how to keep food from spoiling while camping?
Posted: July 28th, 2010 | Author: Mitch | Filed under: Camping Recipes | Tags: camping | 6 Comments »So my husband and I are pretty new at the camping thing. I was planning on packing some food in a cooler to take with us, but it will only last for the first day then I can’t count on the cooler to keep it cold anymore.
Any suggestions?
Do I just need to keep buying ice or should we camp somewhere near a market to buy dinner daily?
A couple of suggestions:
Use two coolers, one for drinks that will be getting opened frequently through out the day and the other for your food that will only be opened occasionally.
One of the best brands and styles of coolers on the market are Coleman Extreme 5 day coolers. Thicker walls and insulation than your typical coolers by a wide margin.
Buy or make blocks of ice, they last much longer than ice cubes. If you have freezer space at home, you can make your own in milk cartons or jugs. A side benefit to this is having ice cold water to drink while camping.
Dry ice is also a possiblity if available in your area.
Cool the interior of the coolers with ice for a few hours before adding your food and drinks.
If possible, freeze as much of the food in advance. This will help keep the cooler that much colder.
Keep cooler out of the direct sun, you want to keep it in a shaded location.
Finally, as the ice melts, any water in the bottom of the cooler will need to be drained and additional ice added.
You should try using Dry Ice it’s a little more expensive but lasts a lot longer usually a few days in a good cooler
Have fun!!!
If you have a good quality cooler, and use block ice instead of cubes, or at least a couple blocks with your cubes, you should get your ice to last at least 2-3 days, as long as you limit the number of times you open your cooler. You might also try bringing along an old blanket or sleeping bag and covering your cooler with it when not using it. If you are bringing any meat with you to cook, like burgers or chicken, freeze it before you put it in the cooler. And bring some canned goods with you too, that don’t need to be kept cool. Plus stuff like raisins, nuts, jerky etc. are good for snacks. Good luck, and have fun!
Use mostly canned goods. If you don’t keep opening a cooler, ice will keep eggs, bacon and milk for a couple of days. Have another cooler for drinks. Use crushed ice in the cooler with the drinks and clean milk cartons almost full, frozen at home in the other. This water can be used for drinking or cooking if it thaws. Buy or fill at home clean milk jugs with drinking water if where you go does not have good drinking water. DON’T DRINK FROM STREAMS. You may end up with the same thing you would catch in Mexico if you drank the water there.
hi amanda,
good day! here in the phils, when we do major treks (3 days up). we usually marinate our meat & pre cook it (w/ the marinate) a night before the activity.
ingredients:
1 kilo pork
100ml vinegar
1 teaspoon iodized salt
1/4 clove chopped onions (fried)
mix this all w/ the meat & pre cook until the color of the meat becomes light brown.
note: do not close the cannister after cooking when it is still hot in order to avoid moist when travelling.
use canned goods, and when you want to cook some meat, or something that might spoil, only take what your going to use. if it’s just you and your husband, then take a egg carten and cut it so it will keep enough eggs for you and him. meat same thing, just enough for you and him. keep it in a cooler and don’t open it unless you have to, keep it out of the sun, and use dry ice in a bag not touching the food directly. bring alot of canned food just incase the food spoils. never know what will happen.