Tips On How To Store And Transport Your Food For Your Camping Trip
As your family gear up for the long and exciting Camping Trip, you would be busy planning your Holiday with things to do and also Shopping for your Camping Trip. Most regular campers prepare well in advance to store and transport their Drinks and Food chilled. Here are some important tips on how to keep your food and drinks chilled for extended time frames and some simple techniques can help you keep your Meat and vegetables frozen for longer especially on those long summer trips.
Ice Chest / Cooler / Icebox: It’s important that you have a good quality esky cooler if you are planning a long holiday and if you are a frequent camper it’s well worth investing in a quality ice box. The low-cost coolers are usually not very well insulated and make a great ice box for a day trip to the beach or a picnic If you are going camping you need a well-insulated cooler. A combination of a good cooler and a cooler bag will work the best, and we will tell you how. If you are looking for a well-insulated cooler, ensure they are Polyurethane foam insulated, similar to the ones used to build cold storage rooms. It is also important that you buy the right size cooler. If you buy too small a cooler, it wouldn’t have enough room for your ice.So it’s always better to have a slightly larger cooler but remember to measure your camper trailer or your car boot space before you buy one.
Dry ice / Dry ice packs/ IcePacks: Now that you have a good cooler you just need a good quality cooling medium like Dry ice which is usually harder to source but ensures you have gloves when you are handling dry ice. Especially with Kids around, we suggest you stay with Reusable Dry ice packs or Ice packs are more cost effective on a long run but also safe to handle. Of course, Dry ice is certainly the best medium to keep things frozen. It’s important that you buy Food Grade Gel packs, so they are food safe. Cryolux is a good source for Quality Food grade gel packs. if you are using Icepacks, Ensure they are placed flat in your deep freezer which is set at the lowest temperature setting and freeze for 48 hours before your camping trip. If you do have access to PCM bricks, which are more commercial grade ice bricks ,they are an amazing ice replacement.
Homemade Ice Block: Another cost effective and long lasting Chilling medium is Home Made Block ice !! Yes, you read right, A big block of ice would easily stay frozen up to four times longer than the bag of ice you buy from the local service stations. To make block ice, you can just mix a hand full of pool salt and water in a large ice cream tub or any tub that fits well in your freezer. This salt water helps the Ice block reach lower temperatures and hence keep frozen for longer. A Few blocks of Ice on the bottom of the Cooler and a few reusable ice packs along the walls and below the lid will work as a great combination to keep things frozen on your camping trip.