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Let's hear it, how do you keep the ice as long as possible in your coolers?
Let's hear it, how do you keep the ice as long as possible in your coolers?
Keeping Cold-How do you keep ice longer?
- Thread starter ScottR
- Start date
tdcour
Veteran member
This is great stuff here. I've never used dry ice, but I may start now. When we go out and it is hot, we sometimes take two coolers. One is packed full of ice that we freeze in our deep freeze before we go out. The other had drinks, ice, food, etc. That way we have one cooler that only gets opened when we need ice and the other we open more often letting the cool out/heat in.
Umpqua Hunter
Veteran member
Buy an Engel cooler.
Put a sacrificial bag of ice in the cooler before packing it to bring the temp down. Or use frozen gallons of water.
Prechill all of the product going in the ice chest before it goes in, or if you have to chill it all on ice in the cooler then drain and repack before going in the field.
Keep the cooler out of hot places, like inside unventilated trailers, or direct sunlight. Even the best coolers have a hard time in those conditions.
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We are kind of Yeti fans around here.....Buy an Engel cooler.
Put a sacrificial bag of ice in the cooler before packing it to bring the temp down. Or use frozen gallons of water.
Prechill all of the product going in the ice chest before it goes in, or if you have to chill it all on ice in the cooler then drain and repack before going in the field.
Keep the cooler out of hot places, like inside unventilated trailers, or direct sunlight. Even the best coolers have a hard time in those conditions.
Umpqua Hunter
Veteran member
The Yeti is an excellent cooler too
I found this comparison pretty helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-TE4RnqT0U
I almost went with the Yeti, but the Engle's better fit the foot print on my boat to use for seating and I got better pricing on them. I pull the coolers out of the boat for hunting season and get double use out of them.
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WapitiBob
Veteran member
Musket Man
Veteran member
I hadnt thought of using regular and dry ice together. I have herd it makes quite a difference with a good cooler if you get the cooler and everything you are putting in it cold first, but I have never had a really good cooler. I have stopped using ice other then for taking meat home. I only take food that doesnt need to stay cold and I usually hunt solo so once i get an animal I get it cooled out and packed in the cooler and head to town to get a block of dry ice to put in it.
BKC
Very Active Member
Blocks last a lot longer than cubes. I would never put dry ice in with my meat, it makes it taste a little funny. I kept ice for my 8 day elk hunt and was able to bring out my elk in the cooler and was cold to the touch 3 days later. I also think it helps to get rid of cold water each day. This is an earlier thread showing my mega cooler. I found that keeping dry ice and your other ice together, you can move ice, a little each day, to another smaller cooler for food and drinks. This keeps the big one cool for the animal. http://www.eastmans.com/forum/showthread.php/2836-Cooler-Space-for-Elk?highlight=coolers
Musket Man
Veteran member
Retterath
Veteran member
Wild Country
Active Member
We raft the Snake and/or Salmon river every summer and dry ice is the only way to go. We do everything the same except I put a layer of cardboard over the mixture so nothing happens to touch the dry ice and freeze while running the rivers!
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
Used to fish Baja a lot and not much ice available when we were camping on the beaches and fishing. Learned this trick back in the 70's and it can really stretch out you ice supply. I also used duct tape to seal the lid down and used an old sleeping bag around the cooler. Works pretty well. I am sure it will work lots better with todays newer coolers too.
OregonJim
Very Active Member
Big "BIG" Yeti fan here.....took a cooler full of ice from Oregon (Big Blocks and frozen jugs) to Colorado and actually returned with some of the same ice three weeks later. Now some of the evenings were below freezing but there were plenty of warm days.
The key is using big blocks, not bags of crushed ice, and augmenting with a little Dry Ice here and there.
I usually take a couple of cardboard boxes close to the size of my coolers and line them with an unscented trash bag. I drop it in the chest freezer or the walk in at work, and fill with water a good two weeks before the departure. I just remove the cardboard before putting it in the cooler but most of the trash bag can be removed with a little warm water.
