How to Keep Food Frozen During Camping

Use two coolers. One for frozen foods and the other for non-frozen foods.

Pack well-frozen and wrapped food into the cooler. The deeper you freeze the food, the longer it will take to thaw. Let food freeze for several days before packing it into the cooler.

Place food into the cooler as tightly as possible. If you only have a small amount of items that you want to keep frozen, consider a smaller cooler. Use newspaper or Styrofoam bubbles to fill in the extra space; this will help insulate the space and make your cooler more efficient.

Place dry ice on top of food. Keep the ice in the paper it comes in or wrap it well with newspaper. This will protect your cooler liner and any plastic food packaging from cracking under the extreme cold of the dry ice. It also provides a safety layer for moving it around. Never touch dry ice with your bare hands. Always use thick, protective gloves, oven mitts or tongs to move dry ice. Dry ice is not water, but frozen carbon dioxide and it can cause serious burns with prolonged exposure.

Close the lid on the cooler. If you are using a metal or fiberglass cooler, do not close the lid tightly. Allow for a little air to escape. Dry ice does not melt, it changes from a solid to a gas. If your cooler is airtight, the gas could build up to a bursting point. You can wrap a blanket around the cooler to help with insulation or use a Styrofoam cooler instead.

Replace dry ice as needed. You may not be able to find a supplier once you get out of the city limits, although you may want to ask at RV parks if it is available. When your supply has been exhausted, you can switch back to regular ice. Twenty pounds of dry ice will keep your food frozen for approximately 24 hours.

Buy a good quality cooler. Fiberglass or metal work much better than Styrofoam when you are using water-based ice.

Use block ice rather than crushed or cubed. Block ice will melt more slowly.

Wrap frozen food in Ziploc bags or keep stored in plastic containers. This will keep the food from getting soggy when the ice starts to melt and prevent it from thawing quickly.

Change ice frequently. Don't wait for the block of ice to melt before getting a new block. Keeping your food frozen requires the temperature of the cooler to stay below 32 degrees F. Keeping as much solid ice in the cooler as possible will help.

Wrap the cooler in a sleeping bag or woolen blanket. This will help insulate the cooler and keep your foods frozen longer.