A couple of the guys asked if anyone has ever attempted to bring ice cream with them to eat the first day out.

My camp will be using a Lifetime 55 quart bear certified cooler this year. I am keeping it loaded completely with ice on the way up. The food will be in a Bodega 60 quart elecric freezer/fridge in the truck. My plan is at the outfitter to transfer the frozen and refrigerated food to the Lifetime cooler when we arrive at 1 PM and go directly to the camp site. We are taking the shuttle into Red Rock. The Lifetime cooler will have about 1/2 frozen and 1/2 refrigerated items in it along with two 1/2 gallon frozen bottles of water.

Will the ice cream stay frozen for 5 hours to eat the first night? (This is really more about proving to one of the guys we can do it)

We packed Ice Cream in for a trip last year. It was too long, in retrospect, but we ate it mildly melted on Maniwaki lake. Ours were the small hydroflask containers so a larger cooler would have better luck.

This would just be a 4-5 hour period, without opening the cooler, for a frozen solid container of ice cream in the Lifetime 55 quart cooler.

Our crew used the same cooler for our weeklong trip in June. We had a gallon of milk stay frozen the entire week. We would pour chunks of "ice milk" into cups with our cereal, let thaw for awhile, and then eat. It worked great so with the Lifetime I think you have a good chance of having ice cream.

Sounds like your plan should work. If you're particularly worried about the ice cream put it in a cooler with some dry ice. It will be a solid frozen block when you put it in the cooler and may require some thawing before you can scoop it on night one or you could save it for an afternoon snack on day 2!

On family summer trips I've taken a cooler backpack with frozen items on the bottom with a block of dry ice on top of them. I then put a 1 inch piece of rigid foam insulation on top of the dry ice and put refrigerator items on top of that. Works like a charm and usually stays frozen solid for around 2 days. On one trip I snuck in some popsicles knowing that we had some particularly difficult portages on the second day. At the end of the longest I pulled out the frozen popsicles and everyone's attitude improved!

Weren't your past trips mostly freeze dried food? Did I remember that right?

Now you are bringing coolers and ice cream? It's going to be hard to go back to dried food LOL

T

I think I am beginning to understand why people bring bear proof containers instead of hanging food in trees. You would need a crane to winch something like this up! Not being judgmental and it sounds like fun, but work too.

You are correct. 16 years we started out with all fresh food, steaks, etc. We brought two burner stoves and dutch ovens. 8-10 years into it we got tired of carrying all that gear and went over to freeze dried in our camps.

This year with the new rules on food containers the camp leaders all discussed it and decided to try the Lifetime 55 coolers. Also, our guys are mainly in their 60's now and we base camp on Red Rock, taking a shuttle to the portage. So we don't have to carry the coolers very far.

One other factor is that when we went "all in" on freeze dried there was a lot of complaints about stomach issues (again, we are in our 60's).

So this is our experimental year. One camp is all freeze dried Mountain House meals. (That camp leader says he doesn't like to cook). The other 3 camps are using coolers and going either part freeze dried or all fresh foods. In my camp It is all fresh foods but for some freeze dried beans and carrots.

And we were talking. . . .if we are going to bring the cooler, why not ice cream? Or pie?

WE fully expect a mutiny in the camp that is Mountain House only by the end of the week.

Yes agree, the Mountain House Mutiny is very likely :)

T

Like brux says, use dry ice. It’s -78 deg C (-108 deg F). I’m sure your ice cream would keep frozen a couple days. Added benefit - if you place the cooler full of dry ice away from the tents/center of camp it will draw the mosquitoes to it.

We used freeze-dried iced cream for a birthday party one year. Was just okay, but fun and easy.

timatkn: "Yes agree, the Mountain House Mutiny is very likely :)


T"

I met with the "mountain house" camp leader this morning. He stated that he goes to the BWCA for the nature and does not like to cook or clean up. He intends to just give the Mountain House packages to the other guy and his two kids and tell them to cook it.

Someone is going to get voted off the island!

ockycamper: "

timatkn: "Yes agree, the Mountain House Mutiny is very likely :)



T"

I met with the "mountain house" camp leader this morning. He stated that he goes to the BWCA for the nature and does not like to cook or clean up. He intends to just give the Mountain House packages to the other guy and his two kids and tell them to cook it.


Someone is going to get voted off the island!"

Haha…well the others could step up and plan their own menu too? If you let someone do the work then you are stuck with their way of doing things.

T

I bet it won't stay frozen. I would get dry ice. Or make runny malts.

ockycamper: "...Will the ice cream stay frozen for 5 hours to eat the first night? (This is really more about proving to one of the guys we can do it)"

I would somehow test your plan ahead of your trip. Also, if your method is a failure on your trip, how do you dispose of the melted ice cream?

bobbernumber3: "

ockycamper: "...Will the ice cream stay frozen for 5 hours to eat the first night? (This is really more about proving to one of the guys we can do it)"

I would somehow test your plan ahead of your trip. Also, if your method is a failure on your trip, how do you dispose of the melted ice cream?"

I gave that some thought. Will probably just bring 4 small containers of frozen ice cream and have them in sealed zip locks as well. If they have melted we will be serving shakes. Then crush the containers and pack back in the bear cooler to bring out.

Betting it won’t work. I grabbed a pint for a winter overnighter winter before last. It was below freezing the whole time, but only down to the teens and I still had soup when I pulled my pint out of the snowbank. There’s a reason freezers are O*f.
But whatever- is the essence of the experience- what is unique, and can’t be easily attained elsewhere - about ice cream?

Half of our men are former engineers of one type or another. This is just what they do.

Put the ice cream in a Nalgene, then back in the freezer. That way, if any melt, there won't be an issue. At worst, a milkshake! Then, when those are empty, you can use the nalgenes for water or something.

Report back with how it worked out.