Well, I have a collection of coolers, all small and medium sizes I guess. Reading the cooler review I'm not sure a 25 or 30 quart for hundreds of dollars is really the best solution.
What say you guys? A 100 quart mammoth or two 50 quart or should we break up the sizes like a 30/40 quart, a 50 quart and a 10 or 20 quart?
Here are some thoughts on the one big mammoth grand daddy of a cooler.
I'd think a dedicated space is really needed, I don't want to carry a giant cooler full of ice and foods around, yes, some come with wheels but thinking of that; do I want to unload it, wheel it into position in my kitchen area and still have it on the ground, muddy or dirty wheels then need to be cleaned before packing away. A large slide out of the truck or trailer solves the totting problem, but that storage space is pretty well dedicated and where it goes may depend on the rest of your load, they can get heavy......at least for me.
My experience is that larger coolers have a slower melt rate, ice stays longer, especially with block ice or dry ice. The size of the coolers discussed in the EP review weren't significantly larger as I recall.
I have used a little Coleman 10 quart in the truck cab or car, perfect size for sandwiches, snacks and beverages while on the road.
Ice is good for a couple days and 3 days it works so long as you don't empty the water.
A Rubbermaid 20 quart lasts 3 to 4 days with meats. almost 5 days for drinks. This is bagged ice being used.
Had a Camper DeVille, fold out trailer with a mammoth built in ice chest, plywood exterior about 3' of insulation and insulated top and metal lined, that kept thing cold for 2 weeks with dry ice off to the AZ deserts and back to MO. It was built in the center of the trailer and you flipped a bed back to get to the kitchen.
I also rotate foods, as a small cooler loses its ice, food is consumed from larger coolers and items in the small cooler are moved around to the coldest cooler.
Then there are the tricks of good cooler management, limited openings, using cold items in containers to limit the air space and keeping them full. Stowed around things that help insulate the cooler.
Seems that if my beer is in the meat cooler, I open it more often, probably not a good idea.
So it seems to me that the better approach would be the use of several coolers. Different sizes, a bigger one for the drinks and longer term frozen items, smaller for condiments, lunch meat in another as it might be used quicker and so on.
Or, have you found that the big Kahoona jobs work best and use a smaller one to carry about as needed?
What is your preference for a week or more?
Now, if you have the ability to make ice, I guess it doesn't matter too much. :coffeedrink:
What say you guys? A 100 quart mammoth or two 50 quart or should we break up the sizes like a 30/40 quart, a 50 quart and a 10 or 20 quart?
Here are some thoughts on the one big mammoth grand daddy of a cooler.
I'd think a dedicated space is really needed, I don't want to carry a giant cooler full of ice and foods around, yes, some come with wheels but thinking of that; do I want to unload it, wheel it into position in my kitchen area and still have it on the ground, muddy or dirty wheels then need to be cleaned before packing away. A large slide out of the truck or trailer solves the totting problem, but that storage space is pretty well dedicated and where it goes may depend on the rest of your load, they can get heavy......at least for me.
My experience is that larger coolers have a slower melt rate, ice stays longer, especially with block ice or dry ice. The size of the coolers discussed in the EP review weren't significantly larger as I recall.
I have used a little Coleman 10 quart in the truck cab or car, perfect size for sandwiches, snacks and beverages while on the road.
Ice is good for a couple days and 3 days it works so long as you don't empty the water.
A Rubbermaid 20 quart lasts 3 to 4 days with meats. almost 5 days for drinks. This is bagged ice being used.
Had a Camper DeVille, fold out trailer with a mammoth built in ice chest, plywood exterior about 3' of insulation and insulated top and metal lined, that kept thing cold for 2 weeks with dry ice off to the AZ deserts and back to MO. It was built in the center of the trailer and you flipped a bed back to get to the kitchen.
I also rotate foods, as a small cooler loses its ice, food is consumed from larger coolers and items in the small cooler are moved around to the coldest cooler.
Then there are the tricks of good cooler management, limited openings, using cold items in containers to limit the air space and keeping them full. Stowed around things that help insulate the cooler.
Seems that if my beer is in the meat cooler, I open it more often, probably not a good idea.
So it seems to me that the better approach would be the use of several coolers. Different sizes, a bigger one for the drinks and longer term frozen items, smaller for condiments, lunch meat in another as it might be used quicker and so on.
Or, have you found that the big Kahoona jobs work best and use a smaller one to carry about as needed?
What is your preference for a week or more?
Now, if you have the ability to make ice, I guess it doesn't matter too much. :coffeedrink:
