Minimalist camping is a simple and streamlined approach to camping that focuses on carrying only essential and functional gear. The goal is to reduce excess weight, space, and complexity while maximizing the enjoyment of the outdoors. This guide offers tips for camping in your car or campervan, such as finding a campsite with tents already set up, making a supply list, shopping with a grocery list, scaling back on clothes and shoes, renting equipment instead of buying it, bringing items that can do double duty, and keeping entertainment to a minimum.
The guide provides a camping basics 101 exercise to help create a minimalist packing list. By following these simple tips, you can go camping with the bare minimum and enjoy your family adventures more. Essential gear for minimalist camping includes a small kit consisting of olive oil, salt, and pepper, folding chairs, multipurpose camping gear, travel-sized personal items, and a water filter.
When camping, stick to the basics, such as making a small kit consisting of a small bottle of olive oil, salt, and pepper, folding chairs, and multipurpose gear. Choose a good spot for your camp kitchen or bring your own table. Minimalist camping encourages unplugging, which is one of the great benefits of minimalist camping.
The selected gear for your minimalist camping trip should be simplistic, lightweight, compact, and multifunctional wherever possible. By following these tips, you can enjoy your outdoor adventures without extra preparation, gear, or unnecessary effort.
📹 9 Mistakes EVERY new camper makes with their COOLER
Get more out of your cooler on your next camping adventure! In this video, we’re sharing the 9 mistakes that every new camper …
How do you camp when you don’t like camping?
Camping can be a fun and enjoyable experience, even for those who may initially dislike it. By choosing the perfect spot, bringing the best tent, rigging the perfect sleep system, making the campsite cozy, setting up the camp kitchen like a pro, dressing for function, and planning activities, you can make the most of your time spent outdoors. Camping provides a chance to commune with friends around the campfire, restore hormonal balance, and recharge your Circadian Rhythm.
Sleeping outdoors with just a thin layer of nylon between you and nature resets your Circadian Rhythm and restores hormonal balance. Additionally, the break from screen time benefits your mind and nervous system.
To make the most of your camping experience, follow these tips and make this summer your best yet. Remember, camping is about having fun, recharging your energy, and embracing nature.
What is the rule #1 of camping?
Rule 1 of camping is to respect nature, leave no trace behind, dispose of waste properly, follow fire safety guidelines, and be considerate of other campers for a harmonious experience. This rule serves as the foundation for a safe and enjoyable outdoor experience. Understanding camping etiquette and rules, such as observing quiet hours, fosters a sense of community and respect among campers. Acquiring essential knowledge before going camping, such as campground etiquette, rules, and tips, is crucial for a successful and enjoyable outdoor experience. Familiarizing oneself with these rules, considering camping setup ideas, and respecting the rules in camping areas ensures a smooth and pleasant experience for both campers and the environment.
How do I make camping not boring?
To make camping fun for friends, dress appropriately, bring the best supplies and gear, plan the course of your trip, integrate activities into contests, and don’t forget the cool gadgets. Camping is a thrilling experience that can be enjoyable for both newcomers and experienced ones. To make your trip memorable and worthwhile, plan for an exciting, memorable weekend with amenities like Wifi, showers, and a washing machine.
Kuku Camper is dedicated to making your camping trip as convenient as possible, offering a van to ensure you can enjoy warm and comfortable beds without worrying about cold nights in a tent. People go camping for adventure, to be one with nature, and to grow with others. Remember to remember to bring the right gadgets and make your trip unforgettable.
What is the golden rule of camping?
The golden rule of camping is to leave no trace of your presence, whether you’re packing up or stopping by the outhouse. Always check for garbage before leaving, and some campsites may require you to pack everything out, including garbage and recycling. Respect nature by not littering forests or national parks. Say hello to fellow campers, wave to those walking by, or chat with neighbors at the next campsite. They may be more likely to lend you matches or sugar when you ask.
How to pack minimalist camping?
Pack travel-sized personal items, such as shampoo and dishwashing soap, to prevent excess baggage weight and space. Fill bottles with everyday products to save space and weight. Use fluid pouches or single travel bottle dispensers with multiple compartments to store multiple products without mixing fluids. Travel-sized products save space and weight for light packing.
Invest in a water filter to avoid carrying heavy water bottles. Portable water filters are a recent camping innovation that allows you to drink directly from water from rivers or streams with a straw as a filter. This ensures you have drinking water anywhere you go without packing heavy bottles. This helps campers enjoy minimalist camping without the need for bulky jugs of water.
What can I do instead of camping?
Traditional camping offers a variety of options, including cabins, RVs, glamping tents, yurts, airstreams, treehouses, and converted habitats. Cabins provide a relaxed environment with a roof over your head, allowing you to enjoy the outdoors with creature comforts. RVs offer a comfortable sleeping option, while glamping tents offer a more elevated outdoor experience. Yurts are tents that provide a comfortable sleeping option, while airstreams offer a unique and elevated camping experience.
Treehouses are converted habitats that offer a unique and elevated outdoor experience. Overall, there are numerous camping alternatives to traditional tent camping, offering a unique and elevated outdoor experience.
What is the triangle rule camping?
The initial point of a triangle represents the location where one establishes their tent or the lean-to structure in which they will be sleeping.
Do Millennials like camping?
RMS North America conducted research on campers aged 18-41, revealing that Millennials and Gen Z, who make up the largest segment of campers, have a strong relationship with technology. The research suggests that the younger generations of outdoor enthusiasts will significantly impact the future of camping and RVing, as well as the development and operation of outdoor properties. The industry is now at an exciting turning point, and it is crucial to mobilize this new generation and provide personalized, digital-first experiences while maintaining the ‘Great Outdoors’ sentiment.
Is camping good for ADHD?
Research indicates that spending time in nature can enhance attention span and decrease impulsivity. Outdoor activities like hiking and swimming provide a positive environment for campers to expend their energy. Camps like Camp Blue Ridge in Georgia offer a daily schedule from waking to bedtime. Trained camp counselors and staff create a supportive environment, understanding the unique needs of campers with attention disorders.
This ensures they receive the necessary guidance and encouragement to succeed, boosting self-esteem. When selecting a camp for a child with an attention disorder, it is crucial to ask specific questions about their time and success at camp.
📹 What You Really Need for Camping & Backpacking | Essential Gear Guide
Camping and Backpacking are one of the best ways to get out into nature so whether it’s your first time camping or you’re a …
RIver outfitters often use reflectix as an inner cover over the top of food and ice inside the cooler so it is the first thing you see upon opening. This holds the cold air in when opening the cooler and also can be used as a sunshade when opening during the day. Never let the sun shine inside your cooler. Also, wet burlap over the outside of the cooler will assist in evaporative cooling and works wonders. And covering the cooler during the day with sleeping mats will help to insulate it. And then there is the idea of freezing bottles of water and using those as your ice. I use gallon and 1/2 gallon bottles for this and they melt slowly and keep the cooler dry.
Longtime camper here. Cover your cooler with a heavy blanket. An old tattered comforter is good. When you get into the cooler, please don’t remove the blanket. Instead, open the lid under it, and get out what you want. This lets in less hot air into the cooler. another thing that you can do is get the blanket wet. ” Evaporative cooling.”. Happy camping.
The most important thing I’ve learned; heat rises, cold sinks down. Dont set your cooler on a hot surface, like concrete or asphalt. The heat goes up into the bottom of the cooler. I bring a 1 1/2 inch thick piece of rigid foam insulation, foil faced, to set the cooler on. Doesnt take much room and really extends ice melt time.
40 years ago, in our river running days in the hot American Southwest, we could do a 7 day river trip and arrive at takeout the last day with a bit of ice left! We did everything you talked about plus a few more. Precooled cooler with crushed ice. Precooled all food. Our own ice blocks in 2 Tupperware containers. No loose ice. Frozen food as much as possible. Precooked some food. Only opened cooler twice for lunch: food out, food in. Visualized food we were getting out before opening cooler. Always kept cooler out of sun except when on river. For breakfast and dinner kept cooler opening to a minimum. Only one person accessed cooler; the cooler captain! Wrapped cooler w/2 insulate pads, then covered w/space blanket & bungee cord. Reusable ice pouches on top. I liked your tip of wet towel.
For weekend outings we’ll bring frozen boil-in-bag meals made with a Seal-a-Meal in individual servings since it helps keep the cooler cold, and we eat them directly out of the bags (supported by a bowl) so there’s no clean-up except for spoons or forks. And we use the left over hot water from boiling them for washing the spoons/forks. We’ll seal favorite leftovers, like chili, or stew, or if we don’t have things in stock we’ll repackage frozen meals from Stouffers.
I just spent 5 days in the desert. I was not camping in one single place. After loading my coolers in the back of my pickup I used my chair as a way to create an air space and used a heavy canvas tarp to cover the entire coolers and chairs. I had my ice last the entire trip. I used containers like milk jugs for my ice in my food cooler and the loose ice and block ice in my drink cooler. Really appreciate the tips for future trips.
My number one tip is salt. While having some air as insulation for veggies to prevent freezing is preferred; meats, drinks and frozen foods will benefit more from a really cold brine. Liquid water can fill in all of the gaps and takes up less space than frozen water. At the same time, a brine solution is much denser and resists changes in temperature even better than fresh water. Finally, a brine can reach temperatures much lower than fresh water as well, allowing you to keep frozen foods frozen much longer. Personally, I also add a bit of distilled vinegar to the mix as well. The acidity along with the salt helps fight the growth of bacteria and slime mold. While this isn’t a problem if you clean your cooler and let it dry out completely for a week or so between use, I have a cooler that is used nearly 24/7. Every day I add 1T vinegar, 2T salt and about a pint of fresh ice and once a week I siphon off about a gallon of brine and use it as weed control around my firewood stacks, deck and firepit.
Living in very hot, humid Japan and having typically 4 to 5 hour drives to a campsite, I ditched my cooler-box for a dometic three-way fridge (looks like a cooler) years ago. Nevertheless, the same essential tips apply even to that fridge. I always pre-cool it on AC before packing it. Even though in the car I can use a DC connection, that only serves to maintain the achieved temperature. I also put those plastic re-useable ice blocks in and on top. At the campsite, if there is an electrical connection available, then I use the AC, otherwise I use the gas function (It uses one of those easily found gas canisters) and that does a fantastic job of not only maintaining the temperature but cooling the fridge and even ice forms too around the cooling element!
Hey Drew I love your website. I have an additional tip for you when cooling down your cooler. I use reusable gel packs that I got from a meal prep company. I freeze them very flat and I can line the inside of my cooler with a base on the bottom. I also put a small Rack in my cooler to put the real cold stuff underneath the rack cover it with another ice pack and then put my fruits and vegetables on the top of the rack. That way I can lift the whole rack out to get what is below the rack without digging
We tent camp regularly for a week at a time, we’ve been doing this for over 30 years and have learned a few things that work well for us… The main thing is that we have a large family with a lot of kids, so we use two coolers. The first cooler is used as a “deep freezer” of sorts, and is for foods that absolutely need to stay completely frozen as long as possible, for safety reasons like keeping all our meat items frozen long term, for some of the perishable lunch & breakfast food things that are planned for eating later towards the last half of the trip so they also need to stay frozen long term, and a lot of extra frozen water bottles (instead of ice). This cooler is “stop sign red” lol, it’s kept in the coolest shade possible with blankets under/over it, and everyone knows that nobody is allowed to touch it except mom or dad. We do our best to only open this one rarely, if it’s absolutely needed, and we check in with others to see if anything else is going to be needed from it for the rest of the day so that we only open it once for all… we try to plan what we are taking out before we even open it (so we can be quick about it), and usually the goal is to take out things that will refill the “regular” cooler. The regular cooler is more like a fridge than a freezer, and this is one that everyone can access as needed—but we do ask them to make sure of 3 things: clean hands only, be quick about it, and make sure you close the lid all the way (little kids think this rule is amusing, but it works: “always sit on it to double check” 😆).
If you have access to a chest type deep freezer (maybe in your basement or garage – perhaps even over at you parents or in-laws place) I suggest putting your cooler right inside the deep freeze at least overnight before you leave on your trip. If the deep freezer is a bit too full, take the frozen foods out and place them directly into your cooler, then place that now full cooler back into your deep freeze. This also saves on what might otherwise have been wasted ice.
Half gallon OJ containers make great ice blocks. Their shape lends well to packing other items. The sun is the main killer. This can be a challenge with teardrops because how you might orient your outdoor space often puts the galley in the sun. Closing the hatch often isn’t enough to protect the cooler.
Great ideas, and I have to admit to feeling stupid that I never thought of precooling the cooler. Going to add that to my trip prep checklists right away! As for the other tips, I can see the cold retention value of packing everything in ice and food layers, but it seems to me I’d spend extra time with the lid open having to dig down through all that to get to the thing I needed which might be on the bottom. Maybe this system is for the ultra-organized who have their menus all planned out and can pack the cooler with meals for the last day of the trip on the bottom. I am not that person. I’ll have to cogitate on how I can apply some of these principles in ways that work for me. Thanks for a great article!
I always freeze large water bottles for my cool box. They hold a tonne of ice, don’t dump water all over everything as the water melts, and also provide a nice refreshing drink towards the end of your trip. If I can’t keep my cool box out of the sun in a particular location I cover it with a wet towel so that the sun’s energy is used to dry the towel and not heat the lid of my cool box.
put all of your ice in bags (zip-lock) – it keeps everything dry. you can use smaller bags to be able to pack into smaller places. you can then have clean ice and clean water in the bags. you can also use empty bags filled with air to minimize the air flow/heat loss – keep the cooler full of air that won’t flow escape.
Another thing I’ve found makes Ice last a lot longer is when I buy ice from a vending machine. Many charge half as most businesses do. And the ice is often a square, solid shape that’s free of air bubbles. I suspect that tubular ice is designed to give off it’s coldness fast, which means it melts faster. But when I get the ice from a machine, I use a sturdy bag I know won’t leak. This keeps the ice and melt water out of direct contact with the sides of the cooler. This very substantially extends the ice’s lifespan.
This was an awesome article! Thank you for all of the tips…which I violated almost all of them. However, I do use the two cooler system with drinks in the smaller cooler. The smaller cooler is actually a Alpicool C20 (liter) refrigerator. While driving the refrigerator is on and turns off when the engine is off. I need to pay better attention to the larger cooler, a blue Yeti. I bought the Yeti because it was the cheapest ($249) of the line. I chose blue over the lighter colors not thinking that blue absorbs more heat than white. I like the wet towel tip which goes into use tomorrow when I rearrange the contents. Great article!!
Have been living in a shelter for over five years (senior on pension; apartments very expensive). Not allowed food in our rooms – bugs, etc.. I’m not very good at following rules, even if they make sense. I keep all my imperishables in air tight containers and keep those containers in a plastic tote. As for the perishables, all I have is a very small square igloo cooler. We have access (two hour time limit daily) to a kitchenette with a full size fridge/freezer combo, microwave, and large sink with hot and cold water. The kitchenette is glorious! I purchase various juices in 1.89 L bottles. I saved four, cleaned them well, filled them with water, and froze them. They fit perfectly in the cooler. I buy a bag of ice and decant the ice into an air tight container and put that container into the cooler to pre-cool it. Then put the frozen containers, my cereal milk and any other perishables into the cooler. Once half or so of the water has thawed I start drinking it and it is so cold and refreshing! I then freeze extra containers and keep the cold recycling. It most certainly isn’t an exact science but, under the circumstances, it’s better than nothing! P.S. I keep making my cooling system better all the time.
Hi, loved this article. Reflectix lined cooler, vacuum sealed frozen meal kits, layered by day of use, with block ice in each layer. Each layer is covered with a sheet of reflectix to keep cold in and make food easy to grab. Up to 4 layers per cooler = 4 days of food. 2nd cooler same program. 3rd cooler reflectix block ice but just for drinks. Froze all the non carbonated drinks beforehand so they counted as ice. Pre-cooled the coolers indoors with sacrificial ice 24+hours before departure. And lastly….kept coolers inside a bear locker, with a pop up shade canopy to keep the bear box cool.
I find freezing a few bottles of water and any type of juice pouches really helps with keeping the cooler cold and the ice tends to melt slower. I line the bottom of the cooler with frozen water bottles and I put the frozen juices towards the top. All the other waters and juices that’s aren’t frozen is kept in the fridge from the night before, so it will be cold before packing the cooler. I also prep all my meats that I will be cooking. I season them, put them in ziplock bags and freeze them. I also find keeping the cooler out of direct sun light also helps.
So…very timely. I’m on like 13 generations of ice in my Yeti in the back of the truck/jeep right now. I have a freezer that will freeze the ice blocks to -15 deg F and i swap those out along with the ice. But I can tell you I can barely even put my hand in there to get drinks out. Don’t drain the water!!!!! At least not all of it. Love the tips and website, as always.
Great info as always. Back in my Cooler Days I always pre-froze all my ice with Tupperware. That way no water got all over my food. When the ice melted I used my Berkey water filter to filter the water and then drank that water. No waste. I recently bought a Explorer Bear DC refrigerator for a fantastic fee and it has baskets, internal light, and incredible solid build and quick cooling and very little energy need. It’s a fantastic product and worth your attention. I know, it has nothing to do with your review, and that’s why I’m here…Just to annoy you. Ha!!! Nice work, and I think Shakespeare would be proud.
Great article is always hope you are doing well, missed you. For years I have been freezing 1 gallon water jugs, and flat Tupperware containers. Also, using the wet towel method. And I also have a small cooler four drinks to be used that day. Thank God for the 12-volt refrigerator I have now. Although even my last camping trip last weekend, I took a ice chest full of ice to make Daiquiris and have a Cube or two in my whiskey.
(Mistake: Not buying a 12V fridge/freezer sooner.) Bought my Engel 45 for $700 seven years ago and I use it for everything from camping for weeks on end to grocery store runs. Since I don’t have to think about ice it’s always ready to go. Grab a battery and solar panel and you have free indefinite cooling. I keep the fridge at 36F so an iced cooler does have a bit of an edge for a really cold cold soda. Otherwise it’s a buy once cry once kinda item.
Great article! Another option, buy a portable refrigerator and battery for food, just have the Ice cooler for drinks. And since portable fridges and Portable Battery Generators are getting cheaper and cheaper, it is SO worth it. Of course this only works if it is in the budget, if it is way out of budget or the money spent vs how often you will use it doesn’t make sense, then spend a little more and get the best quality cooler you can afford. For me, having a cooler a medium sized battery and a small portable solar panel, I can have almost unlimited food storage. Mine can even split into a fridge/freezer setup. But it makes sense for me, I go on extended weekend trips almost once a month, and usually some extended trips 2-3x a year. Be well
One needs to “plan” and prepare. You need to know how long you are going out for. if you are going out for a day trip, 2 day trip, 4 day trip… you need to consider and prepare properly. you need to know if you’ll need ice runs or not. for short day or half day trips the 2/1 ratio is not likely needed. You can get away with a 1 to 1 ratio. next is the fun one, Drew, did you know you can actually buy DRY ICE for coolers? Trick here is you can run a small cooler on dry ice at first, storing your frozen meat and such. this will keep frozen stuff frozen solid and sealed tight it’s perfect for multi-day trips when you are using multiple coolers, cuz it will take time for anything thats been in the dry ice cooler to thaw. Next Salted ice water. 25% salt to 75% water is best ratio there. that creates a huge thermal mass, even after the ice is melted that water will stay very cold. 2 cooler system, another option or way of doing the 2 cooler system is, cooler A – is your base cooler, your large one but you only open it once a day. You take what you need out of cooler one for that day, and move it to cooler 2. Cooler 2 then doesn’t need to be as cool because everything in that ones going to be used. This is key also when using dual source cooling. 3 cooler system… cooler 1 is dry ice and frozen food. frozen food and normal ice, that will become salted ice. Cooler 3 is normal ice… at the end of day one, the food in cooler 1 is moved into cooler 2… salt is added into cooler to, and the last of the dry ice is added into 2.
One method to keep things colder longer is to put a cooler inside a bigger cooler. Additionally, heat is transferred through the bottom of every cooler. Best to try and keep it off the ground or place on something like wood to insulate the bottom. Or even on an air pillow or air mattress. Blanket? Etc. Throwing a blanket over your cooler can help insulate too.
