Forum > Food
Camping food
seattlegirl:
We fry bacon on the campstove, then cook eggs or pancakes in the grease. Pancakes are usually from a just add water mix.
(I realize this won't help Diablita...)
seattlegirl:
Speaking of coolers, who has a recommendation? We'd like to upgrade. And any tips for keeping things their coldest?
BonitaApplebum:
Here's what I do with my coolers:
1) Open them as few times as possible. Have a dedicated cooler for drinks, because that will get opened and closed a lot more. You should only be opening your food cooler when you are prepping or putting away food. We have a cooler strictly assigned to the kids because they are horrible about opening it, rummaging around, and leaving it open!
2) For multi day trips, I freeze things and let them serve as ice. For example, a half gallon of orange juice -- I get the kind in the carton with the screw top. I freeze it at home and then by second day breakfast it's thawed enough to drink. I also do this with things like Newman's lemonade.
3) I also freeze a big thing of iced coffee (you can recycle a half gallon carton or use a tupperware pitcher type thing). This is the BEST when you get up and your tent is hot and you need coffee so badly you can't even find the french press. Icy cold coffee FTW!
4) Everything gets double or even triple sealed in my coolers. This isn't a keeping cold thing so much as keeping dry -- after the time all of our fancypants cheeses got drenched in cooler water, I learned my lesson. I typically use multiple ziplock bags for everything. This helps with organization, too -- butter/cheese in one set of bags, cold cuts in another, etc. Things like pasta salads that I made at home go into double zips as well.
5) Instead of (or in addition to) cubed ice, use blocks of ice -- they last longer. Freeze them at home and then line the bottom of the cooler with them (you can freeze in ziplocks or tupperware or whatever makes blocks that fit into the bottom). Then another layer on top of everything.
6) When it's hot you need to keep maintaining your coolers -- you can't set it and forget it. Drain water periodically and replace with more ice several times a day if you can.
7) Keep the cooler out of the sun. You can insulate it more by throwing a towel or blanket over it.
But seriously, the number one rule is -- DON'T OPEN THE COOLER unless you really need to, and then be quick about it!
seattlegirl:
Thanks. Iced coffee is a brilliant idea! :!:
BonitaApplebum:
It's a game changer! The first time we did it we were like, this is the greatest thing EVER! :D
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