Home Log in or Register

Message Forums

Welcome Guest

Reception - All Forums

Camping under canvas

Topic: camping without fridge

Page: 1 2

elanman

28/5/2012 at 10:37am
Location:
Outfit:

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 22/8/2011

Platinum Member

Forum Posts: 524

Site Reviews Total:	0

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

Salt water will be better - and so are the liquid that is inside the blue packs. The only issue is perception as the salt water will thaw earlier as it warms up. That doesnt mean its warmer inside as salt water freezes at a lower temperature. Its the act of actual melting that takes most heat out of a coolbox so you actually want the blocks to melt and not stay frozen. Having small blue blocks and putting them in a freezer onsite and replacing them when they melt is the best as you are taking heat energy out.

DeborahTurner

28/5/2012 at 11:34am
Location: London
Outfit: Vango Kalu Hypercamp Eldorado

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 11/8/2011

Platinum Member

Forum Posts: 1309
Tent Reviews: 3

Site Reviews Total:	24

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	3
Site Reviews 2022:	4
Site Reviews 2021:	1
Site Reviews 2020:	3
Site Reviews 2019:	1
Site Reviews 2018:	2

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	8
Site Nights 2022:	12
Site Nights 2021:	3
Site Nights 2020:	8
Site Nights 2019:	2
Site Nights 2018:	2

Take a big stainless steel vacuum flask. Buy fresh milk cold and decant it into the flask. This can also work for white wine

elanman

28/5/2012 at 12:28pm
Location:
Outfit:

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 22/8/2011

Platinum Member

Forum Posts: 524

Site Reviews Total:	0

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

Quote: Originally posted by DeborahTurner on 28/5/2012
Take a big stainless steel vacuum flask. Buy fresh milk cold and decant it into the flask. This can also work for white wine .

top tip - wont work with beer though
However help is on the way! self chilling beer I dont mind paying quite a bit more for a cold beer. Warm beer is

susan grant

28/5/2012 at 6:41pm
Location: Nottingham
Outfit: Outwell Vermont XL with fitted carpet!

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 20/7/2003

Silver Member

Forum Posts: 120

Site Reviews Total:	5

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

I always buy small cartons or bottles of skimmed long live milk and open 1 a day. I also use tuna for sandwich fillings also shippams salmon etc spread.

ANGEDAWS

29/5/2012 at 10:23pm
Location: Northern England
Outfit: Coleman Mosedale 5

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 09/6/2004

Platinum Member

Forum Posts: 1152
Tent Reviews: 3

Site Reviews Total:	24

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	1
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	1

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	4
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	1

We have camped as a family with no ehu, no ice pack freezer and no shops nearby.

I find those stainless steel sigg type water bottles are good for keeping milk cool. We always take UHT milk and coffee mate as a stand by.

You can make decent meals with tinned food. OK not maybe what you would have at home but the better quality tinned curry, stewing steak and chilli all make perfectly good meals. Rice, pasta, tinned potatoes, tinned tuna, tins of rice pudding etc are all good standbys. Take some herbs and spices and salt and pepper to liven things up!

Many things you keep in the fridge at home actually keep longer than you think without being refrigerated. Butter, cheese, salad, fruit and veg all survive quite well.

Thinking about this makes me want to ditch the EHU and go back to basics!!!

brumb

02/6/2012 at 7:09pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: None Entered

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 22/8/2010

Silver Member

Forum Posts: 131

Site Reviews Total:	6

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

Cook meals in advance like chilli/bolognese/soup and freeze them. Then take them out of the freezer just before leaving the house. The meal will be nicely defrosted for the next days dinner. We did this last week and it seemed to work and also helps keep the other things like milk etc cold in the cool box.

Rik Brooks

04/6/2012 at 6:19am
Location: South London
Outfit: Cabanon Aruba Force 10 Crux Storm

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 09/6/2004

Platinum Member

Forum Posts: 629

Site Reviews Total:	0

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

All you need is a soaking wet towel, wrap the stuff in the towel, leave outside, job done!

I faffed around with freezer blocks for years until I worked out that using latent heat is easier and better and I have the cool box to use as a giant Tupperware container.

R

franbee

04/6/2012 at 8:41pm
Location: Lancashire
Outfit: Leisuredrive VW T6 campervan

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 21/7/2009

Diamond Member

Forum Posts: 3214

Site Reviews Total:	235

Site Reviews 2024:	19
Site Reviews 2023:	19
Site Reviews 2022:	21
Site Reviews 2021:	7
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	11
Site Reviews 2018:	9

Site Nights 2024:	30
Site Nights 2023:	37
Site Nights 2022:	40
Site Nights 2021:	14
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	16
Site Nights 2018:	13

We never had a fridge or coolbox in 10 years of tent camping in France. Shopped every other day for cheese, pate, salad, made them last the 2 days. Fresh meat/fish was eaten that day, then had a pasta meal or tinned the 2nd day. Didn't take spreads of any sort. Used small milk bottles, 1 per day. Whilst on site, kept the food sealed in plastic boxes under the car or behind the tent, out of the sun. Whilst travelling kept the boxes buried under bedding or towels for insulation.
Drank red wine, doesn't need cooling! OH would buy the odd beer from a fridge for immediate consumption.

Have a fridge in the 'van now, and it is better, but if space is an issue, then there are ways to cope.

suns

05/6/2012 at 12:05pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: None Entered

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 14/8/2003

Diamond Member

Forum Posts: 4592

Site Reviews Total:	13

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	1
Site Reviews 2021:	1
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	3
Site Nights 2021:	3
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

Reading this thread with interest.Would it be possible to freeze a hot water bottle? And use this as an ice pack.

