How Do You Keep Food From Getting Soggy in a Cooler?
Q. My dad and I went on a camping trip. We brought a big cooler full of food with lots of ice. But it was super hot, so the ice melted and swamped our food. The buns were soggy, and my graham crackers were half-soaked. What can we do to avoid this?
— Waterlogged Will, Bakersfield, Calif.
A. I’ve got just the answer for your troubles, Waterboy. Instead of a bunch of ice, try this: Get three or four large empty plastic bottles, like a 64-oz. jug from apple juice, Gatorade, etc. A couple of days before your next camping trip, fill them up with fresh water and toss them in the freezer. When it’s time to go on your trip, skip the bag of ice and just put those frozen water bottles inside your cooler. They’ll stay cold for a long time. And when they do finally melt, instead of a bunch of soggy food and melted ice, you’ll have four bottles of fresh water, perfect for drinking, washing, whatever.
When going camping for several days (or a week) I estimate how many water bottles that we will drink/use and freeze all of them. They keep your food cold and when you want to drink one just take it out and in 10 minutes it has thawed and is still cold. PS – freeze them standing upright !
I use tightly sealed Tupperware containers…different sizes/shapes.for e.g. (One for meats, one for produce, one for fruit etc)…But the bottled ice is a good idea too. Use both and I keep the drain open to prevent water from accumulating. Hot days..its hard to keep up. Often need to purchase more ice on a several day hot trip…
Carry no freeze dry foods. Easy, simple and lighter.
We always put frozen Capri Suns in our lunch box, keeps everything cold for lunch.
… and keep the lid OFF the container until the water is frozen.
This what we do and it works great and your making use of the melted ice instead of dumping it.
Our boys always have at least two coolers, one for cold foods and one for dry goods. Also, if you don’t have the bottles, freeze water in larger ziploc bags and leave it in the bag. The large “ice cube” lasts longer than the bag of ice.
I put all my food in lock and lock containers in the cooler. Then just pour ice all around. No problems.
Along that same line we use milk jugs filled with water and freeze them.
On the last campout we froze chili in gallon bags. Packing up Friday I put them and a couple packages of pulled pork (vacuum sealed and frozen hard) in a small cooler. On top of them I put an old towel and then the lid. No ice needed and Saturday at 5pm they were still frozen solid like they were still in the freezer at home.