southerngal
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Our local Walmart has a good deal on a huge cooler that's supposed to keep ice for 5 days. Does anyone have one and does it really keep ice that long?
Five day cooler
- Thread starter southerngal
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LongShanks
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I've never heard of it but it sounds awesome! I'm interested in hearing the answer to this question too. You say they are on sale at Wal-Mart? I'm going to have to go looking the next time I'm there.
ChadTower
Active Member
I have several Coleman 5 day coolers and to squeeze out 5 days you'd have to have very little empty space and almost never open it.
When I camp out of a truck I take two coolers. One for food and one for drinks. The food cooler is stocked with block ice and is only opened to retrieve the foods to be used for a meal. The other cooler is for drinks and has cubed ice that is replaced every day.
I freeze my own block ice by filling gallon jugs (milk containers) with tap water and freezing them. When they melt, they don't get the food wet. These will last five days if you keep the cooler in a shaded area and they provide drinking and cooking water for the last day or so once they've melted.
I freeze my own block ice by filling gallon jugs (milk containers) with tap water and freezing them. When they melt, they don't get the food wet. These will last five days if you keep the cooler in a shaded area and they provide drinking and cooking water for the last day or so once they've melted.
IndianaHiker
Active Member
The 5 day cooler that I had worked very well at keeping ice when it was used outdoors and the temp was below 32 degrees for most of the day. High for the weekend was 40 rather than that never seen on hold ice for 5 days.
ChadTower
Active Member
I do the same thing but the block ice is a nice improvement. I might do that.
Now that is a damn good and effective idea. I'm going to use that. Effective and versatile. Nice one! :tinysmile_fatgrin_t
BirdBrain
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I've never had any experience with them. I would say dinosaur is right on not opening the cooler. Thanks for the tips too, dino. I will be getting another cooler to do the same and I appreciate the idea. I think the idea of freezing the water in milk jugs is great too. You would have extra cooking water available after it melted. Nice!
fantastic! we do the same with the 2 ice chests... but going to steal the block ice idea!
five day huh, well just came from Costco and they had a six day. First Liar doesn't stand a chance.:tinysmile_twink_t2:
We save all plastic pop bottles, wash them, refill with water and freeze them. Ice won't last as long as with the gallon milk jugs but we can stagger them around to spread the cold better and fit nooks and crannies better.
Since I also use bottles instead of a bladder when hiking or hunting, I fill my bottles 1/2 full and freeze, then top it off the morning I leave so I have good cold water most of the day.
We save all plastic pop bottles, wash them, refill with water and freeze them. Ice won't last as long as with the gallon milk jugs but we can stagger them around to spread the cold better and fit nooks and crannies better.
Since I also use bottles instead of a bladder when hiking or hunting, I fill my bottles 1/2 full and freeze, then top it off the morning I leave so I have good cold water most of the day.
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I now need a new cooler after discovering the fatal flaw in the one I have.
An important thing to look at with coolers is to see if the drain is really going to allow all standing liquid in the cooler to drain out. Wet, soggy food containers is not appetizing or sanitary in my mind.
I just came back from a trip where I used the freeze-the-milk-jug idea, and found my food wet and soggy because one of the jugs had developed a slow leak. The cooler was an Igloo Maxcold, and the flit-brained troglodytes that designed the thing put the drain about 2" off the bottom. So, there will always be 2" of water in the bottom before any reaches the drain. I don't camp that much, and usually my coolers are used for drinks and are filled with water and ice so I never thought about the drain when I bought the cooler, but there was obviously a reason it was on sale ;-)
While the freeze-the-jug idea works great, the best arrangement I had was when I cut a piece of plywood to fit the divider slots and created a full-depth well at the drain end of another cooler. I filled that with cube ice, and the ice stayed clean and the food stayed dry. The drain plug on that cooler got broken off, and the Maxcold was the replacement.
So, I'm looking for a replacement and need one that:
1. Has a drain that is at the lowest point in the cooler, or at lease minimizes the amount of water that can accumulate.
2. Has a divider slot near the drain end.
3. Has a sturdy, racoon-proof latch. Does such a thing exist? On the weekend's trip the raccoons got my breakfast sausage out of there faster than I could have.
4. Has a threaded drain cap, not a flip-open plug.
5. No wheels.
Any ideas?
An important thing to look at with coolers is to see if the drain is really going to allow all standing liquid in the cooler to drain out. Wet, soggy food containers is not appetizing or sanitary in my mind.
