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Bearpath9
distinguished member (364)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/11/2020 08:18AM  
I have an Ice Mule softside that I am using for the first time. My questions are (1) which is better block ice or cubes ? (2) If I put cubes on the bottom, and cut a block of ice so that I can line the four sides inside with a chunk of the block, will it work better and last longer ?
Any other tips are welcome. Thanks.
 
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jewp
member (25)member
  
06/11/2020 10:41AM  
I have no experience with Ice Mule or any idea how long you are planning to trip, so take this with a grain of salt. We use Yeti backpack coolers, work well for the kids to be the mules. We simply freeze the food and take no ice. I freeze everything that can be frozen, and we take a *lot* of meat/cheese, etc. But for example, I will freeze tortillas to add cold BTUs (if that is a thing) instead of ice. Food stays in a hard sided cooler with dry ice until we are at the EP and then I pack the soft cooler for the trip. We usually trip ~4-5 days, and if we take care and keep the cooler in the shade and don't open often, we have frozen bacon on day 4.
 
Savage Voyageur
distinguished member(14416)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished membermaster membermaster member
  
06/11/2020 10:42AM  
Use a frozen milk jug. Just fill and freeze at home. After it all melts you have fresh water. Take a gallon or half gallon jug depending on your size. Block ice usually lasts longer. Don’t pour out the water until all the ice is gone. The cool water inside the jug keeps the ice longer.
 
Ben Nicholson
member (11)member
  
06/11/2020 12:24PM  
jewp: "I have no experience with Ice Mule or any idea how long you are planning to trip, so take this with a grain of salt. We use Yeti backpack coolers, work well for the kids to be the mules. We simply freeze the food and take no ice. I freeze everything that can be frozen, and we take a *lot* of meat/cheese, etc. But for example, I will freeze tortillas to add cold BTUs (if that is a thing) instead of ice. Food stays in a hard sided cooler with dry ice until we are at the EP and then I pack the soft cooler for the trip. We usually trip ~4-5 days, and if we take care and keep the cooler in the shade and don't open often, we have frozen bacon on day 4."


^^^^^^^^^^
This is exactly how I do it. Works great.
 
straighthairedcurly
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06/11/2020 07:08PM  
Block ice lasts longer than cubes.
 
Bearpath9
distinguished member (364)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/12/2020 06:31AM  
Thanks for the advice. I think what I am going to do is get some dry ice, wrap it newspaper and put it in a cooler, as jewp said. I have way too many Igloo and other brand palstic coolers around the house, so if I wreck one it will be no loss. Then, before we go in, I'll pack the softside with regular ice, plus the frozen food. We are only going to be in for 5 days, so if it thaws too soon, we will be eating good. I like the idea about milk jugs, but I think they may be too bulky, since when I am finished with the softside, it rolls up nice and small, and easy to pack.
 
06/12/2020 07:37AM  
I have created different sizes of ice blocks to fit our camping applications with plastic food storage containers. The cheap containers that come with deli meat seem to work well because they are flexible to remove the ice block easily.

My other favorite is to make sheets of ice by filling a ziplock half full and laying it flat in the freezer. I have used quart bags and gallon bags.
 
06/12/2020 05:07PM  
Why not just take your newspaper wrapped dry ice in with the frozen food in the soft sided cooler? So it'll thaw?
 
06/12/2020 09:57PM  
I use box wine bags in coolers. The spout is easily removed/replaced, the bag rinsed out and ready to be filled with water. I freeze how ever many bags I need and also freeze whatever food I can. During the warm days of summer the ice water the bags provide as they slowly melt is refreshing. The bags are quite durable, I’ve reused them a number of times.
 
Bearpath9
distinguished member (364)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/13/2020 09:18AM  
mirth: "Why not just take your newspaper wrapped dry ice in with the frozen food in the soft sided cooler? So it'll thaw?"

I don't want to risk damaging the cooler. But that may be a moot point, since I am having a bit of a problem finding dry ice. So I'm trying Indys suggestion of freezing water in plastic bags. Lots of good suggestions here, though. Thanks again, everyone. Going in on Monday, when I get back, I'll let everyone know how it went.
 
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