by nevadatear » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:49 am
I have never had my milk containers melt more than 1/2 way, so they are still usable and stay in the cooler the whole trip (up to a week). I use 3 half gallons in one, and 2 in the other. I guess if they melted to the point of needing more ice for the trip, I would throw the empties in the tow vehicle. Since they don't weight anything or take up much space and could be put anywhere, I personally don't see that as a problem. however, since they are easily replaceable, you could just recycle them at your campsite (I hope they have recycling there!). you could always (gasp) throw them away.
If you don't want the hassle of keeping containers around the house during not camping season, or don't have the room in the freezer, I would store your empty do-it-yourself container in your ices box of the tear. That is what I did, I stored my empty milk jugs in my ice chest until summer came around until we bought a small chest freezer. Now I keep a few frozen all the time.
The only other idea I would have is to build some sort of a dam system on the front of the tray to hold back a mesh bag of ice. Could probably make it out of plexiglas with silicone seam. I made a box out of this to put my jug of milk in in my ice chest, to keep the ice cubes from filling in the space when I take it out, thus eliminating the necessity of scooping my hand in freezing water and ice to make the milk bottle fit back in again!
Sorry, this one seem to have a good answer for you. the mesh bag one is probably the best, but the ice will melt FAST and you will be replacing it quickly.
Last edited by
nevadatear on Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.