Planning to go out camping with your friends this weekend? Do not forget to get a good quality cooler for the trip. It is needless to say that the camping cooler that you choose can either make or even break the entire trip. A cheap quality cooler can easily turn your food into some melted foul smelling mess and also turn your chilled beers into some lukewarm solution. If you do not want to find yourself in such a situation, then opting for a good quality camping cooler will be a good idea. It will not just keep your food and drinks cool and fresh, it will help you guys enjoy a lot.
Tips To Choose Your Camping Cooler
When it comes to a camping cooler, you will find yourself in an ocean full of options. Choosing the right one can be somewhat stressful. This is because there are very few of you who have a proper idea of how much to spend on such a product and whether you actually need all those additional features or not that can prevent the growth of fungus on your food.
Nonetheless, it will be a good thing to go for a cooler that fits within your budget and also fulfils your needs as far as preserving your food and drinks is concerned. It is important for you to know that apart from the cost of a camping cooler, there are 2 other features you need to keep in mind while shopping for such as cooler. These are the durability and the insulation performance.
Explanation of the Cooler Insulation
When it comes to buying a camping cooler, your primary motive is to choose one that can effectively keep your foods and drinks cool for a long time. However, if you get extra insulation, it will help to keep the stuffs inside fresh and cool for even longer. If you intend on spending a full week out in the middle of a dessert or even a forest, which is far away from the comfort of your home, it will not be a bad idea to opt for a high end camping cooler that comes with superior insulating capacity.
If you plan on packing some poultry, eggs, fish, meat or even milk, which are perishable food items, you need to store them at a temperature or around 40 degree Fahrenheit or lower. Failing which can give rise to some unfriendly microbes in your stomach and make you ill. You will also need a good quality camping cooler if you plan to go fishing and pack in some game that require some additional room and a cooler with super insulation. This is important to make sure that the fishes you catch can make it back home fresh.
Lighter coolers are able to hold ice and remain at a temperature of below 40 degree Fahrenheit for around 2 to 3 days. This makes it suitable for weekend adventures. If you stuff the cooler with new ice, it can easily keep your foods fresh for several days. This will, obviously, need you to have a quick access to a nearby fuel station. However, if you are on a tight budget, you can simply load up on ice instead of opting for a costly cooler.
Are you an adventurous person who normally likes to spend around a full week camping out in the open? In that case you need to keep your foods and other stuffs properly preserved. The use of dry ice will be a good solution in such matters. Dry ice have temperatures around -109.3 degree Fahrenheit that can easily turn your cooler into a freezer.
Durability
Choosing any camping cooler based on the cooling features is not enough. You also need to consider the level of stress and torture the cooler will have to bear during its lifetime. This is why the durability of the ice box is also important for you. When you choose a high end camping cooler, these normally prove to be a great option to store food. Equipped with walls and lids that are pretty tough, as well as, pin style hinges, large handles, external latching mechanisms and UV-resistant plastic, these are nothing but fortresses for foods.
On the other hand, there are also lighter coolers that are designed for small picnic-like adventure trips. These lack sturdiness and come with screw on plastic hinges, pop on and off drain plugs, and small sized plastic handles. Even the walls and the lids are comparatively less tough than the costly models.
Storage Capacity and Size
The size of a camping cooler is measured in quarts. This basically lets you know how much can be stored inside the box and also tells you how long a trip will the box last. You may also say that the size of a cooler lets you know how many people can come along with you on a trip. It is good for you to know that coolers that have a size of under 25 quarts is enough for a single adventurer for a single night. It is also sufficient for a few people if you intend on storing just a few drinks with some apples.
On the other hand, models that are around 40 quarts can store food for a single adventurer for a whole weekend or even for 2 people for a couple of nights. There are also coolers that have a size of around 70 quarts that is sufficient for an entire family for a whole weekend. It will also be good enough for a week-long trip for a single or a couple of people.
If you opt for an even larger cooler, it will prove too difficult to lug around with you wherever you go and these are normally hunting or party expedition coolers. It will also be a good idea to pay special attention to the external dimensions of the cooler to make sure whether it will fit nicely inside your vehicle without you having to force it or pile it inside.