Lostdreamer

09/6/2012 at 8:46am
Location: None Entered
Outfit: None Entered

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 16/5/2010

Silver Member

Forum Posts: 180

Site Reviews Total:	0

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

You suggest it is a logisitical issue rather than a fridge vs coolbox issue.

Mostly it is as easy as not taking any foodstuffs that need refridgeration. Just cook with dryied/tinned food or buy fresh and don't let it hang around long enough to go off. Shopping the night you arrive is a good way of freeing up some packing space. Don't forget to budget shopping time into your itinery if you intend to reprovision every day (often such sorties are best done by one person with a shopping list rather than mobhanded with all the resultant faffing).

Just use UHT milk and you have bob for a relative.(you can even buy boxes of the little pots you get in restraunts, so that there isn't any hanging around unopned).

-------------
My opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.

JTC45

11/6/2012 at 9:29am
Location: Oldham
Outfit: None Entered

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 15/5/2011

Standard Member

Forum Posts: 58
Tent Reviews: 2

Site Reviews Total:	2

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

Quote: Originally posted by suns on 05/6/2012
Reading this thread with interest.Would it be possible to freeze a hot water bottle? And use this as an ice pack.

We recently went Glamping for a friedns birthday and they provided frozen hot water bottles for the ice box. They seemed ok, but were changed daily.

-------------
Justine & Co.,
Eager Newbies.

jelboy53

11/6/2012 at 11:30am
Location: Cumbernauld Scotland
Outfit: Monty 6Icarus 500 Halo 300

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 04/5/2003

Diamond Member

Forum Posts: 8617
Tent Reviews: 3

Site Reviews Total:	6

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

Sorry folks forgot to report back on the 2l plastic bottles filled with salted water and frozen at home before my trip...

Coolbox left in the porch extension for 4 days..Butter..Bacon..eggs...Black pudding... Milk.. and 2 cans of lager kept in the box...Ice bottles slowly melted over the 4 days but even when fully melted kept everything chilled...Asked the warden if she could freeze one of the bottles on the 3rd day and replaced the one that had melted..and again kept everything chilled....Offered someone a beer on my last night and they commented on how chilled it was and asked how I had managed it...Quite happy with the results of my wee field test...Only downside was the space taken up by 2 2ltr bottles...Maybe use just one next time or two 500ml bottles...

No Idea if it was the salted water or not but water seemed to stay frozen longer...

Jelboy.

-------------
Campers of the storm,Into this world are born

Some days are Diamonds...Some days are stone...

fernsider

11/6/2012 at 4:05pm
Location: Dorset
Outfit: Vango Breckenridge 600 and Icarus 500

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 10/7/2008

Standard Member

Forum Posts: 70
Tent Reviews: 2

Site Reviews Total:	9

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

I have never taken a fridge camping and have never had electric hook up. Recommend a good cool box,freeze 2ltr bottles of water these will stay iced for 3days also take frozen pre cooked food as well as bacon etc. Also found that 2ltr cider containers are a different shape so are more compact.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coleman-36L-Xtreme-Hard-Cool/dp/B000G68I84

-------------
fernsider

Annie314

12/6/2012 at 9:54am
Location: Oxon
Outfit: Khyam Screenhouse + Annexe Cobb

View Profile

Quote

Joined: 27/4/2009

Standard Member

Forum Posts: 15
Tent Reviews: 4

Site Reviews Total:	0

Site Reviews 2024:	0
Site Reviews 2023:	0
Site Reviews 2022:	0
Site Reviews 2021:	0
Site Reviews 2020:	0
Site Reviews 2019:	0
Site Reviews 2018:	0

Site Nights 2024:	0
Site Nights 2023:	0
Site Nights 2022:	0
Site Nights 2021:	0
Site Nights 2020:	0
Site Nights 2019:	0
Site Nights 2018:	0

I camped at Glastonbury with a large Igloo coolbox. It is useful to cook some food in advance. Cooked or fresh, freeze it as low a temperature as you can before packing and pack it tight. my domestic freezer reaches -30. I cooked and boned two large chickens. I also cooked a very large pot of stew. I then cooked two Kilos of sausages. I added some bottles of milk and blocks of cheese. I then froze them down and packed in the coolbox. We bought some fresh bread each day. The stew still had ice crystals in it when we reheated it after four days. My daughter also filled another coolbox with frozen filled rolls. The more tightly packed the coolbox the longer it lasts. I also cover it with the sleeping bags in the daytime to stop the heat in the tent raising the temperature.I was feeding ten but the same rule applies; freeze low, and the more packed the longer it stays frozen. Another tip is to cook new potatoes to eat cold or reheat with stews etc. So long as you do not use fat in the cooking they will keep quite well without freezing.

-------------
Annie K

In order to post a reply you will need to register, or if already registered please log in here

Prev Next
Jump To Page: 1 2
Quick Links - All Forums - Camping under canvas - Top of Page

Printable version

Latest News, Discounts and Competitions see all...

4705 Visitors online !

Free UKCampsite.co.uk Window Sticker - Recommend to Friend - Add a Missing Campsite

[Message Forums] [Caravan Sites & Camping] [Company Listings] [Features / Advice] [Virtual Brochure] [Shop!]
[Reception] [Competitions] [Caravans & Motorhomes For Sale] [Event Diary] [Contact Us] [Tent Reviews]

Please note we are not responsible for the content of external sites & any reviews represent the author's personal view only. Please report any error here. You may view our privacy and cookie policy and terms and conditions here. All copyrights & other intellectual property rights in the design and content of this web site are reserved to the UKCampsite.co.uk © 1999 - 2024

UKCampsite.co.uk
2024 Advent Calendar

24 Daily Prizes PLUS a Christmas Day Star Prize worth £999

Request a Reminder