I buy mix up cordial in square 2 litre containers. I fill them and freeze them, then drink them when they defrost. One in each corner of my 12 volt fridge helps heaps. And a few smaller bottles floating around. Frozen meat and meals in bottom. And dont use loose ice. I like the wet towel idea. I use my cooler for day to day stuff
We have 2 grizzly coolers, but planning on getting a third. We have 1 big one and one medium one, planning on getting a second bigger one. Once we do that we can obey the rules with ice more since we’re a family of 6 and 2 coolers really isn’t enough. I’m saving this article too cause my wife will want to see it. the big rule I’ve always broke is draining water, but the other issue is I don’t pack things properly, like with raw meat just keeping it in it’s original package instead of putting in gallon freezer bags.
My dad is an absolute master at all of this! We have a cooler designated as the “freezer” with our meat frozen solid… you do not open the freezer, like ever lol. Once things thaw a bit we throw it in the “fridge” cooler that just has beverages and items that are just better cold but maybe not needed. This is a great article! He would agree! 😊
Holy crap — your article, info, and production are FANTASTIC! Within the first minute, I knew I’d actually learn something from you (even though I thought I knew it all, LOL). I am going to use this in my homeschooling/unschooling (if you don’t mind!). Seriously, I’m old, and have watched millions of articles — yours is among my top 10 favorite ever. I’m now going to follow you and watch a bunch more while I do dishes. Thanks so much — seriously, good AND useful stuff!
One might need to keep the cooler in the car to deter bears/other critters — I will throw jackets and such on the cooler for extra insulation. I pre-scramble and freeze eggs not only do they last but they take up less space. I bypass the issue by packing like a backpacker (ie non perishable) beyond breakfast day 2
It is possible to use salt water in milk jugs, frozen as blocks of ice for the cooler. (dont drink). Really want frozen food frozen? Use dry ice in the cooler, wrap it all in paper. 2 to 2 1/2 lb. block of dry ice with frozen items will keep the cooler cold for about 5 -7 days. (minimum opening, like once a day)
2 liter pop bottles filled with ice helps your ice last much longer, and when it melts you have 2 liters of cold water to drink. The bottles are meant to expand under pressure and I’ve never had one crack from the expansion. Use bagged ice to fill in the gaps and big ice blocks to help with longevity.
One thing I did was buy a couple of small blocks of dry ice snd use them as my bottom layer. From there follow your guidelines, snd in most cases your cooler will keep things for a week. NOTE: I would recommend putting a layer of something between the dry ice and your regular ice. Also, I would make sure everything in the cooler is sealed up. You don’t want dry ice infiltrating any foods.
For the price of the ueti ypu can biy a inexpensive porable refrigerator online. I purchased one. Had it for 3 yesrs and gave it to friend when i upgraded my current one . Plus no ice . No mess, o pre cooling. Pug in your vehicle. And a smaller cooler can hold mpre food than a larger cooler becpuse you dont have ice to take up space. 😅.
I keep a cooler with me for work, in central Texas. When we’re in the heat of summer, I typically need ice by the end of every 3rd day. My cooler does stay in the back of my truck. But, I’ve learned to leave the water from melted ice. The cold water seems to help the last ice melt slower and by the end of the third day my drinks are still cold enough to drink. Obviously, I dump the water out when I refill with ice. I’ve also noticed the bigger the ice cubes the longer it lasts. I just started adding a reusable ice pack to see if my ice will last longer, but even if it does, it takes up a bunch of room.
Tip for block ice: Save your plastic 1/2 gal milk jugs, wash, fill with water leaving about 1.5″ at the top, freeze vertically, screw the cap on. Not only do you have ice that isn’t going to get your food sopping wet when it melts, but it can be emergency water if needed b/c it’s not dirty. Tip #2: Instead of wet towels, place block ice in first, then place a clean, cut to fit yoga mat on the top of the ice, then put in your food, then another yoga mat before closing the lid. You can eliminate the need for a 2nd drink cooler by partitioning your cooler with cut up yoga mat which holds the cold in.
I can’t count how many times Drew that you’ve posted a timely article with great info on just the topic I needed….I just bought before seeing this a Yeti Tundra 35 lol. There were too many times since going full time and living out of the Kimbo I’d go to the grocery store and have great intentions but come out with too much to fit in the small fridge in the Kimbo….and then it’d be a race to cook all the stuff before it spoiled. So the Yeti 35 is going to hold all the fridge overflow lol and i can relax. Thanks for sharing…!
I always freeze a whole pack of water Bottles in the chest freezer a few days before a camping trip. I use normal ice, or frozen blocks from Tupperware containers as well. Freeze Gatorade Bottles as well. I make sure I still have some that aren’t frozen so we have them available to drink until some of the others thaw a bit. 5 day trip I’m freezing 3/4 of a big pack.
I simply buy a bag of ice daily, and refill the cooler, and try to keep it in the shade.. Much easier, no rules to follow, no $1000 cooler, no wet towels, blankets, frozen milk jugs, second cooler, math/science degree…… “fill your cooler with all your goodies, but don’t open it too often”….. Hey, hun, grab me a beer would ya please? No, we already opened the cooler once this afternoon. I don’t want to pay another $2 for a bag of ice….. ridiculous
Dumb question, kind of. For smaller coolers, wouldn’t it be simpler to put them in the fridge or even in the freezer 24 hours before going out? Opened, to cool both inside and out, of course. I guess that would cause condensation on the outside and that’s the reason I’ve never heard anyone give this tip?
I haven’t used ice in my coolers for a couple of years & have never used the reusable ice packs. Imho they are a waste of money & a waste of space for something more efficient such as frozen water bottles. I have a 110 RTIC roto molded, 70qt Ozark trail roto molded, 55qt igloo sportsman roto molded, 55qt Alltop roto molded, 30qt roto molded Magellan, 26qt ozark trail roto molded, 20qt yeti & 70qt Coleman extreme. I pre chill my coolers indoors the night before with 3-5 1 gallon frozen water bottles depending on which one I’m using. Everything that goes in the cooler the day of the trip will be pre chilled in the refrigerator or frozen. I always freeze the last days raw meat and pack the cooler in reverse order that the food will be used to minimize the time the cooler will be open. Instead of using ice or ice packs I use frozen water bottles. Starting with layering the entire bottom of the cooler with frozen water bottles and then start to introduce chilled drinks, chilled food and more frozen water bottles. As the water bottles defrost, they can be consumed. This method has never let me down and I always come back home with frozen water bottles, and have never had an issue with anything getting hot or going bad. This method also works well with non roto molded coolers such as my 70qt Coleman extreme. 10 frozen water bottles equals a little more than a 10lb bag of ice. 20 frozen water bottles equals a little more than a 20lb bag of ice. I have to mention that I have a large freezer in the garage to be able to facilitate all of the frozen water bottles.
What I did once, instead of just preparing my meat and my food in jars, (bacon grease can work for jar of bacon ) then loading my cooler is I got dry ice and I sub froze my cooler, the night before I left home. Then ice lasted like 3 days, outdoors in summer. I eat a lot and to be honest, going to be hard to fit all my food for 3 days inside a small pack. I kind of need 20l just for my food compartment. Bear barrel can fit 3 days of food, big maybe. Need to forage, hunt. I don’t wanna eat oatmeal and peanut butter and dried blueberries only, but this happens a lot outdoors, also Spam happens, tortillas. I eat a lot of bread normally I get my carbs, bring dehydrated mashed potatoes. Sometimes, better off just getting some fish or some small game meat and I can process that. Not much of a large game hunter and that’s probably not going to matter for a trip, to eat a whole pig or something, large groups can though. Not trying to lose 8 pounds in 3 days. I can make braised rabbit stew with some canned veg, some boulion cubes and it tastes just fine for a stew, add some potatoes maybe on the side.
