<p>H has convinced me to go on an extended camping trip. Empty nesters so we have plenty of room in the car. I am always amazed that I can pack so small when traveling by plane but give me a car trip and my piles of stuff multiplies exponentially,</p>
<p>I have two mid sized to large coolers plus a small one that we usually take to the beach. I have precooked some stuff and froze. I also have drinks, yogurt, cheese and vegetables.
The dilemma- how do you pack the cooler so that some stuff stays frozen till later in the trip yet not have your yogurt, lettuce and cucumbers freeze. </p>
<p>Yes, you will need 2 coolers, one for frozen stuff and one for refrigerated stuff. How long is the trip? Dry ice will keep your frozen items frozen for up to 2 days, maybe longer, depending on how good the cooler is. For refrigerated stuff, use solid frozen “ice” bricks. Do not use ice since it melts too fast and makes a watery mess. As long as your lettuce is not in direct contact with the bricks, it is not going to be damaged. I would not refrigerate things like zucchinis, tomatoes, cukes (unless you expect the temperatures to be very hot). </p>
<p>When we camped, we generally tried NOT to take fragile stuff like lettuce. Cabbage works for cooking and coleslaw and is much sturdier. Carrots, celery, and other veggies are pretty durable. Hard boiled eggs and cheese keep quite well even if they aren’t kept THAT cold. Again, much depends on how long you will be camping and how frequently you plan on restocking your supplies. Pasta and rice are fine dry and easy enough to prepare. We liked using canned goods in our cooking recipes for camping as it didn’t require refrigeration or chilling. it wasn’t gourmet dining, but it was easy and filling.</p>
<p>Thats what we do too.
Prefreeze water bottles & juice.
Freeze any meats to be taken.
Keep stuff that doesn’t need to be so cold in a separate cooler to limit time the other one is opened.
Never brought yogurt.
Many places also have small stores where you can restock ice.
I don’t like to cook a lot while camping so I will bring stuff for sandwiches, maybe premake bean or pasta salad.
Trail snacks can just be an apple or maybe some nuts & cheese.
I like the aseptic packages of soup because I think they taste better than canned and you can also seal them up again.</p>
<p>One thing I do is make liberal use of ziplock freezer bags. Nothing goes in the cooler that is not sealed in a bag. That way, the cooler ice is not getting disgusting. I try to bundle up everything for one meal in a single freezer bag. Cook the meal, ditch the bag.</p>
<p>BTW, If anyone is cooler shopping, the Coleman Extreme coolers keep ice almost as well as the super-expensive marine coolers, but are reasonably priced.</p>
<p>That certainly IS a different cooler design–one of the most original I think I’ve ever seen. I still think $185 is a bit steep for a cooler, seeing as how little use ours get these days (now that the kids are 1000s of miles away and no little ones around). Actually tho, I have spent over $100 just a bluetooth speaker and can’t remember how much on a blender. Wonder how much that cooler weighs with all those additions?</p>
<p>Surprisingly, one of the meals which has become a stand by for the two of us is spaghetti. I cook up the spaghetti & ziploc it, make the sauce & freeze it, make garlic bread & broil it, but reseal it in plastic and then foil.</p>
<p>The frozen sauce keeps for a bit, then you heat it in the pan over the coals, add the pasta when ready, the pasta is pretty forgiving in the cooler & warm the bread it it’s foil pouch. Add a salad kit which we mix up in the bag it came in and you have a pretty easy camping meal.</p>
<p>Iced coffee is a nice treat and easier than trying to make real coffee or else some of those instant flavored coffee like treats.</p>
<p>I find it best to check each cooler mornings and evenings and unless the cooler only has drinks, then drain the extra water.</p>
<p>If you leave your coolers outside when camping, be sure to secure your coolers enough so raccoons can’t get in 'em and steal your food. Chains work good…raccoons can open cooler snap locks easily…I think they carry crowbars.</p>
<p>Regarding the cooler, you can take chilled cabbage to cut up for cole slaw. I tend to bring bagged salad for the first night camping. I freeze gallon milk or juice jugs, as well as butter, milk for coffee, and and anything else I can think of. The ice melt is contained in the gallon, and that block last a good, long time in one of the new sorts of coolers. In addition, a bag of ice is nice for a few days. </p>
<p>Never let the sun touch the cooler, if possible. I bring a towel to cover the top, and put sleeping bags on top in the car. No bears or raccoons where I semi wilderness camp, and the cooler sits outside for the duration. </p>
<p>I’ll use one as a cooler and one for utensils and dry food storage so I can leave them out at night and not be having to constantly carry coolers to and from the car. I figure tht if Grizzly bears can’t get in, I should be safe from the raccoons and squirrels that are the more likely culprits.The dry cooler is the storage place for all the little camp cooking doodads and supplies, so it’s mostly ready to go.</p>