Tip #38 EXTENDING THE ICE AGE!

While camping out at a remote work location I was forced to use a traditional ice chest/cooler for keeping my perishables from going bad in-between my visits to town for more ice and supplies. But after the first full week I realized there was an important Ice Volume vs. Ice Life factor that coincidentally was part of the "how much food can you pack in the ice chest" equation.

If I used enough ice to last a full week I found out I had insufficient space available for all the food I needed to store. The challenge was to reduce the amount of ice to provide more room for food and still make it a week without the ice completely melting.

OK I know, you are thinking "Here we go with another boring outdoor tip." But stay tuned, you just might find these practices very rewarding on your next outing into the bush with limited supplies for keeping your perishables from perishing long before the trip ends.

The solution required that I practice a bit of discipline in my method of accessing the cooler contents as well as apply a couple other "tricks" which would help achieve my goal.

My first action was to freeze those items which could be frozen and used later in the week as they thawed. I froze my pound of butter and instead of going with a half gallon of milk I bought two quarts and froze one solid and chilled the other to just a bit slushy. A container of orange juice also froze well and provided juice as it thawed. Sure, these were small contributions but none-the-less added critical cooling to the interior.

The next thing was to organize the groceries in a logical layout after the ice blocks were in place. Those items I would not need until later in the week were placed in the bottom of the cooler. Also any frozen meat packages were placed next to the ice. Food was stacked more or less in the order I would use it. This minimized excessive time the lid was open and reduced warm/cool air exchange.

One thing I noticed with the tight fitting lid was whenever I opened it, there was a significant "vacuum" present as the lid was raised and that in turn caused a substantial rush of warm air into the cooler. This in itself contributes to much of the loss of ice in a short amount of time as it needs to re-cool the interior air after an entry.

My solution was to fold a heavy-duty trash compactor plastic bag to the dimension of the cooler and place it on top of all the food. Opening the cooler lid slowly reduced the rush of warm air and the plastic bag "seal" prevented the cold heavy air in the cooler from being disturbed. Carefully folding back the section of bag in the area I wanted to access reduced the need for the ice to re-cool a lot of the air.

One should always use block ice rather than cubed or chipped as it lasts much longer. And a final thing I practiced was to leave the drain plug closed except to periodically drain accumulating water from melted ice. Leaving the drain open allows cool air to "flow" out the vent which is replaced with warmer air. As long as the water in the cooler bottom does not get too deep it helps maintain the temperature.

All this may seem a bit eccentric but for anyone who has flown in for a 7-10 day bush trip to fish or hunt, running out of ice before the end of the trip nearly always results in an immediate need to "gorge" yourself with all the remaining perishables before they go bad. If you will have several people in your group using/accessing the cooler contents, educating all the people as to the proper "Cool Etiquette" routine could add a few extra days to your ice life.

P.S. Even Coleman's EXTREME cooler with 2 inches of insulation in the lid and chest is only advertised as "holding ice up to 5 days at temperatures up to 90 degrees." Practicing ice conservation could improve that performance significantly.
Happy Trails!

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