What’s the best problem you’ll come up in opposition to on a tenting journey?
If you ask me, conserving your meals recent and chilly is certainly a prime contender. When tenting out within the sizzling summer time solar, perishable meals can spoil tremendous rapidly should you’re not cautious.
Don’t fear although, there are many methods you may keep away from this state of affairs.
In this text, we’ll share 13 nice ideas that’ll let you know precisely the best way to hold meals chilly whereas tenting. We’ve additionally included some security recommendation, to be sure you don’t find yourself with meals poisoning in your journey.
Let’s get straight into it.
Cooler Strategies and Preparation
You may assume that conserving your meals chilly is so simple as conserving it in a cooler. It is likely to be, however in sure situations, like when it’s actually sizzling out, it won’t be sufficient.
Your ice (particularly if it’s the gasoline station selection) may soften very quickly in any respect. Once that occurs, it gained’t be lengthy earlier than micro organism begin to take over. Rotten meat, anybody?
To hold this from occurring, you’ll wish to take some additional measures to make sure your meals stays recent for so long as potential.
Get Yourself A Good Cooler (Or Two)
First and foremost, I positively suggest investing in a great high quality cooler.
Better but, put money into 2 coolers. Having one in your meals and one other in your drinks is the way in which to go, however extra on that additional down.
You’ve mainly acquired 4 choices on the subject of coolers:
These are listed from the least, to the simplest.
Of course, fancy electrical coolers aren’t sometimes funds pleasant.
Fiberglass and metal coolers will do a wonderful job at conserving your meals recent for as much as 3 days. Be warned, nonetheless, that they’re fairly heavy.
Styrofoam coolers aren’t as efficient, however they’re significantly better on the subject of portability. If you go for a styrofoam cooler, make certain it’s a top quality one with good insulation.
Chill Your Cooler Before You Head Off
If you’ve acquired a big sufficient freezer, it’s a good suggestion to pop your cooler in there for a couple of hours earlier than you are taking off in your tenting journey.
Chilling the cooler will enhance the time it takes your ice to soften by fairly a bit. This will hold your meals recent and chilly for longer.
Pack Your Cooler Wisely
This one ties in with the earlier tip.
Packing your cooler correctly means you gained’t must open it as typically. When you do must open it, you’ll know the place all the pieces is immediately, so that you gained’t must hold it open for lengthy.
Rummaging by your cooler looking for one thing is an effective way to let sizzling air in, so that you positively wish to try to hold it to a minimal.
- Put your ice on the backside of the cooler.
- Next, stack your meat on prime of the ice.
- If you may have sufficient house, add one other layer of ice over your meat.
- Dairy objects go subsequent
- Everything else ought to go on prime.
Anything you’ll want regularly must be on the prime for straightforward entry.
One thing more you are able to do is fill any pockets of air with ice packs. This will assist regulate the temperature contained in the cooler, conserving the objects in direction of the highest simply as chilly as those on the backside.
Food Preparation Tips to Keep It Colder for Longer
Freeze Your Food Before You Go
A very nice method to hold your meals recent for longer is freezing it earlier than your journey.
You can freeze all the pieces from meat to veggies, fruit and even whole pre-cooked meals. Your frozen meals may also hold the remainder of the contents of your cooler chilly for longer.
If nothing else, a minimum of freeze any uncooked meat you’re taking. Raw meat will go off unbelievably rapidly within the warmth, and freezing it can hold it recent for manner longer.
Pre-Cook Your Food
Another helpful tenting meals trick is to pre-cook your meals.
Cooked meat gained’t spoil practically as rapidly as uncooked meat will. This is as a result of once you cook dinner meals, you kill off a variety of the micro organism that may trigger it to go dangerous.
You can even pre-cook whole meals, so that every one it’s a must to do is warmth them up on the campsite and also you’re good to go.
Need concepts? Here are some nice concepts of meals you may carry tenting.
Take Non-Perishable Backup Food
Finally, as with all the pieces in life, be sure you have a backup plan.
If something goes fallacious and your meals finally ends up spoiling, the very last thing you need is to be left with nothing to eat. Going hungry isn’t any enjoyable, particularly after a day packed stuffed with tenting actions.
Luckily, there are many meals objects you may take that don’t require refrigeration. So, make certain to have loads of these available, simply in case issues go south.
Maximize Your Ice
Use Frozen Water Bottles
An incredible different to ice packs are frozen water bottles.
The beauty of utilizing a frozen bottle is that when it thaws out, you’re left with a bottle of consuming water.
Gotta love 2 in 1 options that save on house once you’re tenting.
Use Large Blocks Of Ice
If you do determine to make use of ice, make certain to make use of giant blocks of stable ice, moderately than unfastened ice cubes.
The ice you may decide up at your native gasoline station will soften manner too rapidly.
Large blocks of ice will take for much longer to soften, conserving your meals recent for for much longer. Place them on the backside of your cooler, and stack your meals on prime.
Use Ice Packs
When you utilize regular ice in your cooler, it melts.
Melted ice will flip into an enormous puddle of water that may seep into your meals, turning it right into a soggy mess. It can even contaminate it, making your meals unsafe to eat.
You by no means know what sort of water was used to make the ice, except you made it your self. If it wasn’t pure (which, should you purchased the ice, it most likely wasn’t) you don’t need it entering into your meals.
One method to get round that is by utilizing ice packs as an alternative.
You should buy them, or you can also make your individual ice pack by filling a freezer bag with water and rubbing alcohol at a ratio of two:1 and freezing it.
If you determine to purchase the ice packs, be sure you get good high quality ice packs. (Hint: a budget ones crammed with blue gel aren’t the very best.)
