Do you bring coolers?

[accrete]

Cari & I designed our rig(s) around the idea of getting the biggest bang for design with the desire of going off-grid without much fuss. With that in mind, we included the idea of cooler verses powered-fridge.

In our van we carry two Engel Deep Blue 80qt coolers. For a typical 5 day adventure (we prefer taking off monday through friday once a month) we will put a bag of ice in each cooler, fill one with meat type stuff, and the other with veggies/fruits. This arrangement keeps the coolers at ~30 to 35 degrees. We keep most of our beverages in a dark lower cabinet in the van and they remain cool to the touch which is fine for us. The ice will actually remain for about 8 days, we know this as we've gone out on a few ~10 day trips.

We also ordered the Parkliner with the stock cooler-box...which actually, is filled with some beverages without ice at this point.

Anywhoo...coolers can allow for a simple way to keep power consumption/needs in a rig to a minimum rather than utilizing propane/electric to keep food safe for a handful of days between ~weekly grocery runs.

[Hazel in Sk]

We used to use coolers and ice back in our tenting days. We found it got pretty expensive keeping stocked up with ice. The places we camped were often a LONG way from anywhere that carried ice.

It sure is interesting reading the solutions different people use.

[Ray N]

Ever since our car was broken into in Reno and everything inside stolen except a cheap, Styrofoam ice chest I always carry my most valuable things in one. BTW, that Styrofoam ice chest contained my 4 X 5 view camera, three lenses, and a Rolleiflex 2.8F - worth much more than all the suitcases the thieves made off with.

[honda03842]

We've simply learned to live without ice, much of the world does. It's interesting, though this month we have access to ice, the clubhouse has plenty, we never think about it. The fridge more than adequately cools water, water has become our primary drink though occasionally we flavor it. (As well we carry 4 bottles of wine for those moments.)

One of the great benefits that we never considered when we took up RVing was the healthful aspects of travel, at least for us. It's not simply the new outdoor nature of our new life style but as well the elimination of stress and the diminishing of eating for non-nutrition reasons.

As a result we eat a lot less and we eat a lot better. Example when working there would be the mid-morning meeting donut and coffee snack now the mid-morning snack is, this month, pomegranate seeds. Any little meal we cook becomes at least two meals. In the past if we cooked four pork chops we ate them, now we eat two today and two tomorrow. We are now really two meal people snacking for the third meal, splitting an apple and peanut butter or a couple of yogurts. All this means the small fridge serves us without the requirement for a cooler.

In the process I've lost 60-70 pounds; Ginny's number is a state secret but she's lost a lot as well.

It's most interesting to me that after 58 years of life, that a dramatic approach to our previous way of living can be changed. Less and better food and massively fewer things.

Coolers, useful but not necessary for us. We do shop more often but definitely do not have a cooler need.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by CPW

Typically, when we are "camping," we do not sit around the campsite all day long. As a result, many of our meals are purchased from various establishments in our daily travels. But we also have a small cooler which is used for whatever liquid refreshments we may want in our travels or at the end of a day's explorations. Since we are out and about much of the time, it is not an inconvenience to stop at a grocery store to restock. So our refrigerator always has staples (milk, eggs, hot dogs, salad dressing, etc.) but we usually do not try to store food for multi-day planned meals. It would be different if we planned on sitting around the camping site all week but we don't camp that way.

I'm not sure any of us sit around the campsite all day, even at rallies we walk around and meet other campers. i think the point being made was with or without a large refer, when one is relaxing by the fire, at night, after being active all day, it is more convenient to have a cooler by the fire with potables versus opening the screen door and the refer to get another libation.

[starbrightsteve]

The fridge in my newer casita is all automatic and 4 cubic ft. And nice! But..I still don't trust it. I can fix a plugged jet but I can't replace the circuit board that controls it. People do have fridge breakdowns and that is not going to rain on my parade. We take a cooler and just use it as a box for supplies. It is a backup for the fridge.

[Steve L.]

My philosophy has evolved slightly over 10 years of camping in the Casita. At this point it's that I want to support the local economy. I usually camp at state camprounds and I'm unclear how much of that gets into the local economy, but I think groceries and gas are mostly local. So I buy and bring along only things my experience has shown are not usually available in small towns. Living in a large urban area I can find smaller quantities, or can repackage subsets. Every trip starts with a grocery trip once I arrive and they repeat often during the vacation.

I'd prefer not to carry a cooler and I've successfully avoided one so far, so the volume stored in the fridge is modest since I'm not carrying a whole trip's worth of food. I always have a few canned/boxed meals for when I don't get near a store when running low. Since I'm not a big pop/beer drinker I only store 4-6 cans in the fridge and usually restock the fridge just before bed as it's usually at its most efficient overnight.

