Cooler Size Info

[purrversatility]

I saw a thread on this, but didn't see a whole lot of actual sizes mentioned...
Two of us are going to BM this year, and we want to have 2 coolers- 1 for dry ice and milk jugs mostly full of frozen water, and 1 for 1 of these milk jugs and whatever cold food we bring.
What are the suggested sizes of each cooler? We want them to be as small as possible, since we have to fit everything into a 4 door sedan, but we also want to be able to keep greens fresh.
Thanks!

[purrversatility]

I saw a few people saying that they'll be setting up some sort of tile top to their cooler, so they can put their grill on top when they're using it.
How much would that effect the temp of the cooler?

[Chai Guy]

I usually bring two 50qt coolers and use them just as you plan to (one for dry ice and one for regular ice). The type of cooler you get is really important. I really like the coleman steel belted cooler, they are pricy but worth it. Recently coleman came out with a new cooler designed to keep things cold for 6 days in 90 degree heat. They're called the ultimate extreme cooler, and they're about half the price of the steel belted model, and double insulated. Check out the coleman website for details.
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemanc ... oryid=8581
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemanc ... oryid=8501

I've cooked on top of my cooler before, but I don't reccomend it, mainly because when you're cooking on it, you loose access to your cooler.

Rubbermaid makes some really cool, very strong, very light portable talbes. They will easily fold up and use very little room in your car. These work on several levels. 1st, you have a permanent space for your stove and other cooking gear. 2nd you can put the coolers under neath and with a cotton table cloth, you have your coolers permanently in the shade (also make sure that you elevate your coolers slightly giving them a little air flow underneath to aid in keeping them cool). Check them out at office supply stores, or hardware stores.

[purrversatility]

How well do those fit in your car?
We've been debating if it makes sense to get a pod or something for on top of our car, since a 4 door sedan was a tight fit for all the stuff we had. Of course, we didn't need it all, either...

[Chai Guy]

They take up very little room at all. They fold down to approx. 4 ft. long by 3 ft. wide and 4 inches thick. So you can put it in your truck first thing, or slide it directly behind the two front seats, no problem. Having a table is so worth it.

I've also heard of people removing the rear seat in their sedans for improved storage space, plus in some cars it lets you carry longer items utitilizing all the space between the trunk and rear seat space.

[dragonfly Jafe]

You can buy ice daily (usually, don't 100% rely on tho' - there has been a few years where it was not there for a day). I bring 2 of those 5-day extreme mega coolers (60qt I think) I for food and one for drinks, although there is some stuff left each year so a smaller cooler would work OK also (this is for 2-3 people each year). I also have a smaller cooler (holds like 12 cans) for ice used for drinks, etc. I get ice usually every 2-3 days, the trick is to drain your coolers often and keep the coolers off the ground and in the shade. And don't open the food cooler more than a few times each day if possible.

It's been years since I tried dry ice (really only needed for ice cream or other frozen stuff), and there is a thread on it if you want to look for that.

Oh, I wouldn't cook on your cooler - what if there is a fire and you lose your cooler? Let alone the extra heat load on the ice...space is not at a premium out there. YMMV.

[robotland]

You can also extend the range of your coolers by taking time to situate them in the maximum amount of shade throughout the day, and by using Reflectix or other insulating materials or mylar reflectors. Even without aftermarket insulation, a well-situated cooler can keep block ice (available from Camp Arctica in Center Camp) for the whole week. If you really want to keep produce "fresh", buy what fruits you can a little on the green side and keep fruits and veggies cool but DRY, as in NOT marinating in the bottom-cooler-water. If your cooler doesn't have a little plastic shelf, make one out of wire or plastic.

[purrversatility]

I'm excited- I think we'll do a July pre-pack to practice, so we know how much room everything takes.

[AntiM]

We pre-chill our coolers with those blue packs (whattar they called?) before putting the food or drinks in. Come to think of it, we pre-chill the food too, and if anything is to be frozen, it goes into the deep freezer for a week or two beforehand.

Of course we leave the blue things at home, they're useless on the playa.

We have a small folding table now, but for years we used a wooden slat roll-up bench as a lightweight table. We still use it as a coffee table in camp. Tables rock!

[diane o'thirst]

I'd get the car-top pod, simply because they're handy. If there's just two of you going, I'd take the seat out, too. I did that in my SUV.

The other thing is, prioritize. The coolers are important to you, so they get a high priority to bring. Plan everything else around the most important items ("the big rocks").

The idea of "priming" the coolers by pre-cooling them is a good one, I'll look into that this year...

[Dork]

I've done the dry ice cooler thing a couple of times and frankly it's only worth it if you have something that needs to stay frozen (such as ice cream) or if you have a moral objection to buying ice at center camp.

One 50-ish quart cooler should be sufficient for the ice cooler. Maybe a little bigger or smaller depending on how much you plan to bring. You could smaller on the dry ice cooler. Go for the extreme cooler, it's only a little more expensive and does a much better job of keeping things cool.

In addition to the pre-pack, do a pre-prepare and pre-eat. Get ready all of the food you plan to bring and make sure it tastes ok after sitting in a cooler for 6 days and being prepared on a camp stove. Not saying you have to do that for the whole week, but at least try each type of food once.