coolers. They last great in hot weather but we are careful to keep a blanket wrapped around it . Pack everything you can frozen (hot dogs, hamburger pattys, steaks). Limit how often it is accessed and uncovered.

Sharkey

Consider packing several smaller food coolers instead of one large one. Plan your meals for an entire day all at once, then pack your coolers based on days. You lose quite a bit of cooling capacity by constantly opening up a food cooler to grab food. Seal up your coolers with one wrap of duct tape where the lid meets the body of the cooler and write the "day" number on the duct tape. There should be no reason to open the day three cooler prior to day three or the day two cooler prior to day 2. I've kept food cool for 7+ days on river rafting trips by packing coolers based on days instead of just throwing everything into one or two large coolers. Obviously this trick doesn't work very well for beer, sodas, etc. On long river trips, we ditch the beer for drinks that don't require cooling (i.e. wine, mixed drinks, etc.).

It is also a good idea to put your coolers in the fridge the night before you actually fill them up with food and head out for the trail (your ice will last longer because it doesn't have to cool down the cooler from the get go.)

I also agree with the post about freezing some of the food (i.e. steak, chicken, etc.) This works particularly well with my suggestion about packing coolers based on day of use.

wazooz2424

what about using dry ice on the bottom?

doubleusn

When we use to canoe we would do the frozen bottled water trick (don't for get to drain a bit off first) but we would also pack beers in there with loose ice to fill the voids, but also add warm ones as we went. This seemed to work pretty good for us. These were 2.5 day trips on a river in the hot sun in July using off the shelf coolers.

The frozen bottles also melt slow and provide just enough water to brush your teeth

...or if you really wanna learn the tricks, got hiking with only a backpack a bunch of times... having a cooler then seems like a breath of fresh air.


...also frozen, now melted water, and powered drink mix and rum/vodka works very well also and takes up less space than beer

blackjkrubi

bingo!!! I always use dry ice, good for at least 5-7 days keep your meat frozen and your beer cold. I buy half of a block for about $25.

JL

4x4Jeeper

x 3 on the dry ice...............

Galileo

The only problem with dry ice is the dog doesn't enjoy eating it.