Outdoor Adventure USA

The net this week will cover the subject of coolers, whether powered by ice or electricity. For our discussion, these coolers are the type that are meant to be carried in your vehicle and are designed keep food fresh, generally for camping trips. Fortunately for campers, there are a variety of ways to do this and your choice will depend on your budget, the length of your trip and how much room is available in your rig.

Ice coolers are, by far, the most popular, and the least expensive. Ice coolers come in many sizes and levels of quality and a good choice here will depend on how long you want the ice to last and how durable and efficient you expect it to be. The more expensive coolers usually have superior insulation and are very well made. We've seen ice coolers which carry the claim that ice will last in excess of a week, which is usually enough to cover most camping trips.

The next category of cooler is thermoelectric. We'll save the details for the net, but in general, the thermoelectric coolers will reduce the temperature inside the cooler a certain number of degrees below ambient temps. This means that if the cooler is designed to reduce the cooler temps 30 degrees below ambient, and the outside temps is 90, then the cooler should maintain 60 degrees. From a price perspective, the thermoelectrics are about the same as some of the premium ice coolers.

The last category of coolers is the refrigerator/freezer. As the name implies, these units are virtually the same as the refrigerator in your house, except they are designed to be transported in a vehicle, boat or trailer. These coolers are equipped with temperature controls which allow the units to maintain a fixed temperature from below freezing to the 40s. On a hot day, If you are looking for some hero status, pull some ice cream bars out of your fridge/freeze and pass them around camp. For longer trips, especially where ice will not last, these coolers are an ideal choice.

Below are links and pictures to sites where you can get further information on each of the different types of coolers.

The following websites offer examples of various types of coolers:

Basic duty Ice Coolers
1. Coleman http://www.coleman.com/Products/8500
2. Igloo. http://www.igloocoolers.com/All-Coolers

Heavy Duty Ice Coolers
3. Engle. Imported, https://www.engel-usa.com/products/deepblue-coolers (8 to 10 days)
4. IRP Outdoors. http://www.grizzlycoolers.com/catalog/g ... mping.html (9+ days)
5. Yeti. http://yeticoolers.com/coolers/shop-by- ... ra-series/

Thermoelectric Coolers
6. Igloo Thermoelectrics http://www.igloocoolers.com/Thermoelect ... moelectric
7. Coleman Thermoelectrics http://www.coleman.com/Products/8570/th ... ic-coolers

12/24V Electric Refrigerator/Freezer Units
8. Fridge Freeze. Made in America, in San Diego http://sportfridge.com/portable-recreat ... road-units
9. ARB. http://store.arbusa.com/Fridge-Freezer-C48.aspx
10. Engle. https://www.engel-usa.com/products/frid ... ing-models
11. National Luna, http://www.equipt1.com/i/fridges/national-luna
12. Waeco. Imported, http://www.waeco.com.au/products.asp?id ... 0&catId=57
13. Fridge Freeze Refrigerator Freezers for Medical use http://fridgefreeze.com/products/
A few pics of refrigerator freezers:

Fridge Freeze
National Luna Refrigerator
ARB Refrigerator

I have heard the several nets and discussions concerning the 12v cooler/freezers and I just wasn't up to spending the money for one of these, although they are really nice units and well worth it if you get out there and use them. For one weeklong camping trip/year with the family and the considerations of battery draw, I could not warrant the cost to use ratio. So, we waited and jumped on the opportunity to buy the newer Pelican brand ice chest in a 65 quart model. http://www.pelican-case.com/coolers.html (Walmart sells them for $299.99 and I am a big fan of their lifetime guarantee). Their main office is in Torrance and I have seen them provide warranty service to customers who bring their items to them (you can ship too but some things are better taken directly to the source). They stand behind their product as I personally witnessed, over and over, while picking up some items for a military deployment.

Our first use was a week long trip to NM and it served us very well. Additionally, we added a couple of new techniques as well. We filled an old igloo, personal lunch size cooler, with water and froze it for our "block of ice." I remember using block ice when I was a Boy Scout for our coolers back then and a block of ice really out does cubed ice. Additionally, freezing the ice in a cooler, slows down the freezing process and helps to make a very clear and solid block of ice; one void of air bubbles and it appears the ice is denser and lasts longer than a block simply frozen in a water bottle or pan. We also bought two stainless steel serving dishes from Sam's Club (internet review suggestion for this cooler) that fit perfectly on the top rim of our new Pelican 65qt cooler which gave us a nice area to put those items you don't want floating around in your water/ice mixture. Those things that don't fair well on the bottom were put up in what I would consider a "crisper" at the top of the cooler.

Our setup worked very well in 90 degree temperature for about 5 of the 7 days. We started off with one 12x8x8 chunk of ice and one 20# bag of ice. At day 5, with opening and closing of the ice chest at every meal and anytime we wanted a drink of something cold we needed to put a little bit more ice in and added about a 10# bag for the last two days (we had a sliver of the ice block on day 7 left). Next trip we will put in two large blocks of ice and I think that will suffice for the whole trip. Sometimes the ice to room ratio is not enough to carry you through when you have cubed ice and the block ice does the trick for this kind of camping.

Another good thing about the Pelican is that it is now certified as "Bear Proof" and can be taken into Parks that require that kind of certification. Our family gives the Pelican 65qt Elite Cooler two thumbs up!

Another technique we use for these trips is our common family recipe marinades.

We have, just like most families, our favorite marinades for BBQing. Why change that while you are camping? We marinade with the same special ingredients without the mess of bring all that kitchen stuff with us but we freeze them and they are part of keeping the cooler cool from the start point. Anything that can be frozen that is not going to be used in the first 24-36 hours can be frozen especially the chicken and other meats that don't take mediocre cooling practices well (potentially unsafe). Pre-cooling everything that will be placed in the cooler is also a plus. If the ambient temperature of the items being thrown into the cooler are not near or below 32 degrees they will melt your ice in that first 24-36 hour period faster than expected. It is not your cooler, it is your technique that will fail you at this level.

We tried to make the "extreme" inexpensive coolers work for us but the equipment is only as good at the person using it and doing everything you can get the most out of your cooler will make a noticeable difference. We were fortunate enough to be able to "step up" to a big boy cooler but the techniques and practices to have safe, good food to eat are still the same.

More tips from Desert USA and checkout the techniques concerning ice, water and salt for a quick cool down solution as well as their dry ice tips: http://www.desertusa.com/dusablog/how-t ... esert.html