Good ideas. I had started using the 64-oz squared-off juice bottles to freeze water as “block ice”, stacking 3-high by 2 wide in the cooler. Benefits: longer-lasting coldness and clean water to drink (ie not purchased} When they melt after 3+ days, we have water to drink, and have had to purchase less ice. Sometimes we stay where we can re-freeze them (or some) Down side? Empty bottles to toss, or find a recycle place along the way.
What gets me is if you pack like this, its great if you’re trying to keep everything cold while spending several days traveling to the place you’re going to eat. But if you’re just at camp and your cooler is packed like this, you spend a lot longer with the lid open, digging around to find the things you need and then repacking everything instead of just having the bottom half be all your ice or ice block etc, and then packing all your food on one plane where you can just reach in and see what you’re looking for and grab it. If you have a really big cooler, keeping dry ice on one end with a barrier then food on the other end works well.
Your article is very good and you hit most of the points! As someone who’s done a lot of dessert camping, (Lake Powell for example 102F or higher) I kept ice for weeks! You nailed it, ONLY buy a white cooler, and always keep it in the shade! You might think “well if it’s in the shade, it can be black!” Wrong any LIGHT is absorbed as heat, on a dark colored surface! You nailed it on never put anything in the cooler not already chilled, it’s not a refrigerator! Place all food, in sandwich, pint, quart and gallon zip lic freezer bags! It’s sick, 90% throw their steaks and hamburger in the store package into the cooler, blood ice, cooler water in your steak and burgers! Use as stated a combination of block and bag ice both and 100% fill the cooler, all empty space with ice! Buy the best cooler you can afford, Igloos are junk! As stated you need a cooler about 3 x’s bigger than you think, because 2/3rds is going to be ice! Granted we are talking camping, not day picnicking! But even an Igloo or similar cheap cooler can be made much more efficient by buying closed cell foam self adhesive door weather strip, not too thick, 3/8″ wide and put around the lid! Opening top cover portion, as if you put it on the cooler lip it will get damaged, torn! A harware store bail snap down latch can be added too, pop rivited on, to clanp seal the lid diwn tight on your new gasket! The same way you hear the ocean in a conch shell, that’s air moving inside a closed shell, the high end coolers have a gasket, (as your home refrigerator does) and strong cover latches!
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Helpful tips. But I wonder about what you put in your cooler. Do veggies need a full Ice cooler or just something to keep them from heating up too much? I have been thinking about roto cooler for meat etc that needs to be kept at a cool temp and less expensive for veggies that dont need to be cool just dont need to be too hot. I have also been thinking of two like two roadie 24 versus 1 48.
I’ve been a camper for over 60 yrs. Used all of your tips except for the wet towel. Now I really love my 120/12V refrig. A real frig/freezer, not the inexpensive heat exchanger type. Another hint is to put a rack on top of the base layer of ice & then partially drain the cooler every now & then. Ice water gets into everything…. Keep your food out of the water.
Good article. I have been doing most of all of things for many years. Except two coolers and towels in the main cooler. The only time it is opened when I am cooking. I drink from SS water bottle. Back when I had a chest freezer I would put the RTIC 45 in it for several days with the lid propped open. And as others mention frozen water in two soy milk waxed cartons with cubed ice on top. Those go into a one of those hotel waste baskets, which I cut down the height and it fits perfectly, keeps the rest of the cooler dry. The cartons counts as drinking water and they can be used as tinder to help start a fire..
I’m an idiot when it comes to science, but one thing i remember learning in school is that if ice melts and there is still ice in the water that has been melted, the water will remain at or around 32/0 until the very last piece of ice melts. It will only start warming up when ALL of the ice has melted. Someone who is much more intelligent can explain that for anyone who might questions.
Draining: Some counterpoints. While yes water does have a higher thermal density than air as you state, that does work to your advantage also as when you let in warm air, that air does not add all that much thermal energy to the ice to cool itself, as air has a very low thermal density. Additionally cold air sinks, so not all that much heat is added to a top opening cooler compared to if it were side opening. The cooler does contain much of the cool air as it is denser than hot air. Also air is an insulator, so the heat transfer from the cooler walls to the ice has a layer of insulation of air to slow it . OTHO water is a good heat transfer medium which speeds heat transfer, much quicker picking up the heat of the cooler wall and then bathing the ice in warmer fluid.
Common sense stuff, and you forgot an important one. While at camp keeping your ice chest in the shade, set it up onto some kind of spacers under it to get it off the ground. Maybe a couple of pieces of 2×4 or some chunks of foam insulation. The ground transfers heat in to your cooler faster than air.
Try buying block ice in Colorado, especially southern Colorado. Apparently, they don’t get the concept of block ice there. It is sporadically available above the I-70 corridor but don’t count on it. You can’t find block ice anywhere in the southern part of the state. Whenever I ask store clerks in southern Colorado about block ice all I get is a blank stare, as if they had never heard the words, “block ice”.
Good article on an interesting subject matter. I remember perusal one of your articles when you tested two small campers or trailers and you told them with your Toyota Matrix. I still have mine and I remember that it was your wife who told me that the car was more than capable although I have not put a hitch on the back or have had the money to buy a trailer
Good advice on draining the cooler, especially if you have some non-sealed food containers. I find draining my food cooler into my beverage cooler is a great way to keep drinks cold while prioritizing ice for the food. For larger and longer trips I may have a 3rd cooler just for Ice that only gets opened to replenish. Frozen bags or metal containers of water also work well because you just end up with ice cold water at the end.
I keep two -three coolers depending on the trip. 1)drinks 2)veggies, frozen drinks, snacks 3) meats & frozen foods that we use later in the trip. I pre cut everything & freeze whatever I can. I pre cool, frozen blue ice on the bottom, then lots of ice. Beverage cooler gets water added to it. I always wrap and cover my coolers. I’ve spent a lot of time hiking & camping in the south west, my coolers do really well. I live in TX (the country) and rely on my coolers when I have to take a longer drive to particular stores. Fun story.. When I was in Cambodia, about 20 of us went to the lake for the day. I showed up to the meeting spot with a bucket w- lid and ice that I bought at the store on the way. When I showed up, everyone was teasing me about my cooler. I said “This is how we do it in America”, and guess what they learned? That’s how you have cold beer all day! My little shit cooler was the hit of the party. I still keep in contact with many people from my trip, and they all have coolers now. 🎉
I actually took a large Coleman cooler and sunk it in to a chest freezer. I froze pre-made meals in qt ziplocks in it. It was filled with 3 weeks of food, 2 meals a day. I then made a Reflectix double lined on sides and bottom, box, to put it in. I finished with a flip lid Reflectix cover. We then placed a zero degree sleeping bag over it. The inside facing the cooler. This is important. It lasted 3 weeks. Of course, as it got down in volume, I added ice to make up the difference.
