Important Camping
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Even with an outside temperature of 90 degrees high-performance ice chests can still keep your beverage of choice cold for days at a time without the need to add more ice. Some of the camping coolers now available can preserve ice for an amazing amount of time, some up to 6 days. Of course the length of time will vary with conditions, but this is still a huge improvement over the camping coolers of yesterday.
Lids that seal well not only keep cold air inside to preserve your food longer, they also help keep bugs and small animals like chipmunks away. Raccoon, opossum, and bear are a different story...
Tips For Selecting Camping Coolers
1. Invest in a well-insulated 5-6 day camping cooler. This means, depending on the model, that the cooler will still have ice left after 5-6 days with the outside temperature being between 80-100 degrees F. Besides avoiding the hassle of the daily ice run, you'll also more than make up the additional cost of the cooler over the longterm.
2. The less often you open your camping cooler, the longer the ice will last. While this is obvious, it makes a good case for having a separate box for beverages and food like frozen meat, especially if you're miles away from the store.
3. Don't drain the ice water from the cooler. The water is almost as cold as the ice and helps to surround and cool things faster. Drain the water if you need to add more ice, or if you need the room, otherwise it'll help keep things cool.
4. Freeze or at least chill any "camping cooler food" before you put it in your cooler. I've seen soup remain frozen for over 3 days before. This will help prevent food from spoiling and save you a trip to the store.
5. Try to keep your cooler in the shade (covered with a sleeping bag is even better) with the lid tightly closed, and minimize how often you open it to extend ice life.
6. If you're camping in raccoon or opossum territory keep your camping cooler secured away from your tent and in your vehicle especially at night. Animals can be very bold and/or aggressive when it comes to food. I've actually had two raccoons steal bread out of an open car with the engine running at night while we were 20 feet away setting up our camping tent. They held their ground for the most part and hissed when we tried to scare them off, not good. This is why people shouldn't feed wild animals... especially bears. If you're in bear country consider using a food safe or string it 25 feet up in the air between trees.
7. Packing your cooler is easier if you put your food in first and then add the ice. Try to organize your food in sections so that it will be easier to find later.
8. Sealed meat will last longer if you lay it between ice cubes or at least on top of the ice.
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10. Make sure your camping cooler has a drain plug or you'll have to tip it up or bail it out to empty it.
11. Camping coolers with a removable bin can save you from having to reach in to freezing water to find small items. Packing small containers only the size you'll need saves space for other food and/or more ice.
12. Folding carry handles can make storage easier, better yet get a wheeled camping cooler with a folding pull-handle.
13. A 20-30 quart camping cooler should be good for 2 people, 25-40 quarts for 3 people, 50-70 quart for 4 people, and if you have 5+ people there are camping coolers that can hold well over 150 quarts. At this point though weight quickly becomes an issue and you might be better off going with several smaller coolers because they'll be much easier to move.
14. Regular painted steel coolers might look better than plastic initially, but if it dents, the paint chips, or it starts to rust it won't look good for long. If you want metal go with stainless steel, it looks better anyway and as long as you take care of it and avoid dents it'll last a long time. Forget the Styrofoam. :-)
15. Small soft side coolers can be nice for day trips, but once you get past that length of time having more storage is usually better.
16. Camping coolers with cubby holes in the lid and other places to hold things make life easier, as do flat tops as they can double as a small temporary table.
17. Blocks of ice last longer than cubes in camping coolers, but they don't offer the surface area to cool things as quickly. It's also easier to keep meat colder when you bury it in the ice as opposed to resting it on top of, or beside a block of ice.
REI has a pretty decent selection of camping coolers, (sorry I don't have a direct cooler link at the moment). I'm currently testing a cooler so I should have a recommendation soon.
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