One of the things that really
helps any trip, particularly camping, is food!
Eating is such an important aspect of our daily lives. It can help pass the time and battle boredom,
it can help us manage stress, and of course, it provides nourishment for our
bodies. I know folks who eat anything
and everything when they head outdoors and go camping…any semblance of eating
healthy, or even normal, goes right out the window. I’ve been watching YouTube videos of a guy
and his family as they travel the country camping, and it seems that at least
one meal a day comes from a gas station.
Now, if that is how you imagine camping…or what you choose to do, then
no problem. But when I head out I really
try to eat (at least similarly) to how I eat at home. Sound complicated? Well, with a little planning and some simple
preparation it really isn’t too difficult.
Perhaps the biggest issue, when
it comes to food while camping, is how to store it and keep it safe. I mean, let’s be honest…none of us want to
get food poisoning at home, much less when away from home on a camping
trip. This means that any refrigerated
food must be kept at, or below, 40 degrees.
So, let me share the things I learned, and did, as I prepared for a
weeklong camping trip. Of course,
remember, I was not out in the backcountry, but in a US Army Corps of Engineers
operated campground.
Now, we do not own a fancy
cooler. Like so many other things
coolers are available in just about any price range you are interested in. On the high end are the roto molded coolers
like Yeti, RTIC, ORCA, and others. Then there are the middle of the road coolers,
like I grew up with, that we often associate with Coleman or Igloo. After doing considerable research we opted
for one of the middle of the road coolers.
Specifically, we picked up a Coleman 62-quart model. I was pretty confident that with a little
preparation this would serve our needs perfectly.
First, I picked up a refrigerator thermometer. I actually picked up two of these for under $10 on Amazon. I simply placed one on top of the food in the cooler so I could easily keep an eye on the temperature inside the cooler whenever I opened it.
The next thing I did was go to
Lowes Home Improvement and pick up a roll of Reflectix roll insulation. This is great stuff and there are so many
uses for it camping, backpacking, or bicycle touring. I took the Reflectix and cut it to shape so
that it fit perfectly inside the cooler.
I also cut pieces to go on the bottom of the cooler as well as on top of
the ice and food once the cooler is filled and packed. The goal here is to increase the insulation/cooling
of your cooler. And I believe it did a
great job. I kept food…eggs, bacon, cheese,
chicken, and hamburgers cool for 7 days.
(Though I did add ice on Wednesday)
Before packing the cooler, I
prepared it. Specifically, there were
two things I did before putting food in it and dumping ice over it. First, I gathered some empty juice bottles
and ½ gallon milk jugs. These were
filled with water and placed in the freezer.
Second, the day before I left I filled the cooler (with the Reflectix
insulation sleeve inside) with ice. I
let the cooler sit overnight with the ice in it to get it cooled down. Another thing I did was to freeze the meet
that I was not planning to use until later in the week. My thinking was that it would help keep the
cooler cold and that by the end of the week it would have thawed and be ready
to cook.
When it was time to pack the
cooler I dumped the ice that had been put in the day before. I then lined the bottom of the cooler with
the bottles/jugs of ice. Blocks of ice
last longer than the smaller ice cubes.
Once the food was in the cooler I filled it with ice. And don’t forget to put the thermometer in
before closing it up!
Once I was satisfied that I could
safely keep my food cool…I mean, I really didn’t want to get sick or die on
this trip…I turned my attention to food storage.
For the meat storage was
simple. I used small Tupperware containers. With these sealed containers I didn’t have to
worry about melted ice water getting to the meat. Plus, they are reusable so I was not creating
more trash. Several mornings I was
planning on having eggs. Have you ever
seen those little camping egg holders…usually yellow? Well, they are great! I picked up one that holds 12 eggs. While these are quite inexpensive, they do a
good job of protecting the eggs and I didn’t have to worry about the egg
cartons getting wet in the melted ice water.
One of the important food items on any trip is
water. While my campsite had a water spigot,
I opted for a large water jug. Water
jugs come in a variety of styles, shapes, and sizes. I thought about the collapsible variety, but
several of the reviews I saw commented that as the water level gets lower that
they are not real stable and tend to fall over.
I went with a 7-gallon water jug which allowed me to use pretty much all
the water I wanted but only had to refill it a couple of times. I guess it was theoretically possible to
simply use water from the spigot, but I found it was much easier using the
7-gallon water jug as it had a push button spigot that made getting water so
easy.
So far, none of my camping trips (or bicycle touring trips) have been in areas where bears are a major concern. However, that doesn't mean critters aren't an issue. Far worse foes in the areas I have camped are raccoons and other small animals. They love to get into food and they are actually quite gifted at it...I have talked with several bicycle tourists who shared stories of raccoons unzipping bags in order to get to the food. Now, when I'm on a bicycle trip I usually keep all of my food items in odor-proof zip lock bags that are easily available on-line. I have various sizes of the Loksak odor proof bags. While I have had some type of critters in camp around the picnic table because of food that had spilled, no animals tried to get to my food bags. When you are car camping I would recommend putting your food in your car rather than tempt animals looking for a food score!
There is a wealth of information
of ice and food management on the internet if you have the time to do some
research. The steps I have shared came
from my searching and sustained me quite nicely for a weeklong camping
trip. I offer my experience in the hopes
that it will help you as you prepare for you next trip.
See you soon!
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