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?

db,
Thanks for all the practical advice.  I'm not big on cheesecake, but if a Dairy Queen peanut butter cup Blizzard would survive a week, I'd pack a few of those.

Thanks for the advice on 50 degree soda.  That's what my brother ended up with last time.  Maybe I'll just stick to the Powerade.

And the wet towel is probably the best advice - thanks.

We're going to pack in hot dogs and brats for the first supper, and frozen steaks for the second or third night.  Add to that 6 or so 20 ounce bottles of Powerade frozen solid, maybe some cheese, jelly, and other smaller things, and I think my 5 gallon bucket if full.    It just seems to make more sense to pack all the cold stuff together, rather than in 4 or 5 separate packs.  The advantage of a 5 gallon bucket is it seals tight and rodents and coons shouldn't get in.  Hopefully it's bear proof too.  And, once it's empty, the 5 gallon bucket makes a nice camp stool.  And yes, all the empty plastic containers will then be packed out - I'm as opposed to littering especially in the BWCA as much as the most die-hard of all of you out there.

Thanks again for the great advice.  And if you happen to be going in or coming out on June 18, and see a 40 year old guy carrying a 5 gallon bucket, stop by and ask me for a cold one (Powerade).

I've heard that cheese doesn't freeze well and that the sealed in was chunks of cheese survive best, especially gouda.

I tried packing real ice cream once. It quickly turned into a very thick shake that hit the spot at the time but it's not real high on my list of successes. As I recall we had it on the second or third day of a July trip. It was cold alright, just not as expected.

A well soaked/placed towel ads a lot of time to any type of cooler. Even a white t-shirt helps. Most buckets I've seen are white anyway but...
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I wasn't big on cheesecake either, until I tried a nobake one trip. Been taking them ever since. On group trips, the veterans argue over who's plate gets used 'cause they know who gets the crumbs.

Gimme a bag of cheesecake and some good ol' perked decaf to sip while digesting a walleye and reclining in my thermarest chair, admiring the view... It just doesn't get any better. The first drink with ice (or whatever) after a trip runs a very distant second. As much as I love beer and Coke, on a trip, they are not cold enough for my taste unless it's freezing out and on those days I'd rather have something HOT.

A 5 gallon bucket won't be bear proof but it will make a welcome seat no matter what's in it.

Just a thought on producing ice.  For all you former jocks out there, remember what the coach did when you got hurt.  He had these neat packs that froze when you needed an ice pack.  I don't know the cost of these things or if they would be practical, but it is a thought.

Also for what it is worth.  It seems like way too much work just to have something cold.

Just got back from our week in the Boundary Waters and thought I'd share how my cooler experience turned out.

I packed in an insulated 5 gallon bucket filled with 7 frozen solid bottles of Pawerade, a chunk of sealed cheddar cheese, 12 Hershey bars, and some flatbread.

I covered the bucket with a wet (thin) beach towel to get the evaporative cooling effect and it worked great.  Once at camp, I kept the bucket in the shade with a wet towel over it and 5 days into the trip the Hershey bars and cheddar cheese were still nice and cool.  Maybe hauling in all the weight of the bucket and frozen Powerades is a high price to pay to have some cool cheese and chocolate, but they were bioth nice treats.  I shared most of the Hershety bars with our group of 8 at the end of our longest portage (into Insula) and they were very well received.  We had chili on day 5, and shredded cheddar cheese on it was another good treat.

For the journey back, I threw 5 Powerades into my brother's mesh bag with a few rocks and sent them to the bottom of the lake for the night, so my son and I had cool drinks for the paddle back.

This 5 gallon bucket cooler may seem like dead weight to the die hards out there, but when you spend a week in the boundary waters with 4 adults and 4 kids, in my opinion, it was worth the effort.

Thanks all for your advice.