When we got our Bean Camper it came with a crappy Coleman cooler. Our Yeti doesnt fit in the cooler spot in the camper so we keep that in the jeep. Since I now have two coolers, I started separating things. With meals in the Yeti and drinks in the Coleman. Makes it handy when we hit the trail as we have all of the lunch food already in the Jeep. I only have to pop a few cold drinks on the top. I did cover the BLACK Coleman cooler with some of that silvered bubble wrap. Have not been on a trip to test it yet. Beyond that, I’ve failed most all of the other steps. I will hitting the dollar store or thrift store to find some plastic jug containers I can freeze for block ice. Best article ever!
Precooling the cooler and having the smaller cheaper one as a drinks / fridge cooler was something that my parents taught me to do during our month long camping trips when i was a child – that and wrapping them with a blankets and beach towels to help insulate them. I still follow these “rules” and they do work. But Ive noticed my light tan canyon cooler which is a first gen just doesnt have the ice keeping capability it had when i bought it in 2017/18. It doesnt get much use so Im assuming the foam gasket is dying on me.
We used 1 quart plastic milk jugs. Filled them with clean water and froze them. They made great block ice. And you can drink the water on the last day of your trip. But these days we’ve given up on ice and bought a 12v ice chest shaped fridge that plugs into a cigarette lighter. It even has wheels. If you plan on bringing a lot of frozen food, bring 2 or get a larger dual zone, as it can be a freezer, too.
I use a refrigerated cooler now. Obviously, I can use all of that for food or drinks. I have battery and solar both in my truck and my trailer. My trailer sits high enough where I can fit my 48L NewAir fridge under it to protect it from the sun. Even though it’s refrigerated, I still precool it so the food doesn’t warm up while the fridge is catching up. I also keep a 15L fridge on the floor of my back seat 24/7. Comes in handy when I get thirsty driving to work, and it will fit small leftovers from the restaurant. Regarding the block ice, while it melts slower than cube ice, that also makes it slower to cool. Right on about keeping the water. Water has a lot of thermal mass compared to air. It will help buffer the temperature a lot longer and save ice.
I ho on river camping trips for a week at a time, its 2 food coolers and 2 drink coolers. Freeze the water bottles for goyr block ice to use in both food and dronk coolers. Then add loose ice to fill in all gaps. Your cheaper coolers like everything Coleman the lids aren’t insulated, drill a few small holes in yhe inside and use spray foam to fill it in. Your ice will last much longer.lpad your food cooler so each day is in a layer. Day one is on the top, day 2 is below that. And so on to minimize opening the coolers. If you are out longer than a couple days buying a beach sunshade shelter is helpful for keeping ypur coplers in as well.
I like to use a gallon milk jug filled with water and frozen ahead of time. makes a great block of ice that wont flood the cooler. then lots of frozen meats and a handle of vodka also frozen, I have a big tent so i keep in inside in the shade (unless it’s bear country) with my down blanket over it during the day.
1) We freeze gallon jugs full of water to use as ice blocks, and as it melts it provides drinking water. 2) I prefer ice blocks over ice cubes. 3) If I do use ice cubes I never dump loose ice cubes out into the cooler. I put the intact bags on the bottom of the cooler and put my food and beverages on top.
We used to have a plain old Walmart cooler with a side drain. Hooked up a piece of half inch clear plastic hose to it, ran it out the back of the camper, constant drain. No having to dump water. You can convert a drinking jug spigot to a hole in a cooler and rig up the same thing. Drowned food is such a sad waste, we did the ziplock and plastic bag thing, too. Dollar store cooler bags literally melt away in coolers, don’t waste the money.
I still have a couple of ice chests that I love but after getting a DC powered cooler with separate zones, I am never going to buy a regular cooler again. You can place room temperature drinks in the freezer compartment before you transfer them to the refrigerated side. The one I picked up for about $500, you can fit a case in there with room to spare.
A few years ago I bought a Coleman “Extreme” cooler. The hinged lid seemed bulky and strangely light. I guessed that the odd shapes it had contained a lot of airspace. I decided to see whether I could inject foam sealant, the kind that expands to fill cracks, into these voids. So I drilled several holes into the interior side of the lid the same size as the “straw” tube that comes with the sealant and injected the foam into the voids. It was a slow process and highly speculative because you have no idea where or how much foam is going in and how much expansion is taking place. But I’m quite sure the results were worth it.
I was taught by the scouts to use a baking/cookie sheet as a barrier from warm air between those items you want frozen and those that just need to remain cold. I nice bit layers their own ice pack. Cold air travels downward so theoretically the colder air will remain on bottom to preserve the frozen state of food longer.
The other beauty of having two coolers is you can consolidate. God agrees with you 😊 love it. And yes… I’ll admit it. I have been doing my food cooler wrong my entire life 😅 But… I believe in 3 coolers. drinks in one, food in one and all bread chips paper plates ext. goes in another big cooler. So we don’t f up the chips and bread😅😅
I got caught dumping the water out of the cooler. Heck there was a plug right there for that. It’s water! If you don’t want to drink it, you can wash the dishes for your face with it. I learned to put a nice baggy of ice in the cooler for drinks. How many hands have been on the rest of the ice? Put food in tight containers and then put the container in a baggy. Soggy sandwiches aren’t nice. My bothers cooler is unique you can attach a plastic ice thing to the ceiling of the lid. It’s drinkable too. He has a tray that rests on the inner lip of the cooler you keep stuff you want cool but dry above the ice. Plan ahead for sure. Right after the tent is up I want a beer. I don’t want to have to dig through 3 layers of ice and food to find it.
We did several coolers for food 3 days of food per cooler packed with blocked ice food froozen and un frozen on top cooler covered with wool blankets and you only open to grab what you needed one cooler for milk and beverages, any water drained was keept for fires needed to be put out. Camped with family of 8 never had issues this was in the 70’s tent camping no fancy camping
I load my large yeti with only ice. One side is block ice that I freeze myself & the other is loose ice like bag or machine ice. I then I only open my yeti once, maybe twice a day to out fresh ice in my other coolers. I do have one for food & one for drinks. Before loading camper, my food chest has a layer of block ice on the bottom then food & cover with machine ice. It works!
Once a year at the end of our 2 week trip out west,we take out of the freezer all the meat we bought and froze in one of my daughter’s 3 freezers 2 days before,and fill our 110 qt cooler,its a king- fill in the blank lol,to the top no ice. We drive 2 12 hr days and an overnight. When we get home the most melted water ive seen doing this is none to a few drops in august temps.its amazing.
