Coolbox

[Toddy]

Thinking on last years Moot, and trying to keep things I would normally keep in the fridge, cold.
A bucket filled with water and a wet teatowel over the top works fine for bottles and tins, but not so good with things like my tofu or opened packs of cheese or meat.

The coolbags I normally use are fine for a day or so but not a week.

Anyone got good recommendations for decent coolboxes ? Preferably not dayglo red or orange.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Matt.S]

Could you put your foodstuffs in a metal box, a billy with a lid for instance, and then put that in a bucket of water with a cloth over the top?

 

[drewdunnrespect]

hiya mary

now then in regards to cool boxes if you go to your local GO OUTDOORS and have a look in the camping section there should be some deceant cool boxes in there.

but the best idea i have herd is to use norwegian food containers from militery surpless shops because there cheap and cheer full but bomproof and if you put a ice pack in there keep for weeks now thats what i call a good idea cheers martin K9

 

[phill_ue]

Coolboxes are excellent, if you can freeze some produce (easy if you're a meat eater!) then it will last even longer and if you dig the coolbox into the ground and keep it out of the sun then again your coolbox will stay cool longer. I used a coolbox at a long meet and the last day saw the remaining food thawed out yet still cold. I had no issues with any of the meat I took, such as sausages, rabbit and bacon. Hmmmmmmmm, bacon!

 

[phill_ue]

hiya mary

now then in regards to cool boxes if you go to your local GO OUTDOORS and have a look in the camping section there should be some deceant cool boxes in there.

but the best idea i have herd is to use norwegian food containers from militery surpless shops because there cheap and cheer full but bomproof and if you put a ice pack in there keep for weeks now thats what i call a good idea cheers martin K9

I think weeks might be a bit optimistic!

 

[drewdunnrespect]

well yes okay but longer than your avarage cool box

 

[jungle_re]

Marry depending on if you would get use it may be worthwile investing in one of the camping fridges powered from gas cartridges (same as the little stoves take). Failing that cost co have a good one in at the moment that the old boy uses for chucking fish in when sea fishing and he swares by it.

 

[Shewie]

We got one of those which you plug into the cig lighter of a car last year, claimed to do all sorts of stuff but it was the biggest waste of £60 I've spent in a long time. The only thing that kept it going at a decent temp was if we filled it with ice cubes/blocks whenever we could.

It's an age old problem trying to keep fresh food fresh isn't it ? Water or the ground seems to be as good as it gets I think.

 

[rik_uk3]

The Coleman boxes are very good but I'm most impressed with the norgie cold/hot box. I've used the one Nigel owns and its really good, two bottles of frozen water in to keep the temp down and they were still iced up after three days.

Coleman do some big ones, heavy duty, expensive but ideal for family/group use IMO. An American I know worked over here for two years and bought one camping (all his kit/car/motor bike were flown in courtesy of the USAF), built like a tank.

 

[Toddy]

Do you mean this one Rik ?
http://www.surplusandadventure.com/...ment/army-13-litre-food-container-357739.html


Shewie thanks for the advice, I admit I was wondering about one of the ones that plugs into the car.

Cheers for the help folks

Toddy

 

[godfather]

If money is no object then look at the icey Tek range http://www.icey-tek.co.uk/ they are simply fantastic. I have the smallest 25l one and it is great. Else costco do igloo maxicold series 40l approx (on wheels) and will keep stuff iced for 5 days, which I use for game storage and family camping.

 

[Gailainne]

I must admit I bought a 25ltr coolbox from halfords that uses a cars 12v system, it works to a certain extent, if what you put in it is frozen to start with, its not bad at keeping it that way for a day or two, chilling stuff down, forget it, its useless.

Didn't the Romans use straw (insulation) and salted water (colder than fresh water) with evaporation to chill and keep things cool ? they made both icecream and fortified wine that way (chill the wine and throw away the ice)

 

[Zingmo]

As part of my work we have to ship samples by courier to labs around the country. The temperature they arrive at can be critical. Last year we did a series of tests with different coolboxes/iceblocks etc.

The key finding was that the most important factor was the temperature the samples were at when they went in the box - you can't expect a cool box to chill anything.

All "picnic" style coolboxes (eskies, if you're reading this upside down) failed our tests badly being unable to keep the samples above 5 degrees for the required 12 hours. The best performers were those used by the meat/fish trade - just thick-walled polystyrene boxes. You can get various types of these - some very rugged but they are usually only sold in large quantities. (you could try asking a fishmonger).

Some strategies we worked out were to cram the boxes full of frozen iceblocks with only a few samples ( you need loadds of ice-blocks and coolboxes) and for staff taking samples at remote locations to take along coolboxes just filled with ice-blocks - those in the middle stayed frozen so could be used to replace those which had started to melt.

