Esky Tips

[Watt]

Ok anyone know any tricks about keeping food/drinks colder for longer in eskys...
We are getting a second esky, as a fridge is way out of budget. (so we will have one for food one for Beer, lol).
We normally take a few of those Blue ice block things and maybe a bag of ice but only get 2-3 days out of it all...
im assuming thats the best we can do but any tricks would be great.
Cheers.

 

[goldrush]

Ok anyone know any tricks about keeping food/drinks colder for longer in eskys...
We are getting a second esky, as a fridge is way out of budget. (so we will have one for food one for Beer, lol).
We normally take a few of those Blue ice block things and maybe a bag of ice but only get 2-3 days out of it all...
im assuming thats the best we can do but any tricks would be great.
Cheers.

Ask Frosty. He's the iceman around here.

 

[MJB]

We used to do our own block ice in icecream containers etc & place them on botom of esky place your beer in (or food if need be) & then top the esky up with flaked ice and it would all meld into one block. It helps if all items are pre cooled prior to placment in the esky, in fact you may need to sample a couple first to ensure correct temp.

 

[Titfish]

A mate of mine used to put his entire esky in a big deep freeze with a couple of inches of water in the bottom. Worked well but needs a big freezer.

Another I have heard of is to fill old wine bladders with water and freeze these. Works okay and gives a good source of fresh water as they melt. Just a bit hard to fill up.

Cheers
Ken

 

[Mooser77]

We used to do our own block ice in icecream containers etc & place them on botom of esky place your beer in (or food if need be) & then top the esky up with flaked ice and it would all meld into one block. It helps if all items are pre cooled prior to placment in the esky, in fact you may need to sample a couple first to ensure correct temp.

I'm with MJB I've got a 120lt esky i can get 6-7 days if I can get the 5kg blocks and top up with crushed ice. draining the water daily helps too.

 

[croozza]

It all depends on what type of esky you have, is it an ice box or just an esky,
ice will last longer in an icebox, as the new eskies aren't fully insulated. (found that out one camping weekend, so when I got home I bought a can of expandable foam and drilled a few holes in the outer shell and filled up the cavity with the foam)
Always try to keep them out of the sun also, Larger ice pieces will last longer too, but can take up unnessisary room.

 

[Watt]

Thanks for the tips guys.. think i might try to find a good esky for the beer

 

[billolga]

For 25 odd years (Hell I am getting old) the mates & I camped on Broughton Island of Port Stephens NSW (Near Stockton Beach ) Fishing & we ALWAYS took BLOCK ICE & if we could DRY ICE (Relatively short trips of 3 or 4 days). We lined our boxes with roof foil & would throw wet bags over them & keep them in the cool.

 

[bmurray2250]

Tip one:
More times you visit and open the esky faster the ice melts

Tip two:
Use frozen blocks instead of party ice and cover the upper layer with news paper. This will help to keep the cold food and ice cold

Tip three:
Dry ice (full block) is great if you wish to keep things frozen for a week or two. Need tip two and one in use. The idea is to think what thing you need frozen and when you need them out. Must wrap up and keep it up off the floor of a plastic esky. Putting a towel in works ok or food under it. All food MUST be frozen first.

With the frozen food, I will remove it the day before and use it to chill the normal esky down. I generally freeze blocks of ice in a deep freezer in 2 or 3l bottles for 3 days + to use them in the normal easy and freezer. It also give drinking water containers for the kids when thawed out. The dry ice worked for 2 weeks at Moreton Island and as we added fish to the freezer will removed blocks of ice for the fridge and beer.

 

[billolga]

If your in a Caravan Park, throw your BLUE BLOCKS in the Camp Kitchen Fridge Freezer (Mark them of course)

 

[off road heaven]

You could also fill up old milk bottles with water, and add some salt, as salt water has a lower freezing point. That is water freezes at 0 degrees, so your ice will not get any colder then 0 degrees, but salt water will freeze at a lower temperture(not sure exactly). This is why we add salt water to ice when fishing to form a slurry(lowers the temperture with out freezing). Although the milk bottles will defrost earlier they will actually be colder then plain ice. Also a interesting fact is warm water will freeze quicker then cold water. Just thought I would throw that in there.