And once you are tired if this painful process…you just get a camping refrigerator and life become so easy in comparission. I still keep a small cheap cooler on the side just for our stash of drinks. In fact it’s the same blue cooler in this article. It serves more for just a storage place for the drinks as I dont even put ice in it, just the precooled drinks. Though it at least keeps them from getting warm. Then as needed I move a few drinks into the fridge to get them cooler. No mess, no plans. Obviously you then have to consider powering the fridge, but it seems like solar and battery packs are almost ubiquitous these days.
I do 3 coolers. Big one full of ice, a cooler for drinks and one for food. The one with just ice is protected the best and opened the least. Then the food cooler only needs to be opened when eat time is on. Finally, the drink cooler.. that one just needs shade, it gets handled all day. My ice only cooler is packed, 5 days later I still have ice for the food and drink cooler. Kinda cool being the guy who still has frosty beers the last day of the trip 🤙🏽😎🫶🏼
Draping a wet towel over top of the cooler “in the field” will also help provide some evaporative cooling quite well… just like those wool covered water canteens in the old western movies… they would dip that woolly canteen in the stream and evaporative cooling would keep the canteen cool and refreshing…
I agree keeping the cold water in the cooler if the cooler is stationary like sitting in a campsite,but, if you leave that water in your cooler while you are traveling in a vehicle it is going to be sloshing around in the cooler further melting your ice. I always drain the water while it’s being transported to save my ice!
Great tips if you need the cooler to last 5-7 days. But if you’re going camping 2-3 nights, then none of these matter. Just returned from 3 nights at El Capitan Canyon in Santa Barbara. Did 1:2 ratio (more food than ice), opened the cooler a million times, drained the water, etc. Still plenty of ice on the last day and everything was very cold inside the cooler. And it was a 110 qt IGLOO brand cooler with wheels ($99 at Sam’s Club last year).
this seems so extra…. fill with product at any temp, spend money and fill with ice. let ice melt and cool items for couple hours… drain water, add more ice!!! cooler is cold for days cause everything is already chilled to ice temp …. and if you are really ambitious put a few pounds of dry ice is there too
What about those of us who live a nomadic lifestyle? I don’t have a convenient deep freezer to put Ice in. Size does matter. The amount of space available may not allow for a cooler to fit the refrigerated food for the week. I travel solo, so a larger cooler is not tenable for me to carry, cart or lift into my vehicle. Don’t forget, a full cooler stays colder longer than one that is half full. A lot of sage advice, but like your cooler, it doesn’t fit all needs.
“…yeah, you’re probably breaking the rules…” Your rules. Your rules (so far) sound fine for a couple going to the beach for the day. Living out of a cooler, you don’t buy a bag of ice to pre cool and throw it away. You might buy your first ice a day before you shop. (I don’t drink soda, don’t chill my water, so no cans afloat). A lot of meltage, take a 1 or 2 gallon freezer bag or three, and pour the cold water in. You can hook the opening high so it doesn’t leak. If you’re real anal, you can cut the replacement day short, new ice in a cold box. I time my food life to the ice life. My cooler that size lasts about 4 days for 20 pounds, Cordoba coolers are as good as Yeti, and more affordable. I have a smaller cooler for travel in a smaller vehicle. AGAIN, buy a 20 pound bag, partially pack it with food, and add food as it melts. Buy one of those freezer racks. Mine is a pair, one slightly smaller than the other so they nest. Ice under, food on top Sometimes the ice is taller than the rack, and the feet don’t touch down for a day or two. If you’ll be near a store, buy some food, and add more as it melts. To me, this isn’t a rule maker. This is a guy who found his own way and thinks it’s the only way, and there is nothing wrong with that.
That 2:1 ratio regarding coolers is an invention of yours and has NO scientific value. There`s so much non-sense in that article and it’s obvious you have no clue about thermodynamics (among other things). So I’ll bring some common sense for the viewers. That 2:1 ratio is complete non-sense. There are many things affecting the performance of your cooler and the 2:1 thing is ..(self-censored). Things affecting the performance are: a) Quality of insulation A thicker cooler doesn’t mean better insulation. It all depends what’s inside the wall. b) The weather Is it going to be a very hot day? the hotter, then less performance. c) Where are you going to keep your cooler? Inside the car is one of the worst mistake. It’s better outside under a tree to get some shade.7 d) how long you’re going to be out? e) have you frozen your meat and drinks before (if possible) (he got that one correct) f) will your cooler sit on grass or concrete. concrete being cooler. Etc, etc.. I guess you get the picture by now. Also, keep in mind that the ice will melt faster by trying to cool the empty spaces. So try to get the cooler as full as possible (he got right about keeping the water). Next thing to keep in mind is that smaller ice cubes will melt a lot faster. Howver, small ice cubes will fit between soda cans and all the small empty spaces. So the best is a combination of large and small ice. Something else to keep in mind is that hot gets up, cold gets down. So make sure to have ice on top of your cooler at all times.
You nailed most of it. Even a cheap Igloo you can make much more efficient, with closed cell foam adhesive door weather strip, putting a gasket around the cover! The same way you hear the ocean in a conch shell, is actually air moving in a closed shell, think an unsealed cooler lid, the hot ambient air changes per hour? Buy only white color coolers, keep in the shade, if water is available, cover cooler with a wet towel, keep it wet, by pouring lake or stream water on it, for evaporative cooling, freeze your bottled water at home, and use as ice loading! Great to take on a hike, melts as go, stays cold! Do not freeze milk jugs as your ice source! The ice melts, the water around the ice is a lie temperature insulator! Most important as you point out, combination of block and cubed ice, fill cooler 100% with ice! Every nook and cranny, this is the #1 cooler failure! Keep kids outta the cooler! Everything in the cooler MUST BE pre chilled or frozen! Put ALL FOODS AND MEATS, in pint, quart and gallon zip lock freezer bags, avoid meat juice ice! Sick how people throw steaks and hamburger packaged right from the store in their cooler! Actually downright disgusting!!! Adopt a “waste cold recovery”, and drain your main cooler water into a cheap cooler, to chill warm melons, beer, water and soda, there was not room for, or as it’s consumed! A cooler is NOT a refrigerator, never put warm items into it in the field! I’ve kept a high quality cooler almost full of ice, after almost 2 weeks at lake Powell, using these methods!
Major tip you missed. DRY ICE! I have a similar cooler to white one in your article. I have used this tip for many years, and it works well in cheap coolers too. Most towns have local markets where you can buy small blocks of dry ice. This allows me to use a 50/50 mix. My cooler has a center divider making this setup easy. Food and drinks on one side – cooling system and frozen food on the other side. I start my trip with a block of dry ice at the bottom of the cooler side. Then use the pre frozen reusable blocks and packets of ice. Add them until the cooler is filled to around 2/3rd’s full. Then top it off with my zip lock frozen food like steaks or frozen chili. I don’t drink sodas, but like a beer now in then. I put my drinks on the bottom of the food side. I have to insulate the drinks a bit because they will freeze. Never had one break open though. I have a metal wire tray that came with the cooler on the food side. I t slots in on top of the drinks on the food side. I fill it with sandwich meat, cheese, fruit and other cold items. Never had my food the basket freeze. Instead of keeping the cooler door open to search for my food, I will just pull that wire tray out, allowing for a quick open and close. I always keep the cooler in the car, I camp out of a Subaru. I put the the sun screens in the windows to keep the sun off of the cooler when driving, and when I am parked. I also, for extra insulation, I will keep my pillows on top of the cooler during the day. I find I can easily go 6 days with no issues.
