Keeping Food and Ice Separate

Anything to do with camping, fundamentals, secrets, etc...

Postby Chris C » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:15 pm

Rob, the site you listed the link for clearly states:

As a general rule, dry ice will sublimate at a rate of five to ten pounds every 24 hours in a typical ice chest. This sublimation continues from the time of purchase, therefore, pick up Dry Ice as close to the time needed as possible. Bring an ice chest or some other insulated container to hold the Dry Ice and slow the sublimation rate. Dry Ice sublimates faster than regular ice melts but will extend the life of regular ice.

and that has also been my experience with it.
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Postby remarquian » Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:11 pm

Chis,

I'm sorry, I read your post a little to quickly.

rob
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Postby Larwyn » Wed Aug 24, 2005 6:05 am

When camping I use the 3 chest method (no dry ice).

But my reason for posting is that I use an ice chest daily. I work out of a service truck and often out of town. I always have one of the "5 day" coolers in the van. I found that the food trays that used to come with most ice chests are still available, you just have to buy them seperate.
During the hot part of summer I start the week out with one block and one 20lb bag of ice. After 3 days, drain a bit of the water, and add a 10lb bag, in a couple of days it needs another 10 lb bag which will keep things cold over the weekend, then start over on Monday. Main thing is to keep the chest full with the water level low enough that it does not splash into the food try while driving. It also helps to line the bottom of the food tray with a couple of layers of paper towel.

Works for me. :D
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Postby Denny Unfried » Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:48 am

Coleman and Igloo don't put seals on their coolers for safety reasons so there can be an air exchange in case a child gets inside. A few years ago I noticed when I camped in breezy conditions the ice melted faster so - I installed a seal on the lid of my Igloo Ultra and the ice keeps much longer as long as it's kept out of the sun. The stock latches are also quick release that will open with less than 20# of pressure so I installed latches to keep it from popping lose while on the road.
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Postby Larwyn » Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:17 am

Denny Unfried wrote:Coleman and Igloo don't put seals on their coolers for safety reasons so there can be an air exchange in case a child gets inside. A few years ago I noticed when I camped in breezy conditions the ice melted faster so - I installed a seal on the lid of my Igloo Ultra and the ice keeps much longer as long as it's kept out of the sun. The stock latches are also quick release that will open with less than 20# of pressure so I installed latches to keep it from popping lose while on the road.
:beer:
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Denny,

This past weekend I installed latches and a seal on my Igloo Maxcold cooler. This is the one that I use daily in my work van. Guess I shold get an idea of how much this improved the cooler over the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know.

Even if it did not improve the performance, it sure looks cool (what a pun from me?)...... :D
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Postby Larwyn » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:40 pm

Thanks for the tip Denney. It works... :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

The modified ice chest is saving around 20lbs of ice a week, same ice chest, only added latches and a foam seal. And besides saving ice, water no longer sloshes out under the lid. This is one worthwhile modification.

This chest stays inside my work van parked under the hot Texas sun and is bounced around for around 2000 miles a month.
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Postby Juli n Bill » Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:25 pm

just a word of caution, if you add latches and seals to a cooler DO NOT put dry ice in there. Something about gasses building up. Saw something about it on TV one day and thought about this thread.
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Postby rianael » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:20 pm

Can one of you builder types explain how to add a seal and latch?

Thanks!
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Postby TomS » Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:10 pm

This dry ice dicussion is very interesting. How much does dry ice typically cost?

I like the idea of having a separate "Freezer Cooler" to store frozen meat and extra ice. We typically only take enough meat for 3 days then replenish. And, constantly runing to the store to buy ice every day is a major PITA.
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Postby Wright » Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:17 am

is a major PITA.


Tom,
I didn't know you had met my 4y/o son???????
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Postby BobR » Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:22 am

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
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Postby SteveH » Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:31 am

The dry ice idea is a really good one, except where do you buy dry ice? Don't see it around here.

The way I keep food out of the water is I freeze milk jugs (the 1/2 gallon ones) full of water and lay them in the bottom of the cooler. Then put the food on top and as the ice melts, the water stays in the jugs...at least most of it. What doesn't, gets drained out, but in any event, the jugs at the bottom keeps the food out of what little water gets in there. Four 1/2 gallon jugs of ice are good for a weekend if you don't open the chest too much.

Not perfect, but it works for me.
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Postby larryl » Fri Dec 02, 2005 9:17 am

Bob wrote, "My favorite way to keep the water out my food is to seal the food in plastic using a vacuum food saver..."

Great idea Bob, have to give that a try.
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Postby dacrazyrn » Fri Dec 02, 2005 9:25 am

I have purchased dry ice from City Market (mainly in Moab, UT-throw it in the cooler, duct tape it up for 3-5 days while backpacking. COme back to ice cold beer!!) they are also King soopers stores. Haven't seen it in my Soopers, but y never know. Ice cream stores usually have it, also. Baskin Robbins and the such.
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Postby TomS » Fri Dec 02, 2005 11:16 am

Wright wrote:
is a major PITA.


Tom,
I didn't know you had met my 4y/o son???????


I'm a 5-year-old with 40 years experience :lol:
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