ice-chests-msg - 7/4/10 Using ice chests at SCA events. Hiding them. Keeping things cool and safe. NOTE: See also the files: camp-kitchens-msg, camp-ovens-msg, firepits-msg, trash-storage-msg, campfood-msg, drying-foods-msg, food-storage-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 10:54:39 -0500 To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org From: Ted Eisenstein Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Boxes for coolers > Sometime in the recent past, the list was discussing coolers/ice boxes. > Someone posted the web address for boxes that hold Coleman coolers, or > are themselves coolers. These boxes were wonderfully painted. . . . . by the way, a small hint: keep these box coolers a bit off the ground, if you can. I use a cooler similar to these (i.e., a styrofoam cooler inside a nifty wood box) at Pennsic, and used to have problems with water collecting underneath it. It wasn't until I figured out it was condensation, not leakage, that I did something about it. It now sits on a small stand that allows for air circulation all around it _and_ underneath: no drippage, no wet spots, no dampness at all this year. And with it being raised, it's a lot easier to get into for those of us with strong minds and weak backs. Oh, also: put the ice in a large garbage bag that's inside another garbage bag. Easier to dispose of the water, and you won't wind up soaking the food. Alban From: alchem at en.com (James Koch) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Pennsic "Freezers" Date: 15 Jul 2003 20:19:23 -0700 You could build your own. I have a huge box with carrying poles. If you have ever attended one of our parties (Pentwyvern Goes To Hell), you may have seen it. During our parties it serves as the bar "The Ark Of Pentwyvern". In Boy Scouts we called these a wanigan(sp?). I believe the name is Algonquinian and literally means "hole". You build it from plywood with reinforced corners and edges. Think of an old fashioned steamer trunk. Build it to fit in the back of a van or on a trailer. Line it with that pink insulation foam. You can fill it with your pavilion and all of the stuff you regularly haul to Pennsic. Mine sits in my garage most of the year as a big Pennsic only storage box. Once you get to the event you remove the contents and fill it with block ice. Presto chango, you have an instant cooler. At the end of the event just dump the ice and dry the interior for transport home. > Jim Koch (Gladius The Alchemist) Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 18:28:13 -0500 From: "Phlip" Subject: [Sca-cooks] canvas covers for coolers for just 2.49 To: "SCA-Cooks" This came across my Leather List, and I thought perhaps so9me of you Might be interested in using these to disguise coolers.... I'm thinking, that if they're natural colored canvas, as described, they might be easily dyed to personal or group colors, too... >>> I ordered some stuff from harbor freight and they had canvas covers for abrasive blast cabinet for 2.49 so I ordered them and they fit nicely on the 56 quart cooler by igloo .The overall dimension is 24 l by 18 w by 22 deep and there made out of the natural canvas like the canvas i used to make my chairs just lighterweight canvas if you would like to gt some go to harborfreight.com and the item # is 47934-2HCB. If you can do a group order for people in you area go ahead so everyone don't get nailed with the 4.95 handling fee Mike <<< Saint Phlip, CoDoLDS Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 10:49:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Huette von Ahrens Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] things they dont explain about Pennsic To: Kirsten Houseknecht , Cooks within the SCA --- Kirsten Houseknecht wrote: > Things no one told me about Pennsic until I was > there..... > 10. food storage and eating > > ice, lots of ice. replace/add ice frequently. > buy the best cooler you can > get. even if you do not plan on cooking store > at least drinks in there.... > > freeze all meats solid before leaving home. > use them as they thaw out in the cooler. > > if the heat makes you lose your appetite, at > least eat something salty and > drink water. you MUST eat some salt in hot > weather. this does not have to > be a lot, but some! Thank you Kirsten. I have never been to Pennsic. I have always dreamed of going, but now I am beginning to change my dream, after reading your list. However, I have been to quite a few Caidan and Atenveldt wars and so I wish to talk about ice at wars. Ice comes in four versions. Crushed, cubes, blocks and dry. The greater the surface that you have on your ice the faster it melts. Therefore, crushed ice is all surface and melts the fastest. Cubes melts pretty fast. Block ice melts pretty slowly. Dry