How do you keep food from spoiling when camping?
Posted: July 8th, 2010 | Author: Mitch | Filed under: Camping Recipes | Tags: camping, canned foods | 6 Comments »Im going camping in like 2 weeks and I was wondering how you keep your food from spoiling. I know you put it in a cooler with ice, but how about meats and stuff? I dont want to eat canned foods everyday. Please help.
I camp often with the Boy Scouts and learned a few tips to keeping food safe:
When we camp, we partially pre-cook a lot of food. Cooked meat keeps a lot longer than raw meat.
Freeze meat that you won’t be eating the first day. It will then act as an ice block to help food around it cold.
It’s very important to replenish the ice every day. Make it the first thing you do in the morning or the last thing you do each night.
Remember: Life begins at 40. This is not age; it’s degrees farenheit.
well i am sure you know to cover the food and all of that.
the only thing i can tell you that you might not know and i am often surprised by how many people dont know is too not open the bags of ice by a soild block of ice keep the bag closed and the ice last much longer. same thing with the cubes but they melt faster then the solid block.
keep refrigirated or on ice at all times. meats or dairy products must be cold at all times.just put in a ice chest and keep the ice inside at all times. keep the lid on or the ice will melt too quickly
In a cooler with ice will be fine. Use 1 cooler for food that will not be opened very often and another for beverages and snacks that will be opened several times a day. If I am camping for an extended time, I use a third cooler with nothing but extra ice.
Plan your meals out a head of time. Freeze everything you can first. The first week start with the more perishables. For breakfast have bacon or sausage with eggs (eggs keep well) at first and move to cereals or pancakes later. For lunch start with lunch meats like sliced roastbeef or turkey then move to the canned foods and don’t forget about peanut butter and jelly. For supper I would probably have with burgers and chicken (after thawing only good for a few days), mix in a steak here or there. Move then to hot dogs they keep well while cold for a long time and see if you can get ahold of some dehydrated meals for supper at an out doorsman store, many now days are actually quite good.
You could bring smoked meats such as salami but not sliced before leaving home, also cheese, tomatoes, paprika/peppers, bring rice, pasta, lots of fruit etc.
Not everbody gets to bring a cooler, we never had them in the army, avoid leaving food out in the sunlight in plastic as it will go bad very quickly, keep in a linen bag, and hang in the shade when stoping.
Most dangerous is meat thats gone off, being re-heated, by frying or bakeing but it is possible to boil meat thats slightly "off" and then use curry powder sauce to add flavour.