Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:42 pmSteveH wrote:The dry ice idea is a really good one, except where do you buy dry ice? Don't see it around here.
I've seen dry ice at HEB
I've seen dry ice at HEB
Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers
or t n ttt for short (tnttt.com)
https://www.tnttt.com/
Keeping Food and Ice Separate
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:42 pmI've seen dry ice at HEB
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:40 pmBobR wrote:My favorite way to keep the water out my food is to seal the food in plastic using a vacuum food saver. I seal everything from meat to potatos. You can pre-prepare stews or leftovers, package them in a vacuum bag, freeze them and use them for additional cooling power in the ice chest. When you want to eat, just boil the bags....
You can get it at WalMart
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=4228525
These must be extra fancy, as they are $69 at our Target , they sure are handy for storing all kinds of things. Anyone that uses an ice chest needs one of these. No, I don't have shares in the company !! If you can get the bags, an old Seal-a-meal will do almost the same thing.
Then the Vacuum bags for clothes, blankets, etc. are invaluable for storing things in a small space. I keep a tiny, 1 gallon shop vac in the camper, for cleaning, and sucking the air out of the vac bags. A lot easier to store extra bedding, sweaters, coats and such.
Re: Keeping Food and Ice Separate
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:22 amShiro wrote:Some of the stuff in the cooler gets waterlogged. Coleman says that the temperature stays colder if you don't drain the melt water.
Any tricks on keeping stuff dry? Ziplock bags come to mind, but I wonder if someone else has developed a better system.
Thanks
Hello TearDroppers!
I am new to the forum, and have not yet built mine (Researching and Convincing mode right now). I have been camping all my life though. Couple of solutions come to mind right off.
Cheapest:
Large Plastic Containers/Jars from Candy/Jerky- Usually can get them from Convenience stores or gas stations if you ask.
Somewhat Cheap an Personal Favorite
Dry Bags-Carried at Wally World (Camping Fishing area) Put food inside roll and lock top. No water gets in. Very Durable. Various sizes. Great on Canoe trips too.
online try http://www.nextag.com/dry-bag/search-html
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 2:54 pmPaul:
Thanks for your idea ~ and Welcome to the forum.
Look forward to hearing of your trailer decisions and more as time goes on.
As your first post discusses Walmart Dry Bags in the camping area:
Here is a link to Walmart Dry Bags on the web
with free shipping at their stores = http://tinyurl.com/4427jw
Glad you found us ~
Steve
Thanks for your idea ~ and Welcome to the forum.
Look forward to hearing of your trailer decisions and more as time goes on.
As your first post discusses Walmart Dry Bags in the camping area:
Here is a link to Walmart Dry Bags on the web
with free shipping at their stores = http://tinyurl.com/4427jw
Glad you found us ~
Steve
Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:16 pmsdtripper2 wrote:Paul:
Thanks for your idea ~ and Welcome to the forum.
Look forward to hearing of your trailer decisions and more as time goes on.
As your first post discusses Walmart Dry Bags in the camping area:
Here is a link to Walmart Dry Bags on the web
with free shipping at their stores = http://tinyurl.com/4427jw
Glad you found us ~
Steve
Thanks Much Steve!!
I didn't realize this thread was so old
Oh well. Glad to be here. I am just camp crazy right now. I really want to build a teardrop. Right now I have a small utility trailer that I use and pack it full of gear. It works great because I can take many good items with me. My wife didn't camp a whole lot growing up, but I grew up basically in the Rockies of Northern Colorado.
Got a Canoe/Raft Trip in Southern MO along the Big Piney River on June 13th and can't wait to get out of the City!!!
Cheers.
Paul
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 6:34 pmmadjack wrote:arnereil wrote:We put a plastic storage (no cover) container in the cooler. It is almost as deep as the cooler is tall, and takes up about 1/3 the area. All dry stuff goes in there (cheese, lettuce, fruit). any ice, either in milk jugs or cubes is outside that space. Soda cans and non-soggy type stuff goes in with the cubes. So, the dry stuff stays dry..... has worked pretty well for the past several trips we took. Like it better than a rack....