I second Donna's suggestion about a remote temp sensor in the fridge. I have a wireless one in there and I do fuss with thermostst some over a trip and I found the door sealing needed improving which has improved temperature recovery quite a bit.

I also vacuum seal and freeze meats. I don't have a freezer and although the meats defrost over time I find sealed foods last longer defrosted.

[honda03842]

We have a remote temp sensor in the fridge as well, $10 at Walmart.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Hazel in Sk

We used to use coolers and ice back in our tenting days. We found it got pretty expensive keeping stocked up with ice. The places we camped were often a LONG way from anywhere that carried ice.

It sure is interesting reading the solutions different people use.

I normally don't have to buy any ice if camping on a trip of 6 days or less. I freeze plastic milk jugs with water in them at home and use those in the cooler. They will in a *good* cooler last for 6 days. No water to deal with in the bottom of the cooler and you have extra cool drinking water once they have thawed out.

[David Clinkenbeard]

For us, I generally bring a 60qt. "high performance" ice chest. In the hot Texas weather my Dometic 5.0 refrigerator is less than stellar. Bringing a cooler gives me a backup to prevent food from spoiling. And if I catch fresh fish or carry seafood, I can ice it down in the cooler and keep the RV frig from smelling like a fish market. We usually keep fresh vegetables in the cooler during cold weather to prevent freeze damage during the night. I enjoy cooking and eating outdoors as part of camping. So we bring a lot of fresh food and very few cans to eat out of.

Block ice lasts longer but cubed ice keeps stuff colder. I used to think I could buy a lot of ice for the cost of a high performance cooler. Go to Big Bend NP or some remote location and ice is a long drive away. My Glacier with 3" sides keeps ice for an average of 10 Texas days in the shade.

[Mike Magee]

I thought about taking a cooler along on my last trip, but it was a vacation in bear country and one must keep coolers out of sight from bears... so I left it home.

[francene]

We use pre-frozen 'blue ice' instead of bags of ice, so there's very little water in the bottom of the cooler after a few days.

I like to bring my own garden vegetables and fruit, as well as store bought, in the cooler.

Pre-marinated meat gets frozen and goes into the small Dometic fridge. It keeps for a few days and helps to keep the temps in there lower.

Thanks for the boxed milk idea, Hazel. We have used those small milk boxes in the past, but the quart size sounds better.

We have used dry pasta and rice mixes in the past, to form the basis for a meal, but now we eat lower sodium, so I'll have to use basic staples and bring along the herbs, garlic and onion.

Great ideas here. Thanks, everyone!

Fran

[RogerDat]

We use two coolers, one is mostly beverages or other items that can be stored wet without any hassle, the other is for dry cold storage. We have used the fridge but that has mostly been for cool storage, things such as butter, or fruits and veggies, even when we had a large one in a motor home we used ice for meat and beverages.

We use cat litter containers full of water, these and almost all meat is frozen before we leave. The wide mouth of the cat litter container allows refilling with cube ice if we need more. Keeps things dry in the coolers and will generally last at least 3 and sometimes 4 days.

We also use a large 6 gallon water jug full of ice as our drinking water and source of ice cubes for cocktails, cocktails without ice would be beyond rustic into the realm of positively barbaric.

[Hazel in Sk]

I have been reminded how much camping has changed over my lifetime. Earlier I mentioned the problems we used to have maintaining ice. Oh dear - back then we camped out of a VW Beetle with two kids and a four person tent. Any cooler we could afford was quite small and anyway a large one wouldn't fit in the car! It was lucky for us that seatbelts weren't mandatory as the kids used to travel on top of the sleeping bags.

[Gene Masse]

Currently I have two electric 12V/AC coolers. Not that I will necessarily take them both on a trip. I had originally bought a Coleman 12V/AC cooler. It cools well. No need for additional ice, but a couple small blue ice packs helps. Last year I bought a Dometic cooler/freezer. I can set this unit to either freeze or cool. They aren't cheap but do the job. This is the size I got. Got a good bargain on Ebay. Under $400.
Dometic CF 035AC110 Portable Fridge Freezer New | eBay
You can get smaller models too. When not camping I use it to carry frozen stuff from the grocery store. I live in a small town and can travel upwards of 2 hours to the big box stores to find a better selection.
I can load these in the back of the van or pickup and am much more self sufficient.
My Coleman is like this one.
Coleman 40-Quart PowerChill Thermoelectric Cooler with Power Cord, Black/Silver: Camping : Walmart.com
The Coleman is designed to be stood on end with the included shelf and used like a fridge.
Sometimes they are on sale with the AC adapter included & cheaper than listed above. I found mine on sale at Walmart for under $80 with the AC adapter at the time. I've got some old style metal ice trays to make my own ice in the freezer too.