Best Way to keep food cold while camping
Reading Time: 10 minutes The best thing that you can do while going to a camping trip is to light a fire where you can feel warm and cook food where the wonderful and delicious smells come out through this fire.
Many campers always wonder how to keep the food cold while going to a camping trip, to preserve your food and to stay away from food poisoning while you are in an unknown place.
How to Keep Food Cold Camping
Freeze Or Cool The Food Before Leaving
If you want to get rid of the matter of refrigerating food, I advise you to cook food in your home before you go on a camping trip, as this matter will make you get rid of worrying about this matter, especially if your cooked food is meat.
Where you must cool the food and drinks at home, that is, before you go to the camp, because the food will remain cold inside the cooler for a long time. If you want to save time, you can bring frozen food from the store or from the gas station.
You can also put your food in freezer bags, as the food does not melt and does not contaminate everything in the cooler, and you must be careful while you close raw meat in order not to be exposed to contaminants, because any contaminant may be dangerous.
Pick Up Some Ice Packs
In order to cool the food, you must use the appropriate ice for you on the camping trip, where you can use a bag of loose ice cubes that you can pick up from the store in order to cool the cooler, it was said that you are going to the camping trip.
But this type of ice is not considered very suitable in keeping the food cold while you are going to the camping trip, because the small ice cubes will enter a lot of air and therefore this ice will melt quickly and if the bag in which the ice is torn or if the ice is loose This may lead to the spread of water everywhere.
It is preferable that you replace the small ice cubes with a large block of ice, as it will help you in keeping the ice cubes and foods cold for a long time, and it is a very great option.
You can also use a thermal ice pack, as it is considered ideal and can freeze food and you can reuse it more than once. Packed ice greatly helps prevent food from getting wet in the cooler, and you should use non-toxic containers in case of spillage .
If you want to make your own ice cubes, you must put some cold water in a freezer bag and then add some salt to it, as when the water mixes with salt, this will reduce the melting point of the water and speed up the freezing process as well. You squeeze the air and then stick the bag in the freezer, and there are some people who add some dish soap to the mixture, and this makes the ice bags very flexible.
You should also use freezer bags to fill the ice cubes that you made, and you should put these bags in a cooler that is filled with ice water, or you can put these bags in another container, and you can use a milk jug instead. Because the milk jug will help you produce a large block of ice.
You can use dry ice, as this type of ice consists of carbon dioxide instead of water, and it is considered very cold, and there are many campers who like to use dry ice in order to keep the food cold, because it is very cold, but I do not advise you to You use dry ice a lot, because there is a need for special care.
And if you use dry ice packs, I advise you to use insulating gloves, because it is considered very cold.
You should also take into account that dry ice, if it melts, will turn into carbon dioxide instead of water, so you must keep it away from humans and animals.
When dry ice melts, it releases gas, so the pressure in the cooler will increase. If you are using a large amount of dry ice, you must open the lid once in a while to ensure that it does not open and if you use 10 pounds of dry ice It will last for 24 hours.
Pre-Chill Your Cooler
You must cool the cooler before you put the food in the cooler, especially if the food you brought is perishable.
And you don’t want your room temperature to be too cold in order to heat up all your chilled and frozen meals.
If you want to keep your food cold in the refrigerator, you should put some ice in the freezer hours before placing the food in the refrigerator as ice cubes that you can pick up from the store or from the gas station will work well for this purpose though It should not be used when doing food packaging.
You can also use a large horizontal freezer, which is one of the best ways that you will get a very cold one by placing the cooler completely in it.
Properly Pack Food Into Your Cooler
You should use one rule while you are packing the cooler while going on a camping trip, and this rule is to put food that may be spoiled at the nearest point at the bottom of the cooler.
I mean, you must put foods that contain meat or foods that are not frozen that may be exposed to damage and that may cause the transfer of contaminants to other foods at the bottom of the cooler. You should also pack these foods twice in frozen bags and then cover them with aluminum foil .
If you want to defrost meat, you must place it at the highest point in the cooler.
Ice cubes or ice bags help to keep foods cold greatly, so stick a layer of ice at the bottom of the cooler, put another layer of ice on top of the meat, and place another layer of ice on top of the cooler.
Note: You should not fill the cooler with a lot of food, because you will need a large space in order to put the ice cubes.
