I'm wondering what others use to keep their food and beverages cold. By the end of the first day, my stuff has warmed up and anything frozen has started to thaw. I've tried wrapping stuff in foil, and newspaper, in addition to having little frozen packs in my cooler. Is there a half decent cooler out there that doesn't take up too much room? I'm kayakking, so the amoutn of space used is an issue. I've tried double coolers ( a small one inside a larger one). That's better, but kinda bulky.

What about dry ice? We were discussing that over a few warm beers and wondered if it was possible or not.

thanks

Is there any topic we haven't discussed yet?
See http://www.myccr.com/SectionForums/view ... 44&start=0

Some good suggestions were made there...

A couple of obvious suggestions:
- diligently keep the cooler out of direct sun.
- Covering it with a life jacket also adds insulation.
- open as seldom as possible
- wrap froze items with many layers of paper, although it loses some of it's insulation quality when it gets wet (maybe plastic bubble-wrap?)

This summer I purchased from Canadian Tire a couple foam collapsing coolers-called California Innovations.They have preformed very nicely.One for day 1 the other day 2 Both are marked which is which and access is to one for that day only. Day 3 both are consolidated into one and the other rolled up and put away.I like soft gear (food packs and such) that can be put away when empty.A n empty barrel is still as large as a full one.Thats what I do others something different

Keep in mind that you don't need to spend more money to get a better cooler. My wife got me that nice looking Coleman Anniversary Cooler for about $150.00. It looks greaat but doesn't really keep stuff cold for long. I have a really cheap plastic Coleman cooler that will keep stuff much colder for much longer. I see they have the Coleman Extreme Coolers that will keep stuff cold for 5 days or something like that (and they arent that pricey).

Another thing to remember is that blocked ice will last WAY longer than cubed. I make my own blocked ice (it seems to be hard to find in Southern Ontario) by filling large tuperware containters and freezing them...

http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortments/ ... earch=true

http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortments/ ... earch=true

Two summers ago I picked up one of those big 5 day colemans. It was great but it is obviously not for tripping. The only prob I had with it was that when I was picking it up and putting it in the boat the outside covering was seperating from the main body after only one use.

I used the Califirnia soft coolers this year. They were ok but the inside zip out plastic lining disintegated when I froze it in the freezer.

Both returned,,,next...

Someone on the AA site mentioned this product, but I don't know where to get it:
http://www.techniiceamerica.com/index.html

Here's the description:
http://www.jeff-wilson.net/algonquin2005/

I sure would like to try some. I can put up with instant coffee on a trip, but powdered milk and coffeemate suck.

http://www.outdoorsuperstore.com/store/ ... 486773.htm

I have all 3 sizes - 8, 16, 24 quarts. These coolers used to be called "Oscar". Once of mine is close to 20 years old. The handle locks the lid, and they keep items cold for long time.

To prepare food like meat for camping, I :
remove store / excess packaging
ziplock
wrap tightly in bubble wrap
wrap loosely in newspaper
ziplock again

Mold items to be frozen into the bottom of the cooler, to reduce bulk. Then I freeze the food inside the cooler with the lid off (but also inside freezer),

I make block ice in the bottom of the cooler, typically about 2" thick. By using the cooler, the ice is the perfect size. The ice goes on top of the food, once the cooler with frozen food is removed just before departure. Having the cooler itself frozen makes a bid difference.

Fresh meat prepared this way is fine for the 3rd night meal.

Try these coolers:
http://www.igloocoolers.com/products/Fu ... e/MaxCold/

I have one and I also have one of Coleman's competitive products:
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanC ... oryID=8580

I should have saved my money and purchased a second Igloo cooler. Coleman has never figured out how to make a decent cooler and after almost 60 years of trying they should give it up as a lost cause.

Neither of these products are suitable for tripping unless you are planning to go out somewhere and just sit. The Igloo will do a much better job of keeping your food/ beer cool when comparing these 2 products on an equal basis.. as to loading of ice versus food held in the same environment such as side by side on a picnic table bench.

My tripping is such that I don't use or even want a cooler. I have two good ones at home but they are never used on wilderness trips.

All food for a week to 12 day trip is such I don't need to concern myself with refrigeration and all I do is keep things packed appropriately and as others have said in reference to a cooler, keep packed food out of the sun.

One reason to paddle or hike is to get away from it all so, unless you have medical needs or such, why drag a cooler?

-Jester

I completely concur with Jester's above comments.

The Best cooler I've found was to go tripping in the Fall and Winter...
It's free cooling!

The posts above exemplify why I don't visit this site as often these days, and post even less frequently. When someone asks for advice, if you have something to offer, why not post it? There is no need to preach your own ideas and prejudices about what camping should be and how other people should do it. If a guy likes to take a cooler, let him. No need to belittle someone for doing it differently than you. Different strokes for different folks.

I have a coleman extreme with wheels and an extending handle that will roll over most portages, unelss they're really rocky. You can even stack some junk on it and take a lot in one trip. Lazy? No, smart. When I'm enjoying a steak or some bacon for breakfast 5 or 6 days into a trip tell me how much purer your camping style is.

Thanks for finally putting in print what I too have been feeling.

We have successfully (too successfully) used one of those soft-sided lunch bag types. I think it's a 6-can size. I say too successfully because the spaghetti sauce I put in it frozen, straight from the freezer, stayed that way. No extra insulation, no wrapping in newspaper, no ice. Of course, there was more than just the spaghetti sauce, so everything was packed in quite tightly. It fit very nicely in the centre of the 60 litre food barrel.

If you like, you could try making something yourself using nylon for the outside and a product like Insul-bright for the filler (maybe two layers of it?)
http://www.warmcompany.com/ibpage.html

Barbara