I just came back from a trip where I used the freeze-the-milk-jug idea, and found my food wet and soggy because one of the jugs had developed a slow leak. The cooler was an Igloo Maxcold, and the flit-brained troglodytes that designed the thing put the drain about 2" off the bottom. So, there will always be 2" of water in the bottom before any reaches the drain. I don't camp that much, and usually my coolers are used for drinks and are filled with water and ice so I never thought about the drain when I bought the cooler, but there was obviously a reason it was on sale ;-)
While the freeze-the-jug idea works great, the best arrangement I had was when I cut a piece of plywood to fit the divider slots and created a full-depth well at the drain end of another cooler. I filled that with cube ice, and the ice stayed clean and the food stayed dry. The drain plug on that cooler got broken off, and the Maxcold was the replacement.
So, I'm looking for a replacement and need one that:
1. Has a drain that is at the lowest point in the cooler, or at lease minimizes the amount of water that can accumulate.
2. Has a divider slot near the drain end.
3. Has a sturdy, racoon-proof latch. Does such a thing exist? On the weekend's trip the raccoons got my breakfast sausage out of there faster than I could have.
4. Has a threaded drain cap, not a flip-open plug.
5. No wheels.
Any ideas?
alex k
New Member
the article from camping life.com , ice chest shootout, may help. they did a comparison of 5 major coolers
Cappy
Well-Known Member
We own 6-48qt Igloo ice chest. We use them around the house for back yard BBQ's and entertaining. When fishing we take at least 2. One for food and water and softdrinks, 1 for fish. I strongly recomend not having a cooler over 48qts. Bigger than that gets too heavy when fully loaded. To really make a ice chest last ya keep it in the shade and don't open it. What we sugest is on long trips ya pack food in 2 chest. Plan to where ya don't hafta open 1 till the trip is half over. 4 gallon water jugs will do great for 5 or more days of ice. We stack the one we using on top of the second one and that helps keep it cool and unopened.
Cappy
Well-Known Member
Good ole common cooler sence tells ya ya don't pack food that can get soggy on the bottom of a cooler. Instead of water proof bariers and all that trouble just pack stuff that can't get soggy on the bottom and the stuff in paper and such on top. Here's another hint. Don't drain the water out of a chest unless ya hafta. Remember the water is ice cold too. Things that don't get soggy get lots better refrigeration if in a ice-water slurry, because of surface area.
briansnat
Platnium Member
I saw that cooler in Walmart. I thought it odd that they were a dark color. I can't imagine that being a good thing in a cooler. They are also pretty large, so you need to fill them.
I think any decent cooler will keep ice 5 days if you use block ice, keep it in the shade, don't open it too often and it's not super hot out.
I think any decent cooler will keep ice 5 days if you use block ice, keep it in the shade, don't open it too often and it's not super hot out.
Eaglescout 49
New Member
I have two Coleman 62-quart, five-day coolers -- one for food, the other for beverages. I use block ice that I freeze in plastic water carriers, as well as reusuable ice packs. I also take a bag of icecubes (I hate warm martinis). If you open these coolers as little as possible and keep them in the shade, they will keep food cold for four and sometimes five days. I like the sturdy handles, the big wheels and the well-placed drain. I do wish they had lockable latches. I know from experience that a certain masked, furry bandit has no trouble getting into them. Now I wrap them with bungee cords.
ppine
Forester
The 5 day coolers are an improvement over the regular ones due to more insulation. The new coolers like Yeti are even better but very expensive. For long trips dry ice wrapped in newspaper will work for more than 5 days. Freeze items like meat before putting in the cooler. Dino is right about minimizing the amount of times a cooler is opened. The large coolers with the small hatch in the lid also help. Block ice is good.
I pack food to be able to get wet. Draining the water out all of the time warms up a cooler a lot.
River runners are expert at keeping things cold for long trips. Rafting the Grand Canyon takes 3 weeks in a raft in hot weather.
I pack food to be able to get wet. Draining the water out all of the time warms up a cooler a lot.
River runners are expert at keeping things cold for long trips. Rafting the Grand Canyon takes 3 weeks in a raft in hot weather.
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Mountain Man
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Coolers work okay to keep ice frozen as long as you're able to drain the water out of them. We actually had ice that lasted for 5 days when we were at a week long motocross race. It was August so it was hot during the day. We froze water in those big water jugs and then put them in coolers. Twice a day we'd dump out the water. There was actually still some ice left on the last day.