Try Evaporative Cooling
If you’ve acquired recent fruits and veggies, you may really hold them cool with out even utilizing a cooler.
How?
Evaporative cooling!
All it’s a must to do is put your produce in a mesh bag (or another porous materials), moist it and cling it up within the shade. Just make certain to maintain it moist by wetting the bag every time it dries out.
The breeze, together with the moist bag, will hold your fruits and veggies recent for days.
Note: this may solely work with fruit and veg – don’t try to make use of this technique to maintain meat recent.
Use Dry Ice
Sometimes determined instances name for determined measures. In the case of conserving your tenting meals chilly, determined measures means dry ice.
It’s not as straightforward to come back throughout, however dry ice is manner colder than common ice, and it takes manner longer to soften.
You can even use a dry ice pack. These will hold your meals recent and chilly for ages!
Keep in thoughts that dry ice is so chilly that it’ll really freeze your meals and drinks. This is nice on the subject of conserving them recent and chilly for longer. But, it’s not so nice once you go to seize a chilly beer, solely to search out it’s been was a beer popsicle.
Note: once you’re utilizing dry ice in a cooler, carbon dioxide will construct up inside because the ice melts. Be very cautious to not inhale an excessive amount of of it once you open your cooler, to keep away from carbon dioxide poisoning.
Throw In Some Salt
One of my favourite methods to have up your sleeve is salt.
Careful, although. With this one, timing is all the pieces.
Putting salt straight onto your ice cubes will make them soften faster, so that you positively don’t wish to try this.
What it’s best to do is wait till the ice begins melting, after which add salt. This will make the melted water colder than the ice itself.
Amazing, proper?
Don’t overdo it, although. Half a handful of salt is greater than sufficient for a big cooler.
Some Additional Tips to Keep Your Food Cold
Keep Your Cooler In The Shade
One easier method to hold your meals chilly for longer is ensuring to maintain your cooler within the shade.
Just be sure that because the day goes on, your cooler stays in a shady spot always. As the solar strikes throughout the sky, the shade offered by the bushes round additionally, you will shift. Move your cooler as wanted, to maintain it within the shade.
If you’re tenting someplace the place there’s sand, just like the seaside or desert, you can even bury your cooler within the sand. This will do a great job at defending it and conserving your contents cool, even when there isn’t any shade round.
Avoid Opening Your Cooler Too Often
So, after I mentioned it’s best to get 2 coolers, that is what I used to be speaking about.
Even if 1 cooler is sufficiently big to suit all the pieces you’re taking, it’s nonetheless higher to have 2. If you’ve acquired your entire meals and drinks in a single cooler, likelihood is you’ll be opening it manner too typically.
Opening your cooler each time somebody desires a drink will make your ice soften so much faster than it could if the cooler have been left closed.
This isn’t a catastrophe if all you’ve acquired in there are drinks. If, alternatively, you’ve additionally acquired meals in your cooler, you run the danger of your meals going dangerous.
That’s why it’s best to all the time hold your drinks in 1 cooler, and your meals in a separate cooler.
Use A Thermometer In Your Cooler
If you wish to be additional secure, you may all the time use a thermometer inside your cooler, to maintain monitor of the temperature.
If the temperature rises above 40°F, you’re within the hazard zone. As lengthy because it’s beneath 40°F, your meals will keep simply as recent and chilly as it could in your fridge at residence.
Food Safety Advice For Campers
Being in a position to hold your meals chilly when you’re tenting is good, nevertheless it’s additionally actually necessary in your well being.
As I discussed, in case your meals goes off and also you don’t notice, you possibly can be a nasty case of meals poisoning. Not enjoyable wherever you might be, however particularly not should you’re at a campsite.
So, what are you able to do to be sure that doesn’t occur?
Well, following the ideas on this article could have you effectively on the way in which. Still, there are a pair extra issues it’s best to know to be on the secure aspect.
First off, it’s tremendous necessary that you know the way lengthy your meals might be anticipated to final.
For occasion, uncooked meat will solely final a few days, even when your cooler is saved ice chilly the complete time. Meat outdoors of the cooler, whether or not it’s uncooked or cooked, gained’t be suitable for eating after the primary 2 hours.
Meat is certainly the riskiest, nevertheless it’s not the one factor that may give you meals poisoning, so you need to be simply as cautious with different meals objects. You’ve acquired to look out for something that’s perishable, comparable to dairy, in addition to fruits and veggies.
Some veggies are simply high-quality at room temperature. In truth, a variety of veggies, comparable to cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, must be saved out of the fridge anyway.
Other veggies, comparable to leafy greens, mushrooms and zucchini ought to positively be saved chilly. Leaving them out for greater than a few hours isn’t a good suggestion.
Make certain to totally wash your entire fruits and veggies with clear water earlier than you eat them.
Remember that your cooler must be saved at a temperature beneath 40°F always. Anything above that’s heat sufficient for micro organism progress.
It’s a good suggestion to separate your ice from the remainder of the cooler’s contents. You can do that by placing it in a sealed plastic bag. Or, higher but, double wrap it.
While we’re on the subject of double wrapping, I’d additionally suggest you double wrap any meat that’s in your cooler, to keep away from cross contamination.
Wrapping It Up
Now, to wrap issues up. I imply the article, however sure, your meals as effectively.
As you may see, conserving your meals recent and chilly whereas tenting isn’t as exhausting because it may appear.
You don’t want any fancy, state-of-the-art gear. All you want is an efficient cooler and some methods underneath your belt to get essentially the most out of it.
Food poisoning isn’t any joke, so I usually keep on with the rule: when unsure, throw it out. It’s all the time higher to be secure than sorry.