Camping Trip Planning

A Beginners Guide

Printable Checklists

Camping Vacation Idea's

Camping & Travel Tips

Making Ice Last Longer
About a week before it is time for us to leave on a camping trip, I start making large blocks of ice using a variety of sizes of plastic food containers (square and rectangle work best). When one has fully frozen, take it out of the plastic food container, return the block of ice to the freezer and refill. I use them in coolers and in our campers ice box. We use the largest block of ice in the ice box and after 3-5 days it still has not completely melted. With bags, we generally have one night.

Keep coolers in the shadiest part of your campsite. If you have a camper, somewhere under the camper works great. We have a screened porch attachment on our camper that we keep a plastic table in. It is covered with a table cloth and all of our coolers are kept under it. It not only is shaded through most of the day by the camper itself but is also kept in shade by the table and table cloth.

Keeping Food From The Animals
We use a large plastic storage bin with snapping handles for all of our dry foods and any condiments that have not yet been opened. It is still a good idea to keep it away from where animals can get to it (racoons are smart). It does keep most animals away and it is also easy to move to a locked car or into the camper or tent if need be.

Keep trash picked up and take garbage to the campground dumpsters before bed time. You may not enjoy the smell of trash but animals love it and the smart ones will continue to search your campsite for the entre if you allow them the appetizer. Don't leave dirty dishes over night either. Same idea.

Keeping Perishables Longer
We shop for all of our meats early enough to thoroughly freeze them before leaving for a camping trip. If you don't have a refridgerator/freezer in your camper, storing them in the ice box is your next best option. Save coolers for soda and other food items unless coolers are your only option. Eat your meats in the order that they thaw. Usually hot dogs will thaw first or cook easiest while still frozen. Move items for the next day further from the ice or into a cooler. The larger the package, the longer it takes to thaw. We will often leave a campground after a few days with items closest to the ice blocks still frozen in the middle.

Store meats wrapped in aluminum foil and then again in a double bag. This keeps the blood from leaking all over your ice box or cooler as it melts. For smaller items, after you have wrapped them in foil, place each item in a separate plastic grocery bag and twist very close to the meat a few times, turn the open part of the bag inside out over your own twist and the meat (think folding socks) a second time and twist tie or knot well. Smaller items can be double bagged with one bag!