The only thing he forgot to address is using dry ice: in an insulated cooler (Yeti or similar), dry ice will last at least 24 hours, possibly up to 48 hours. Just make sure to wrap the dry ice (make sure you are wearing gloves while handling dry ice) in newspaper so that the dry ice does not damage the cooler; the newspaper also acts as insulation.
I read down a bit and didn’t see this suggestion. I was a whitewater raft guide for many nears all across middle to north California. Super hot areas. I’ve also camped for 2-3 weeks at a time for the past 40 years. Not only did we use the wet towel trick, we also covered the coolers on the oar raft. When we camped or I was camping, many people who haven’t camped, backpacked in serious cold weather, forget heat rises from the ground. If you don’t have a solid platform of at least a few inches off of the ground, you can use branches/sticks and make a nice pile of them to set the cooler(s) on top of them. There’s another fantastic YouTube article (from about 7 years ago now) out there where a guy, I believe he was an online cooler dealer, took all of the popular roto-molded brand coolers and a couple of cheaper ones. They were all the same size, he placed the same amount of ice in each one and set them out on asphalt until the last cooler got to a specific cold/cool degree. Rtic cooler smoked the Yeti cooler (sorry Yeti fanbois) because though Yeti advertises 2″ walls, it’s bottom was only 1 1/2″ whereas the Rtic was 2″ on every wall. Heat rises off the ground and surrounding ground so the Yeti dropped out far sooner than the Rtic. They’ve since changed that but the heat rises theory is definitely a factor in hot areas!! There’s new challenge articles on now and it’s interesting to watch those!
I see you making a big fat mistake. Ice and already cold food goes on top, not the bottom. Cold air sinks, hot air rises. I grew up in my earliest years with my family and then relatives who lived off grid because their was no service to a lot of rural properties. We had a generator, but it was only turned on for a short time so Dad could watch the news, Red Skelton and Bob Hope on his fancy device called a TV. Round screen black and white. Saturday morning it also ran cartoons for us kids. One lamp that plugged in to the extension cord so Dad could read his paper. So we had an Ice Box. The tray for the Ice block goes at the top. You see old fashioned refrigerators with the tiny metal enclosed space that freezes things. Ice boxes were the same way only that’s where the ice block went. As it dripped, it exited a tube in the bottom. A pan was kept underneath to catch the drips. Sizeable pan. You just emptied it every so often. So, physics says ice goes on top and around stuff. You can always stand your cooler on its side like an ice box once you get to camp. Since opening the ice box introduced warm air, my mom had a solution to keep everyone else out of it. She had a pet alligator snapping turtle that lived in the drip pan. He would snap at anyone coming too close, except mom. Mom also kept a bowl of vegetable peels and other leftovers it could have on hand. We also had a wood cook stove and kerosene lamps and one Coleman gas lantern. The Ice and milk was delivered every morning at daylight.
Thank you very much for this information and perspective as to how you take on nature and what it takes to do it smart so one can have the best and safest experience! I am sourcing and acquiring a LOT of information (from many different places on the net) right now with PASSION as I FINALLY figured out after my second ever 2 night solo camping trip in Grand Mesa National Park (((which is basically in my back yard as I live less than 45 minutes away from it and have most of my life, damn I feel silly for how long it took me to realize whats RIGHT NEXT TO ME, I have spent so much time not as happy as I could of been exploring other facets in life if I just did what I finally did this last Monday – Wednesday, which was solo camp 2 nights and actually breath/slow down/embrace/have a moment with a doe and a herd of passing cows/realize whats going on in this moment we are SO fortunate to be apart of))) that THIS is what I’m wired to spend my free time doing here on this INCREDIBLE planet we all find ourselves on !! I’m going on my 3rd ever solo camping trip this next Monday – Wednesday in GMNP, but this time, AND I’M SO FREAKIN’ EXCITED I FINALLY FIGURED THIS OUT, I am going DEEP into the park. both times I went solo before I thought I was in deep……oh ho ho ho… I finally figured out whats what in that area on google maps and IT ALL FREAKIN’ CLICKED YOU GUYS!!!!!!!! IT. ALL. CLICKED. I’M JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE!!! I want TALL DEEP THICK FOREST and so far shallowly thought that I was in the deepest/thickest part of the park and that it was quite small. NOPE . IT’S 500 square miles and I’M GETTIN’ IN THERE MAN. AND THIS IS JUST THE FREAKIN’ START TO THIS BEAUTIFUL REALIZATION !!!!!!!! THIS PARK IS ONLY ONE FREAKIN’ PARK !!!! YOU GUYS I”M ON MY WAY TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VISTAS THIS EARTH HAS TO OFFER. AND I’M ON MY WAY RIGHT FREAKIN’ NOW !!!!!! Slowly now I have been piecing things together for something bigger than where I find my daily life/job/circle of movement and I LEGIT JUST RECENTLY had the BIGGEST AH HA OF MY FLIPPIN’ LIFE AND I AM SO DAMN HAPPY TO BE ALIVE. This body we all have IS INCREDIBLE !!!!! I will and have been, figuring out how to fuel mine as efficient and healthy as possible so that these dreams I feel with ALL MY HEART of seeing myself 2 main places, WILL BECOME REALITY !!! WE SPEAK OUR EXISTENCE FORWARD. Those 2 places I dream of are the most breathtaking vistas/trails/camping spots at high elevation that this GORGEOUS planet has to offer, AND (off subject) on stage with a mic in my hand. I want to facilitate creative expression in order to provide myself with an income in this world I can be happy about and live the most ideal life possible. Making money by exposing my soul to the internet so that I’m not tied to any entity/building/person and can VISIT THE WORLD !!! HIKE ALL THE TRAILS, SEE THE HARDEST TO ACCESS VISTAS AND THE MOST CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS !!! I WILL AND AM TAKING CARE OF THIS INCREDIBLE HUMAN BODY I WAS GIFTED LIFE WITH !!! ITS GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE HIGHEST HIGHTS !!! Apologize for this wild yt comment. I don’t have any social media except here, twitch and reddit. I just never got on the bandwagon, i enjoy time alone but not in this room anymore. IN MOTHER NATURE !!!!! ill spend time in a room to project passion into mic as a means of income but for ALL THE REST OF MY TIME BREATHING I WILL BE HIKING AND CAMPING AND SIGHTSEEING UNTIL MY BONES FALL APART !!!!!! Thank you for reading this crazyness if you do. I don’t have many places or people right now in life to let this energy out to so I just wanted to let you know right now, how I feel after perusal this incredible, concise, cheerful, friendly article you created. Thank you for the information! Sorry for the novel <3 MUCH LOVE FROM COLORADO !!! My names Joshua <3