My favourite tip is that if you can't get hold of iceblocks - use nappies! Wet them (with water ) put them in a sandwich bag and then freeze them hard - these performed just as well as commercially available iceblocks.

Hope this helps and remember the coolbox is for beer first and tofu second

Z

 

[Twodogs]

Toddy thats the old type of army Norwegian container the later model is a lot better,
Martins is in this thread mid way down page two,
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53548&page=2

If its been used the best way to clean them is strip all the lid down and remove the rubber seal on the lid and use a overnight soak in milton fluid thay come up like new
Twodogs

 

[Tadpole]

My normal solution is, and this has worked really well for the last couple of moots and several car camping trips, buy and freeze 6 x 2 litre bottle of water (more if you have the space) also buy an Aldi bag (they’re a kind of plastic woven canvas, and can carry a heck of a lot,) freeze all the meat that you intend to take, or enough for 4 days of you intend to stay longer. Line the bottom of the bag with a couple of Sunday papers (nice and thick) three bottle of frozen water (taken out of freezer just afore you set off) then your frozen food, then a layer of paper, then the foods that need to be chilled, more newspaper then top off with three remaining bottles of frozen water. I have found if you keep the whole lot in the shade, and covered with a damp towel, the food stays chilled for three or more days and the frozen meat will be defrosted and ready to cook on the fourth day. And you will have six bottle of fresh chilled water.
Tesco sell bagged ice that can be used to chill the food for the rest of the moot.
Be really careful on how you pack the food, cooked meat on top, uncooked meat and food on the bottom that way you don’t cross contaminate cooked food with the uncooked juices, just as you would in a fridge

 

[MartinK9]

Do you mean this one Rik ?
http://www.surplusandadventure.com/...ment/army-13-litre-food-container-357739.html


Shewie thanks for the advice, I admit I was wondering about one of the ones that plugs into the car.

Cheers for the help folks

Toddy

Toddy thats the old type of army Norwegian container the later model is a lot better,
Martins is in this thread mid way down page two,
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53548&page=2

If its been used the best way to clean them is strip all the lid down and remove the rubber seal on the lid and use a overnight soak in milton fluid thay come up like new
Twodogs

Toddy,

As Cliff says, this is the one I have:

http://www.cadetdirect.com/order1.php?pg=122

And the Milton tip works really well

HTH

 

[MrEd]

whats the difference between the oval one and the squarer one in terms of performance/size/value for money etc etc?

and what should you get with them?

 

[Twodogs]

The older ones are dated , smaller and the lids a pain as when you open it it needs to be removed .

The later ones come with two inserts with lids plus a lifter to remove hot containers and a ladel ,
most surplus ones will be empty ( thay will of been used for tea ) .
To be honest when I use mine I dont use the inserts as they take up to much room.
hope it helps
Twodogs

 

[MartinK9]

whats the difference between the oval one and the squarer one in terms of performance/size/value for money etc etc?

and what should you get with them?

Oval one is 13 Litres, Square one is 18 Litres

Cant say much on performance on the older oval Model for bushcrafting, but when I was in; the tea and food (when used as a hot box) was definately warmer from the newer square versions.

Should come with:

Ladle - in lid of container

2 storage containers and lids

2 Container Lifters

 

[Martyn]

Toddy, the British Army "Norwegian" hot/cold box is well worth the money. These things are built like a battleship. They will keep frozen food frozen for 3 to 5 days and cool and fresh for at least a week. Good for keeping beer cold, or just filling with ice. They make a good camp stool too.

They are also heat proof, they can be used for keeping hot things hot for a long time. That's more useful than it sounds. They have a big spring clamp on the lid which keeps em water/air tight and are designed to also carry and dispense boiling liquids. The British Army use em to fill with soup, tea and coffee and then transport it in bulk out to the lads. The lids of the Norwegian even have a tap for this purpose.

You can pick em up for £15 to £20 in used condition. But beware, the inside of the box is cream coloured and the used ones have almost all got very heavy staining from British Army teabags and Army issue curry powder.

It's rare to see em for sale in unissued condition and if you do see em, they are usually quite a bit more expensive.

This is typical of the issued ones...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRITISH-ARMY-...Collectables_Militaria_LE?hash=item5191f26822

The recess in the lid is for a ladle, which is often missing on the surplus boxes. They are also issued with 2 matching 10 litre tupperware inserts per box, which are also often missing or in poor condition.

If you're interested and plan to use it for food, then TBH I'd pony up for one like this...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-BRITISH-A...Collectables_Militaria_LE?hash=item3a59221f47

The only caution I would give is that they are pretty heavy even empty and if stuffed with ice, drinks and frozen stuff then they become a serious lump to carry.