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Post by popsicle sarah on May 27, 2012 22:32:53 GMT -5
Buying ice at roo is a PITA, not to mention expensive, but there are some things you can do to increase your ice retention. There's a lot of good info floating around different threads on this topic so I thought I'd try to condense it all in once place. Plus, I haven't much to do on this 4.5 hour ride back from camping.
This thread is about regular ice, if you are looking for info on dry ice, try this thread:
The first tip, I think, is the most important and least mentioned. Don't drain the all the water from your cooler when you put fresh ice in. I've seen so many people drain their coolers before putting new ice in and I've even stopped camp mates from doing so. Putting fresh ice into a completely waterless cooler is the best way to get it to melt faster. Hot air will get into your cooler when you open it and that air will melt your fresh ice very fast. Ice to water ratio is very important. Put the new ice in and then drain some water if there's more water than ice. Stick your arm in and touch the bottom of the cooler, if there's more than a couple inches of just water, drain some. And more importantly, don't wait too long to buy ice. Dumping fresh ice into a cooler with all water and three ice cubes floating on top isn't going to be very effective either. If it's to that point, drain all but a couple inches of water. Why not drain it completely? Have you ever tried to get beer in/out of a cooler that's just ice? Not fun.
I've found that I have to buy more ice the first couple of days of roo versus later in the weekend. I think this is because it takes a couple of days to reach the ice to water ratio. This year I'm going to try an experiment. On Tuesday I'm going to fill up two coolers (one for food, one for drinks) completely with ice. When we go to pack the coolers on Wednesday, they should be getting melty. I'm thinking (and hoping) this will decrease our need to buy ice so much the first couple of days.
If you keep a cooler strictly for storing food you can still let the water build up. Ziploc bags in all sizes will help keep water out of your food. Double bag the items in most danger of being ruined by water. Get the real ziplocs not the knockoffs. I was very diligent about bagging everything correctly this weekend and never had any water get into any food.
Second tip: don't open your cooler every 5 minutes. If you are getting into the drink cooler and you aren't alone at camp, ask if anyone else needs anything (beer me!). Know exactly what you're going into the cooler for and close the lid immediately. Hot roo air is an ice killer! If you have a food cooler, make sure everyone in camp knows which cooler it is. Put a sign on it, hide it, do whatever it takes to NOT open that cooler unless absolutely necessary. If you are about to cook, get everything thing out at once instead of opening and closing it over and over. You might as well throw some money in there every time you open and close it because you'll be needing that money to buy more ice.
Some other helpful ice tips:
*If you are going with a group, coordinate coolers. Designate some as food coolers and some as beverage coolers. This way all of the coolers aren't being opened all day.
*If you choose a HUGE cooler... make sure you can fill it up with anything but free space.
*Buy ice in the morning when it's not a thousand degrees outside. It won't melt as much on the trip back to camp.
*Cover your coolers with blankets and KEEP THEM IN THE SHADE. Keep in mind the shade at your camp moves. A cooler that was in the shade when you left to go centeroo in the morning very well could be in the sun when you come back at 4 for a rest.
*Have bigger ice. There are many ways to do this. Fill milk jugs with water and freeze them. Freeze water bottles. At all good last year someone in our camp froze a couple of those 2.5 gallon water jugs for their big cooler. This not only melts slower, but it also fills up more space with ice rather than air. If you have plenty of freezer space, make blocks of ice by freezing sheet pans and cake pans full of water. We'll probably go that route more this year since my goal is to reduce our use of plastic water bottles. We have frozen two liter bottles of water that have been used over and over. They are always still somewhat frozen on Monday.
I put a 12-pack of frozen water bottles in a cooler and set it outside under my canopy to see how long it would last. The bottles on the bottom managed to last 2 days, but by day 3 everything was warm water. The cooler saw sun in the morning which likely won't happen at Roo (going to try to keep the coolers covered), but that's still kind of discouraging.
I'm going to try it again with some ice and covered with one of my reflective tarps to see how much of a difference it makes.
I put a 12-pack of frozen water bottles in a cooler and set it outside under my canopy to see how long it would last. The bottles on the bottom managed to last 2 days, but by day 3 everything was warm water. The cooler saw sun in the morning which likely won't happen at Roo (going to try to keep the coolers covered), but that's still kind of discouraging.
I'm going to try it again with some ice and covered with one of my reflective tarps to see how much of a difference it makes.
They will melt slower when you also have cold beverages and ice filling the cooler.
Post by popsicle sarah on May 29, 2012 20:29:43 GMT -5
Since we're not bringing as much bottled water this year (I do have about 10 frozen ones already in the freezer), I've started making slabs and big chucks of ice. I filled up three 8 or 9 inch round cake pans, a muffin pan, and a 13x9 pan with water and stacked them in the freezer. I did this yesterday and they are already frozen. I'll do this a few more times in the next week to build a pretty good stockpile of big ice.
Post by popsicle sarah on May 29, 2012 20:34:38 GMT -5
Another thing I forgot to add...
In addition to not letting your coolers be in the sun, don't let anything you plan on adding into the coolers be in the sun. If your bottled water has been sitting in the sun all day then you put it in your cooler, it's going to melt the ice WAY fast. Try covering the drinks you plan on adding to the coolers with blankets as well.
Post by tweezer159 on May 29, 2012 22:23:38 GMT -5
If you are packing your cooler at home, or have the option at the store, only pack your cooler with beverages that have been pre-refridgerated . Warm Beer + Ice + Cooler = Sightly Cool Beer + Water (Melted Ice) in a cooler.
Oh - I just saw that popsicle sarah had the same kind of idea. it is important though.
which is better leaving the coolers in the trunk covered with blankets. this seems to stay pretty cool or take the coolers out of the trunk and put under a shade tent under a blanket? thanks
which is better leaving the coolers in the trunk covered with blankets. this seems to stay pretty cool or take the coolers out of the trunk and put under a shade tent under a blanket? thanks
All heat transfer is driven by a temperature differential. Under a shade tent is cooler than the inside of your trunk, so the latter option will melt the ice slower.
"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." ~William James
"I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?" ~Zhuangzi
I still have ice in my cooler from day 1. On Sunday, I was having to chisel out PBRs trapped in blocks of ice. I felt like an alcoholic Dr. Alan Grant.
Post by thesidebar on Jun 11, 2012 19:19:06 GMT -5
Awesome thread... I still ahve frozen water bottles. Havent bought any ice since saturday and then I only bought 6 bags all weekend for one mid sized cooler (igloo rolly) and teh gigantic white igloo!!!!
