Camping is a great way to get active and enjoy the great outdoors, but things like cooking and refrigerating food may pose some challenges. I’ve been camping many times throughout my life and enjoyed many camping trips. The right gadgets can make your trip much more enjoyable. Most people feel that nothing can be done about this food safety issue, but there are workarounds. What if you could bring a refrigerator with you? Along with survival gear, a portable fridge is a camping necessity. A refrigerator allows you to enjoy fresh foods without increasing the risk of foodborne illnesses, that occurs when food isn’t properly refrigerated.
Choose the Right Fridge Size for Your Needs
A camping refrigerator can be a great asset to your camping trip. It can extend the life of your food while you are out in the wilderness. It also allows you to bring things that need to be kept cool, like drinks and ice cream. If you’re planning a long camping trip, it’s best to plan ahead. This way, you won’t find yourself in an emergency situation with no refrigeration at all. Preparation is key because there are many other things to consider when looking to buy portable fridges for your camping trip.
It’s important to consider how much food will the fridge hold. Portable fridges come in a variety of sizes, from the pint-sized mini-fridges to large units with large freezer compartments. The best way to determine what size portable fridge you need is to look at your camping needs. How many people will you be feeding? How long are you going to be out? Are you going into a warm climate or a cold one? If you’re going into a cold climate for a week or two and you’re only going to have a few people eating, a small fridge could work well. However, if you’re going into a warm climate for an extended period of time and several people will be eating, you’ll want something bigger.
Pick a Model That’s Easy to Use and Clean
Next, you’ll want to think about power options. If you’re going to be in an area where there are no outlets, you’ll want a battery-powered option. Battery-powered refrigerators will typically last longer than ones that plug into outlets and will work whether or not there’s electricity around. If you’re going to be plugging it in, the amount of power required for your refrigerator will depend on how large it is and how much food you’ll need to store.
Most portable fridges use either a 120 volt or a 12-volt option and require anywhere from 2-4 amps or 5-10 amps, respectively. You may also find some fridges that can run off both options if you have access to both the home outlet and the car outlet. You then need to fill the insulated coolant reservoir and then wait about an hour for the system to cool down and begin cooling your food. When it comes time to clean up, there’s no fussing around either. The cooling plates and tubes are all removable and dishwasher-safe, so cleanup is as easy as removing those parts and putting them in your dishwasher.
Improve Food Quality
Camping food has to be kept safe for a variety of reasons. You have to keep your food from spoiling and also from being contaminated by bacteria by keeping it cold. You can use the fridge to keep your meat, eggs and dairy foods fresh for longer, meaning that you won’t have to buy as much food when you go on your trip and also save money.
Reduce Waste by Keeping Produce Last Longer
What happens if you take food with you and it ends up spoiling and going to waste because it wasn’t properly stored? This is a problem that many people face when they go camping and they can be greatly inconvenienced by having to throw out food. The best way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to bring along a portable fridge that will keep your food fresh until it is ready to be consumed. There are alternatives to using a portable camping fridge such as putting your meat in the freezer before you go away, but this means that when your food thaws out when you get there it will be inedible. A portable fridge will allow you to store your food at the right temperature and minimize the chances of it spoiling.
It Keeps Your Drinks Cool for You
Nothing goes better with camping than an ice-cold soda pop. But if you are like most campers, you know that the only way to keep your drinks cool while at the campsite is to put them in a cooler with ice. There’s a problem with this method though: the ice melts and all your drinks eventually get warm. But that’s not the case with a portable fridge. You can pack up your favourite drinks and take them with you on your camping trip without worrying they’ll be warm when you want to drink them. When you’re ready for a refreshing drink, all you would have to do is reach into your portable fridge and pull it out!
The Bottom Line
In many ways, a camping trip is a perfect situation for a portable fridge. When you’re roughing it outdoors, it’s not so easy to get to the store if you need more food. Additionally, there are more insects and animals around than usual, which means your food will be at risk of spoiling or becoming infested if left out in the open.
Pick a portable fridge that is easy to carry around, has the capacity you desire and best suits your needs. It is vital that you bring snacks and beverages which can last for up to a week or more. You should also keep in mind the elements – whether it is cold weather, you need a closed space for your goods, heat circulates throughout the food, and so on.