Keep Your Cooler Out Of The Sun
If you want to keep the food in the refrigerator cold for a longer period of time, you must keep it away from sunlight, and if you want to melt the ice in the refrigerator, put it under the sun.
Therefore, you must keep the cooler cool by keeping it away from the sun and keeping the cooler under shade in order to keep the food cool when camping.
There are several methods that will help you to search for a shadow, which are:
- the trees.
- Rocks.
- The cars.
- Tents.
- Prepare your own tarp.
- Take into account the storage space in the camp.
Note: You must take into account that the shadow will move with the passage of the day, because the sun will move in the sky.
Two coolers are better than one
You should bring two coolers in order to provide a large space for food and ice and to separate food from drinks.
It is preferable to use two coolers, because if you open the lid of the cooler continuously, this will lead to the exit of the cooled air quickly, because children open the lid of the cooler continuously in order to take drinks, so it is preferable that you put the drinks in a cooler separate from the food cooler and this matter It will make you feel very comfortable that the food will remain cold in the other cooler.
Pack your cooler tight, and pack it right!
When you are camping, you do not want to search in the frozen foods that you have in order to search for a specific thing in order not to open the cooler frequently, so you have to arrange the foods inside the cooler correctly and you can do it as follows:
Put the first layer and it must be snow and you can use ice molds or crushed ice, and it is preferable to use boards if the trip is for more than two days.
After applying the ice layer, put the frozen meat that you have, and you must make sure that it is placed in tightly closed containers and bags in order not to contaminate the rest of the foods when defrosting.
Put a new layer of ice on top of the meat and add some other dairy products that you should put directly on top of the ice in order to keep it in good condition.
And then put the rest of the foods you have in tightly closed containers, and it is better to use ziplock bags.
Now put another layer of ice and put on it the rest of the foods that you have, and it is better that the top layer be the foods that are consumed first, such as drinks, chocolate and snacks.
After you finish arranging the food in the cooler, make sure of the air pockets and put ice bags in order to keep the cold air going down the cooler in order to preserve the foods for a longer period.
Don’t drain the cooler unnecessarily
When thawing in your cooler, do not drain the water from the cooler, as cold water will keep food cold as long as you have room inside the cooler.
Use a thermometer inside the cooler
A thermometer can be used inside the refrigerator, and this is one of the simple ways to ensure that foods remain usable, and all you have to do is put the thermometer in the refrigerator and then put it in the refrigerator, and the thermometer will tell you if the temperature is appropriate and safe to keep your food stored in the refrigerator.
The thermometer will give such readings in degrees Celsius, and you can also use Fahrenheit thermometers, and these degrees are as follows from -40 to 40 degrees Celsius.
Pro Tips For The Cooler
Choose The Right Cooler
As we mentioned earlier, the cooler is an essential part of your camping equipment, and there are many coolers that you can buy, and high-quality coolers are characterized by their use of thick walls and better air insulation, and latches to keep the cool air inside, so modern coolers are better for keeping the cold for a longer period.
There are many great coolers that you can buy, for example, the Coleman 54L cooler is one of the best coolers you can buy, and this cooler is wonderfully insulated and can keep foods cold for 5 days at a good temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
In general, in order to get the best cooler, I have to check how many days the coolant will stay cold, and you can stay away as much as possible from old Styrofoam coolers because they have poor performance in keeping cool.
If you want to take long-distance trips, you should consider using an electric cooler, or you can use your own car refrigerator.
How To Keep Food Cold While Camping Without A Cooler?
Of course, using a refrigerant is the most effective way to keep food from spoiling, but some alternatives can be used when necessary, and thermal bags can be used to keep food well cool when filled with ice.
And if you want to go out on trips using backpacks and do not want to carry a cooler while you go out, you can use the Ice Mule, which is the ideal choice for this, and the Ice Mule is an insulated backpack that keeps the cold inside and also provides the benefits of a cooler, but it is the best for going out on hiking trips.
Food Safety Guidelines for Camping
In order to ensure that you, your family and your friends stay safe, follow some basic guidelines for food safety and these are the most important of these guidelines:
- Wash and sanitize your hands regularly, especially before eating or preparing food.
- Cook food properly until it is heated to eliminate microbes and germs.
- Use utensils to prepare meat, and store meat in food storage bags well in order not to contaminate the rest of the food.
- Check the expiration date of foods before buying them.
- Regularly maintain the coolant temperature.
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