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 Topic: camping without fridge
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28/5/2012 at 10:37am
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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.
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28/5/2012 at 6:41pm
Location: Nottingham
Outfit: Outwell Vermont XL with fitted carpet!
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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.
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29/5/2012 at 10:23pm
Location: Northern England
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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!!!
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02/6/2012 at 7:09pm
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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.
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04/6/2012 at 6:19am
Location: South London
Outfit: Cabanon Aruba Force 10 Crux Storm
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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
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04/6/2012 at 8:41pm
Location: Lancashire
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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.
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05/6/2012 at 12:05pm
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Reading this thread with interest.Would it be possible to freeze a hot water bottle? And use this as an ice pack.
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09/6/2012 at 8:46am
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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).
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My opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.
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11/6/2012 at 11:30am
Location: Cumbernauld Scotland
Outfit: Monty 6Icarus 500 Halo 300
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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.
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Campers of the storm,Into this world are born
Some days are Diamonds...Some days are stone...
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11/6/2012 at 4:05pm
Location: Dorset
Outfit: Vango Breckenridge 600 and Icarus 500
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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
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fernsider
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