...we do the same, works very well, also I almost always use 2 coolers, one for food stuffs, one for drinks and somethimes a 3rd just for spare ice.........
madjack
i really needed these ideas i always have soggy stuff and it kills me when we spend good money on some of the stuff so you take a container sort of like bread container? or a small trash can what and where did you get yours? i am still learning got the 2 ice chest down lol now keeping food cold and dry lol. thanks....
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:02 pmWe have one of these from OutdoorWorld/Bass Pro in Orlando. It was about $150, but.. it has double doors and we decided that it was just what we needed.
I use 1/2 gallon jugs of frozen water (think block ice) on the left side under the food, a lot of which is packed frozen in the food tray, which is very deep. Anything having to do with 'hydration' is kept in the right-hand side. That way, only one side is opened when a "soda can" is retrieved.
We also have a 5 gallon water cooler with a spout for plain water.
I use 1/2 gallon jugs of frozen water (think block ice) on the left side under the food, a lot of which is packed frozen in the food tray, which is very deep. Anything having to do with 'hydration' is kept in the right-hand side. That way, only one side is opened when a "soda can" is retrieved.
We also have a 5 gallon water cooler with a spout for plain water.
Re: Keeping Food and Ice Separate
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:54 amWe freeze one pot meals like chili's, stews, soups etc and use them as block ice to supplement the regular ice and consume them last when they start to thaw.
Also a lot of coolers come with a tray on top. This is not for food but for your block / dry ice. Hot air rises and cold air sinks, putting your ice in the tray makes it easy to dispose of waste water while keeping the contents of your cooler dry and at safe temps. Not great if your constantly opening and closing though but great if your only going in to source meals.
Also a lot of coolers come with a tray on top. This is not for food but for your block / dry ice. Hot air rises and cold air sinks, putting your ice in the tray makes it easy to dispose of waste water while keeping the contents of your cooler dry and at safe temps. Not great if your constantly opening and closing though but great if your only going in to source meals.
Re: Keeping Food and Ice Separate
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 8:35 pmAfter trying the storage containers and regular size gallon baggies to hold food to keep dry, ice and water always would get into those. So i found the JUMBO ZIP UP 2.5 gallon baggies. They are tall enough to sit above the ice and so I can zip up easy to get to as I add ice to the ice chest. I use three putting ice at the bottom of ice chest and then inbetween the bags. I don't have to lift them out to find my food, so it's easy to find. Also I can keep like items in each baggie. I do like to keep the melted ice in my ice chest as well to keep everything cold.
For my milk and drinks I use a seperate ice chest for that. BUT we are milk drinkers and pulling out those big gallon cartons never fit back in. So I just buy the small juice style small snap top pastic containers and fill them with my milk. So nice to just grab, and then they act as our personal milk cup as well for a meal and then no having to wash a cup or throw paper cup in landfill.
Now the funny thing I do is when I take my long trips I keep a small ice chest with my bigger milk carton in with all the ice. I take the cap and cut a small hole in top. Then I go to hardware store and buy a little plastic tubing to act as a VERY long straw. I put it in the cap with hole and push into milk carton then the other end reaches all the way to me as I drive so I can just SUCK my milk. I LOVE IT. Always ice cold. But BEWARE if you don't place the end in an up position, it can start to syphon out....I learned the hard way. Yes it takes a heafty suck to get it going but then when done I blow back into the straw to get the milk out so it doesn't stay in it to get warm, icky. Wow this little tidbit sounds like it should be censored.....haha. BUT IT REALLY WORKS GOOD
For my milk and drinks I use a seperate ice chest for that. BUT we are milk drinkers and pulling out those big gallon cartons never fit back in. So I just buy the small juice style small snap top pastic containers and fill them with my milk. So nice to just grab, and then they act as our personal milk cup as well for a meal and then no having to wash a cup or throw paper cup in landfill.
Now the funny thing I do is when I take my long trips I keep a small ice chest with my bigger milk carton in with all the ice. I take the cap and cut a small hole in top. Then I go to hardware store and buy a little plastic tubing to act as a VERY long straw. I put it in the cap with hole and push into milk carton then the other end reaches all the way to me as I drive so I can just SUCK my milk. I LOVE IT. Always ice cold. But BEWARE if you don't place the end in an up position, it can start to syphon out....I learned the hard way. Yes it takes a heafty suck to get it going but then when done I blow back into the straw to get the milk out so it doesn't stay in it to get warm, icky. Wow this little tidbit sounds like it should be censored.....haha. BUT IT REALLY WORKS GOOD
Re: Keeping Food and Ice Separate
Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 9:09 amGoogle "polar tubes", just glue-capped 2" PVC, cut to the right length and filled 85% full with seawater.