ice doesn't melt, it evaporates, but its evaporation time is the slowest of all. Crushed and cubed ice is best for putting in drinks and for quick chilling. A bag of either usually will not last more than 5-7 hours by itself in an ice chest. This depends a lot on the outside weather temps. The hotter it is the faster they melt. The cooler it is the slower they melt. Block and dry ice are best for keeping your ice chests cool/cold long term. There are several ways of getting block ice. 1) buy it from an ice merchant. Usually in 10 lbs blocks, although my local ice merchant is willing to cut blocks in half for me. 2) take clean plastic milk bottles and fill them with water and freeze them in your freezer [if you have room]. Usually, a 10 lbs block of ice will take 2-3 days to melt completely in an ice chest. If cut in half, the 5 lbs blocks will last only two days. Home made milk bottle ice blocks usually last one day, but can give you cold drinking water at the same time. My local ice merchant sells dry ice in 7 lbs blocks. However, because dry ice is so cold, it freezes anything that it touches for long periods of time. A 7 lbs block of ice usually lasts 4 days, depending on the outside temps. The neat thing about dry ice is that when it evaporates it doesn't leave water behind, so your ice chest doesn't need to be drained. When I go to a war, I usually bring two ice chests. One for immediate use and for items that should not be frozen. The second for use later in the war and for items that need to be kept frozen. I have been known to bring ice cream and frozen juice bars to wars. In the first ice chest, I put one 5 lbs block of ice and one bag of cubed ice. In the second chest, I put one 7 lbs block of dry ice and the other 5 lbs block of ice. The block of ice is kept next to and frozen by the dry ice and buffers the intense cold from the food. I then put things in like ice cream or meats I don't mind having frozen until I need them. I once put a carton of fresh orange juice in this chest and had to remove it every day one or two hours before breakfast so that we would be able to drink it for breakfast. I think I served the coldest orange juice at that war. If I were going to camp at Pennsic, I would bring three ice chests. The third would contain another block of dry ice and two more 10 lbs blocks of ice cut in half. This would not be opened until the first chest needed new ice. This would also keep you from having to make an ice run into town too often. Although you still would have to buy drinking ice on a daily basis from the camp store. Huette Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 14:28:42 -0400 From: "grizly" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic on a shoestring To: "Cooks within the SCA" Dry ice is your friend for coolers designed for long term storage and not daily/hourly in and out. Set a good cooler up with frozen foods and dry ice, and you can keep food frozen then cold for a week on one load, easy. Gotta keep it closed as much as possible, keep it full as possible as long as possible, and keep the dry ice dry. Padded gloves and your off. Use a different cooler for in and out access through the day. Dry ice is pretty affordable around here last time I bought it (yikes, 2+ years ago). By the pound, you can get good deal if you can find it near you. Saves on buying ice every day. And will reduce overall expence of cooler use. niccolo Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2006 16:10:43 -0400 From: Elaine Koogler Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic on a shoestring To: grizly at mindspring.com, Cooks within the SCA And...whatever kind of ice you use, keep the cooler in a shady spot in your camp...and keep a nice, thick white or very light colored bath towel on top. Someone told me this secret several years ago...I didn't believe them, but tried it anyway...and it worked! ice seemed to last much longer. We also use frozen bottles of water to help keep food cold on the way up...when it thaws, you have nice, fresh water that's drinkable! Try to find bottles that are square in shape rather than round...they take up less room in the cooler. Kiri From: Jeanne Carter Date: October 10, 2009 12:26:33 PM CDT To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." Subject: [Ansteorra] helpful tip This tip is from a Yahoo news story on recycling or reusing packing peanuts today: Make ice last longer: Put packing peanuts in a sealable plastic bag and place on top of the ice in your ice chest. The ice will last longer and everything will stay colder. ~Sibri From: "William Meriic" Date: October 10, 2009 3:02:37 PM CDT To: "'Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc.'" Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] helpful tip This should work a lot better than my previous attempt in which I used R30 Fiberglass insulation (the pink stuff). That made a mess. Will <<< Make ice last longer: Put packing peanuts in a sealable plastic bag and place on top of the ice in your ice chest. The ice will last longer and everything will stay colder. ~Sibri >>> From: "willowdewisp at juno.com" Date: December 28, 2009 11:05:59 PM CST To: ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org Subject: [Ansteorra] a cooler that will impress people http://kelly.dwarfworks.com/sca/cooler/ This is really great. I am going to try it when I get better. I wonder how well it holds up?? willow Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:59:57 -0700 From: "Laura C. Minnick" To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic queries.... On 6/29/2010 11:50 AM, Sam Wallace wrote: <<< Another possibility is to use dry ice. As long as your cooler is not stored in someone's tent, this should work well. Also, a very large cooler might not be the best way to go. Opening coolers up repeatedly over the course of the day will cause their contents to heat up significantly faster than if left closed. Segregating each day's food into different coolers helps to mitigate this. Guillaume >>> I have to second the last. I keep meat in a separate cooler, and open it only to retrieve what I have to. I've had things in the bottom stay completely frozen, even on Sunday of a three-day weekend. Liutgard Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:13:07 -0500 From: "otsisto" To: "Cooks within the SCA" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic queries.... I have found that lining a cooler for meats with aluminum foil helps. Separate coolers as others have recommended. Create a layer that will go inside on top so that as the food is removed you condense the area needed to be cooled. This can be achieved by getting the freezable ice cube sheets cut to fit. Or styrofoam covered in aluminum foil with a finger hole for lift out. Another way is to take a bunch of washcloths, dampen them and fold them, put them in individual ziplock bags, freeze them and then layer them on top. This helps to insulate and when needed on a hot day, pull a washcloth out and cool down. Added to the above is to cover the cooler. If you or someone is creative you can make a "quilted" cover the lining would be the vinyl felt backed material which you can either get at a fabric store or a vinyl tablecloth, the outer material needs to be light coloured and can be vinyl felt backed or canvas, something fairly durable. Fabric should be medium to thick as the more layers and thickness the better the insulation. But also take into account washability. Try to keep it in as much shade during the day as possible. Placing it in a tent that is closed up and doesn't get a draft is not good because even though it is technically not getting direct sunlight but you are "baking" the cooler (unless it is a muggy day then it's steaming it). Dry ice is your friend but if you mix the dry ice and regular ice you will find that the regular ice will melt and reform into ice around the dry ice enveloping any and all items next to the dry ice. Pack the cooler with foods for the last meal at the bottom and layer up to the foods for the first meal (best you can) this way you get in and out quickly. (unless you have someone that holds the cooler open and stares for 5 mins. like he's at home looking in the frig. for something. Sometimes if you have the room, a cooler specifically designated for leftovers. You pack kitchen items that will not need to be stored in the cooler for the trip there, add the ice (or you add ice and pack pots and pans in it) when you have leftovers you can place in the cooler this will lessen the need to open the cooler with the foods that need to stay cold when ready. Or place leftovers in your snack and beverage cooler. De Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:19:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Huette von Ahrens To: Cooks within the SCA Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic queries.... I have used dry ice in good quality Igloos all the time. We have to in Caid, especially in the summer. I do not put the dry ice in the bottom, but rather, I put it on either the left or right side of the Igloo. In front of the dry ice, I place a big block of ice. This buffering the dry ice is so that everything is kept very, very cold, but not necessarily frozen. Since there will be room next to the dry ice that isn't buffered, I keep the things I want frozen there. I managed to keep that block of regular ice frozen for five days, using dry ice. It only started to melt after the dry ice evaporated the last day. Huette Edited by Mark S. Harris ice-chests-msg 7 of 7