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Water in the cooler/chest?

Started by brainpause, Aug 16, 2005, 05:35 PM

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brainpause

How do you handle the water that gets in the cooler/chest as ice melts? Oh sure, the easy answer would be to empty the water out. And I could heave it outside to do it.

I guess the real question I am asking is this: How do you stack/store/place/etc your items to help keep water out of unsealed things? Are there any neat inventions (or even something I can buy) out there?

Larry

brainpause

PS: I found this. Anyone use anything like this?

Ice Deck

Larry

OC Campers

We use our Food Saver to seal the meat.  I hate having meat juice in the bottom of the cooler after a couple of days.  This does the trick. Another thing I have heard about the Food Saver is you can boil in the bag.  Make your chili or stew ahead of time, seal and freeze it and then put it in a pan of boiling water and hear till hot.   No mess!
 
Recently, we bought an Igloo Kookmate thermoelectric cooler.  This works great.  I set it on my kitchen island and pack the perishables as I buy them (sometimes a couple days ahead of the trip).  It is amazing how much food you can pack in it when you don't have to add ice.  We then bring a smaller cooler just for drinks and ice.
Jacqui

rccs

We use ice that is frozen in empty milk jugs instead of ice cubes. There is very little water ever in the bottom of our cooler from this method. As far as meat goes, we freeze most of what we take along ahead of time and it usually does not tottaly thaw until about the last day we are out.

Scamper

Quote from: rccsWe use ice that is frozen in empty milk jugs instead of ice cubes. There is very little water ever in the bottom of our cooler from this method. As far as meat goes, we freeze most of what we take along ahead of time and it usually does not tottaly thaw until about the last day we are out.

Yup, we also use frozen milk jugs and water bottles too.   I learned long ago that not only do they keep water from accumulating in the bottom of the cooler, they also last longer then loose ice.  After 3 and even 4 days, the jugs still have ice in them.  Bagged ice would be nothing but water.   Just make sure you don't fill them to the top when you put them in the freezer.  Leave room for the water to expand as it freezes, or else the jugs will crack and you will have water in the bottom of your cooler when they thaw.

I also place all my food in zip lock bags to keep everything seperate.  We also only take frozen meat.  It is usually almost thawed (or close enough) by time we are ready to cook it, specially if you plan ahead (for example, steaks take longer to thaw, so plan to eat them near the end of your trip, burgers near the beginning).  The frozen meat helps to keep the cooler cold too, making your ice last longer.

wendycat

I also freeze ice in ziplock freezer bags. Fill with water (leave expansion space), and freeze flat on a shelf. When frozen, stack or put in the door rack.  The keep a long time and don't flood the cooler.

Jeremy

I do the milk jug ice trick for my icebox in the camper, man a world of difference in the "staying power" of ice chunks vs ice cubes.  But I don't leave the ice in the jugs, I whack the frozen jug with a hammer a couple times and cut the bottom out of the plastic jug and let the ice blocks come out.  We went camping this past weekend and I loaded the icebox on Friday morning and Sunday afternoon when I parked the camper and unloaded, I still had a big block in there.
 
In the cooler, I put all the stuff that shouldn't get wet in the tray that came with the cooler.  Beer, pop, milk, etc. goes in the bottom and I fill with a mixture of cubed ice from the bag and the blocks from the milk jugs.

chasd60

I only put stuff in the cooler that is in bottles or cans and the ice water transfers the cold much better than ice alone.:D
 
 But I have done the gallon milk jugs as well. Block ice will last longer but it is harder to find and much harder to squeeze into a gallon milk jug if you didn't make it yourself.

Scamper

You could also do dry ice I guess.  I don't think it leaves much mess (I don't know for sure, never used it), but I think it also costs more.

chasd60

Quote from: ScamperYou could also do dry ice I guess. I don't think it leaves much mess (I don't know for sure, never used it), but I think it also costs more.
Thanks for reminding me of this site
 http://www.dryiceinfo.com/camping.htm

lushy

Quote from: OC CampersWe use our Food Saver to seal the meat.  I hate having meat juice in the bottom of the cooler after a couple of days.  This does the trick. Another thing I have heard about the Food Saver is you can boil in the bag.  Make your chili or stew ahead of time, seal and freeze it and then put it in a pan of boiling water and hear till hot.   No mess!
 
Recently, we bought an Igloo Kookmate thermoelectric cooler.  This works great.  I set it on my kitchen island and pack the perishables as I buy them (sometimes a couple days ahead of the trip).  It is amazing how much food you can pack in it when you don't have to add ice.  We then bring a smaller cooler just for drinks and ice.
Jacqui

We too use the Food Saver Vacuum Sealer  :#  for our meat and anything that would leak or things we don't want to get wet. It works great!

As far as the thermoelectric cooler goes, we have the Coleman PowerChill cooler and it is one of the best things I have bought for camping (my opinion). No ice to worry about. We only use the ice coolers for beverages :!

dee106

we used quart milk containers (block ice) and put them in zip lock bags, we also used seal-a-meal bags for cooked foods like stew ans chili, and zip lock bags to keep everything fresh ie salads . i also had a rack in the bottom of the cooler to keep the food up incase of spills.

Camping Coxes

We have recently started doing the frozen water jug, but even so, cheese and stuff gets mushy and I don't like the labels coming off my condiments, etc.  I use a tall Tupperware container.  I think they're called Modular Mates, but they're the ones that are made to stack in your pantry and they're numbered 1-4 on the bottom based on height.  But anyway, I put a tall square one in there that's almost as tall as the cooler and I put my cheese and smaller items in there that I don't want exposed to freezing or to water.  The Tupperware acts as a refrigerator in there with the cold water/ice around it.  Works like a charm.

4campinfoxes

I put mainly non-perishables (beverages) in the cooler & meats, eggs, butter etc in the fridge.  But when I have used the cooler I put everything in ziploc bags to keep it fresh & non-waterlogged.  The other thing I do is I use plastic flavored water bottles to freeze water & use as ice.  That way, as others have mentioned, I don't get so much water in the cooler.  It stays cold longer & at the end of the trip we have nice cold water to drink while putting everything away.

Sharon

Jeremy

Quote from: 4campinfoxesThe other thing I do is I use plastic flavored water bottles
mmm.. plastic flavored water bottles.. those sound nummy.. just love that plastic flavor.. hehe j/k