I plan to work out clips to hang them from a cooler lid, top of the space.
Rotate between the cooler and a freezer whenever generating excess solar power, or long trips off the Alt, "free energy" storage.
Will likely stay cold 6-8 days in a decent cooler box, certainly longer than open ice in a "polar cooler", no leaks, no water, more space efficient. . .
I plan to work out clips to hang them from a cooler lid, top of the space.
Rotate between the cooler and a freezer whenever generating excess solar power, or long trips off the Alt, "free energy" storage.
Will likely stay cold 6-8 days in a decent cooler box, certainly longer than open ice in a "polar cooler", no leaks, no water, more space efficient. . .
Re: Keeping Food and Ice Separate
Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:17 pmWe spent a week camping with some Texas friends and they have been using dry ice for years. He gave me a Penguin brochure. Here's their website that has a dealer location map plus a bunch of packing information:
http://dryiceideas.com/penguin-brand-dry-ice/
The biggest issue he had was keeping the dry ice at the bottom of the (big, yeti-style) cooler from freezing the food at the top. He used cardboard between the dry ice and regular ice/food but we were brainstorming (beers were probably involved) and he thought he might try cutting up his old tent-camping thermarest closed-cell Z Lite (or RidgeRest) for a better insulator. I suppose some double-bubble insulation might work, too?
As far as I remember, he didn't have any soggy ice melt issues until the dry ice was gone and then the insulating layer helped keep everything more-or-less dry. He covered the cooler with a towel and tried to keep it out of the sun as much as possible.
We have a DC fridge but no solar panel so after a couple of days at our non-electric site, we had to put everything in ziploc bags and into our ice "drinks" cooler.
http://dryiceideas.com/penguin-brand-dry-ice/
The biggest issue he had was keeping the dry ice at the bottom of the (big, yeti-style) cooler from freezing the food at the top. He used cardboard between the dry ice and regular ice/food but we were brainstorming (beers were probably involved) and he thought he might try cutting up his old tent-camping thermarest closed-cell Z Lite (or RidgeRest) for a better insulator. I suppose some double-bubble insulation might work, too?
As far as I remember, he didn't have any soggy ice melt issues until the dry ice was gone and then the insulating layer helped keep everything more-or-less dry. He covered the cooler with a towel and tried to keep it out of the sun as much as possible.
We have a DC fridge but no solar panel so after a couple of days at our non-electric site, we had to put everything in ziploc bags and into our ice "drinks" cooler.
Re: Keeping Food and Ice Separate
Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2018 10:46 pmmost of this site took place in 2005 but I would gather there are many up dates to this site.
Now a days many have a freezer that hooks to a battery and solar that they keep it that way.
for those who can not at this time afford one.
We keep 2 coolers.
1 we do not open until we get there. it has ice on the bottom food is in containers and at the top we put dry ice.
In the other we keep frozen bottles and add Ice along the way to keep it cold this cooler we use to eat out of on the way up, and back.
The one bad thing we ran into was when you camp in a hot place and have to keep you food in a dark red bear box. We lost 50% of our food. If I do this again I will make a white cover to put over it.
Ron
Now a days many have a freezer that hooks to a battery and solar that they keep it that way.
for those who can not at this time afford one.
We keep 2 coolers.
1 we do not open until we get there. it has ice on the bottom food is in containers and at the top we put dry ice.
In the other we keep frozen bottles and add Ice along the way to keep it cold this cooler we use to eat out of on the way up, and back.
The one bad thing we ran into was when you camp in a hot place and have to keep you food in a dark red bear box. We lost 50% of our food. If I do this again I will make a white cover to put over it.
Ron
Re: Keeping Food and Ice Separate
Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2018 10:51 pmWe have a freezer and we freeze our water bottle in it and as we come back from an outing we put what is left of our block of ice in the bottom of the freezer for next time.