What's the best way to pack in some cold food/drink?  I know it's going to add weight, but I'm thinking about one 5 gallon bucket, insulate it on the inside (somehow), pack it with about six 20 ounce frozen bottles of Powerade, maybe some dry ice, something cold and wet like apple sauce or fruit cocktail, and maybe a 20 ounce bottle of Dr. Pepper.

If I keep it sealed and in the shade till about mid-week, what are the chances of it still being somewhat cold for a refreshing mid-week treat?

Any other ideas for keeping that type of food cold for 4 days or so in mid-June?

The last time we went up, the vote was unanimous on what we missed the most: toilet, shower, TV, or refrigerator.  The refrigerator won hands down.  So, I'd like to try to serve some cold food when it's my night to make supper.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Hawk,  do a search for "fresh food" or "keeping food cold" and you will probably find several threads about keeping food cold.

just in case you don't know, it is not legal to bring those bottles of powerade and Dr Pepper (and the cans? or jars of applesauce?) into BWCA or Quetico.

Quetico rule #1 Can and Bottle Ban - Containers of fuel, insect repellent, medecines, personal toilet articles and other items that are not food or beverage are the only cans and bottles you may bring with you". 


From the Superior Nat'l Forest Website / Wilderness Rules and Regulations;   "CONTAINERS   Cans and glass bottles are not allowed.  Containers of fuel, insect repellent, medecines, personal toilet articles, and other items that are not food or beverage are the only cans and bottles you may bring with you." 


I believe you could pour your Powerade into reusable water bottles and still be ok.  Those individual serving size plastic packets of applesauce and fruit cocktail would also be ok, I think.

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I'm surprised Old_Salt didn't speak to this.  Perhaps he's been away from Waco (home of Baylor and location of the Dr. Pepper Museum) too long.  Dr. Pepper does come in plastic bottles, believe it or not!  And unfortunately, so does Powerade.  I find the used bottles along one of my exercise walk paths occasionally.

Applesauce.  I dehydrate that anyway, makes a pretty decent fruit leather.

dd

Thanks for all the info.

Last time we went, we went in the middle of July and the mesh bag thrown into the lake worked OK.

We're going in with a group of 8 people and several of us were thinking about bringing in one or two cold things, so that's why i started thinking about the 5 gallon bucket.  The Powerades would be frozen solid (in plastic bottles) at the start of the trip. 

Fruit cocktail (in the small plastic containers for kids' lunches) were a nice treat, and to me at least, sound a whole lot better than "apple leather" - sorry.

Once the plastic bottles are emptied of the Powerade, I'll use them to Tang and powdered gatorade throughout the week.

I understand the advice to carry a full bucket around for a week, but in reality, the question is: Is it worth carrying around for the day trip in.  Once we're at camp, it won't be moving, and will be getting lighter everyday.

Maybe the mesh bag is the best answer, especially since we'll be there a month earlier than last time.

Thanks again for all the input.

Hawk - Go with cheesecake. It never fails to hit the spot.

I take a cheap 6-pk promotional cooler. It is nylon and probably Thinsulate. Keep it in the shade covered with a wet towel and it will keep ice 3 - 4 days easy. A Platypus bag filled with water will still have ice in it up to 4 - 5 days in August. The rest of the cooler will probably >50? for the last few days though. Keep the stuff you want the coldest, together in the center. Soda isn't very good even at cool 50? IMO and you can't freeze it.

Other cooler stuff could include; ice, frozen boxes of juice concentrate, milk, cheese spreads, to booze, stove gas from the freezer and bacon, sausage, cheese, first nights meal, squeeze margarine, jelly... from the fridge. I've never used it for a cooler but remember to ventilate the gas if you plan to use dry ice in an air tight container.

Hey, can you freeze hard cheeses without a loss in body and texture? I find spreads that come frozen will mold fairly quickly. So will pre-packaged grated cheese w/o freezing.

I try to keep steak crystal-y as long as possible. After that's gone I can still get a few ice cold drink mixes as the food that's left just needs to be kept cool not cold. That's when a mix of insulation, nighttime temps and evaporative cooling take over. Given the same 50?, I'll take whatever-aid over flat soda anytime.

I don't know if the plastic bottles are legal or not. You can burn them in Ontario. That's not possible in MN. I know Ely, GM area liquor stores say they're "BWCAW Legal." Are they?