In a high quality cooler like Engle or Yeti that ice can last for a LONG time if you are careful and don't open the cooler for a Keystone every 15 minutes
The key is using big blocks, not bags of crushed ice, and augmenting with a little Dry Ice here and there.
I usually take a couple of cardboard boxes close to the size of my coolers and line them with an unscented trash bag. I drop it in the chest freezer or the walk in at work, and fill with water a good two weeks before the departure. I just remove the cardboard before putting it in the cooler but most of the trash bag can be removed with a little warm water.
In a high quality cooler like Engle or Yeti that ice can last for a LONG time if you are careful and don't open the cooler for a Keystone every 15 minutes
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Yeti makes great stuff for sure....but if you open them a bunch they are reduced to the likes of a Styrofoam cooler!!Big "BIG" Yeti fan here.....took a cooler full of ice from Oregon (Big Blocks and frozen jugs) to Colorado and actually returned with some of the same ice three weeks later. Now some of the evenings were below freezing but there were plenty of warm days.
The key is using big blocks, not bags of crushed ice, and augmenting with a little Dry Ice here and there.
I usually take a couple of cardboard boxes close to the size of my coolers and line them with an unscented trash bag. I drop it in the chest freezer or the walk in at work, and fill with water a good two weeks before the departure. I just remove the cardboard before putting it in the cooler but most of the trash bag can be removed with a little warm water.
In a high quality cooler like Engle or Yeti that ice can last for a LONG time if you are careful and don't open the cooler for a Keystone every 15 minutes
PlainsHunter
Active Member
I've never bought dry ice before- how do they sell it (packaging) and how much does a person need to freeze 20-30 lbs of meat if it has been cooled down to 40-50 degree range?
2rocky
Active Member
- Sep 10, 2012
- 290
- 0
I was wishing for some dry ice this last week in Nevada. I was prepared to make a 35 mile trip to get more Ice , but I tagged out in time.
i bought a 150 quart igloo cooler from Costco. I put 3 blocks of Ice and one frozen gallon jug along the bottom. I put the 12 packs of canned and bottled drinks between the blocks, then stacked frozen Vacuum packed dinners on top of those. Within 24 hours everything I'd Frozen was thawed.
60 miles before my camp I filled every nook and cranny with cube Ice. It melted throughout the 4 days in camp, but the coolers stayed cool inside. I was annoyed that the melt water infiltrated even the best vacuum sealed (commercial) bag.
I think next time, my frozen prepared meals will just be in a US Army Jerry can Bag, with dry Ice on top and put each night's meal in the Water Ice cooler to defrost. I will definitely freeze more water jugs next time. Those big blocks have so muck less surface area to melt, and last a long time.
i bought a 150 quart igloo cooler from Costco. I put 3 blocks of Ice and one frozen gallon jug along the bottom. I put the 12 packs of canned and bottled drinks between the blocks, then stacked frozen Vacuum packed dinners on top of those. Within 24 hours everything I'd Frozen was thawed.
60 miles before my camp I filled every nook and cranny with cube Ice. It melted throughout the 4 days in camp, but the coolers stayed cool inside. I was annoyed that the melt water infiltrated even the best vacuum sealed (commercial) bag.
I think next time, my frozen prepared meals will just be in a US Army Jerry can Bag, with dry Ice on top and put each night's meal in the Water Ice cooler to defrost. I will definitely freeze more water jugs next time. Those big blocks have so muck less surface area to melt, and last a long time.
NVBird'n'Big
Veteran member
Summer hunting in the desert is always a race with the ice if you don't have dry or a Yeti! I have had a lot of luck with my 150qt Igloo and 120qt Coleman coolers when I put frozen bottles in them. Throughout the year whenever I get my hands on a 2 liter soda bottle it automatically gets filled with water and put in to the freezer for hunting season. I have tried gallon milk/water jugs but they are a mess when they start to melt and they break easy. The soda bottles freeze great and last a long time.