Best device or method to refrigerate food?

[poot_traveller]

What's the best device or method for keeping food cool?  I want to keep fish fillets cool for 9 - 36 hours.

I have solar but it isn't enough to power a mini-fridge, not to mention I couldn't fit a mini-fridge in my van anyway.

So what are other alternatives, if any, do I have for keeping fish fillets cool for up to 36 hours? I'll even settle for 9 hours of cooling at 20°c ambient temperature.

 

[maki2]

dry ice or regular ice if you don't have any electricity.

 

[poot_traveller]

dry ice or regular ice if you don't have any electricity.

Just as a point of interest; I just got told by a fisherman that flake ice that is partly made of salt water lasts longer than normal ice and is the same price.

 

[poot_traveller]

Ok, don't laugh me out the door, but in 1962 when I was five, I remember my grandmother at the island, drying fish in the sun, and then laying them in an earthen pot, with coarse salt between layers. It was kept for the winter.

That was small fish mostly like sardines, and to dry them you thread them on a string by the tail and literally hang them out to dry, like a bunch of laundry.  There was no electricity at the island at the time. In the summer sun, the fish would dry in an hour or two, and it tasted great - like fish jerky if there was such a thing. I used to eat one or two right off the string in the yard.
So these pots had a lid, and were kept in a storage room without windows.

I'm familiar with drying fish in the sun, although I've never done it myself. This was in the days before refrigeration become a thing.

I might have to hit the history books and see how ancient cultures from different parts of the world preserved fish.

 

[highdesertranger]

I tried almost everything, trying to get off the ice habit. I needed to keep food for up to a month without resupply I tried, ice, dry ice, marine coolers(ice chests), I tried burying the coolers, I tried peltier coolers, I tried 3 way RV refrigerators, I tried dorm refrigerators.

out of all those none really worked satisfactory

with the ice you still need to run to town to get ice. in some places this would take a day. actually burying the coolers worked better than anything. also if snow was near by you would have an unlimited supply of free ice, but you can't rely on snow towards the end of summer.

dry ice is to hard to get in the sticks

don't even try the Peltier coolers what a waste of money

with the RV refrigerators we just replace the ice with propane. instead of running to town for ice we found ourselves having to run to get propane

the dorm refrigerators were energy hogs and struggled to keep food cold

over all these years of trying to avoid buying a 12v refrigerator because of the price, I should have just bought one. I would be dollars ahead. they sip power, keep food safe in extreme temps. I can run 3 Engels with the same solar and battery set up that wouldn't run 1 large size dorm fridge.

just saying, my 2 cents.

highdesertranger

 

[poot_traveller]

My situation is somewhat unique. My journey from my workplace back to my van camping area takes me past a place where I can get flake ice, so I don't have to make any special trips into town. I'm not moving around either, I'm boondocking in the same place.

My old man has a good chilly bin and puts aluminium foil around the inside of the bin, dumps 5kgs of flake ice into it and it lasts for 5 days in (what I estimate are) 25 °C, average humidity conditions.

I like your idea of burying the chilly bin, I might see if this is practical for my situation.

 

[highdesertranger]

if you bury it tape all the seems with duct tape. actually I used to this on ones I wasn't going to open for days even if I didn't bury it.

I am not sure about the price of ice where you are at, but around here the break point is usually about 1 to 2 years. that is the point were it would have been cheaper to buy a 12v refrigerator than to pay for ice for a year or two. remember once you have your solar, battery and 12v fridge then you have no more expenditures for keeping food cold.

highdesertranger

 

[1shemp]

Burying would not work for me.At my age I would never be able to find it again.I think a 12 volt fridge would be the best bet,if you only have a small amount to cool.

 

[poot_traveller]

if you bury it tape all the seems with duct tape. actually I used to this on ones I wasn't going to open for days even if I didn't bury it.

I am not sure about the price of ice where you are at, but around here the break point is usually about 1 to 2 years. that is the point were it would have been cheaper to buy a 12v refrigerator than to pay for ice for a year or two. remember once you have your solar, battery and 12v fridge then you have no more expenditures for keeping food cold.

highdesertranger

About 1 -2 years here as well according to my calculations.

I've got other big expenditures for the next few months, so forking out for a 12v refrigerator just to cool fish fillets is an unacceptable cost for me right now. It will take me two weeks to save up for a 12v refrigerator and although that doesn't seem like a long time, I need the money for other more pressing matters.

 

[frankgibbons]

Just use dry ice and wet ice. The dry ice keeps the wet ice from melting. Up to 3 days. Depending on how many pounds of dry ice you buy, when I go camping we take 7 pounds and its a dollar a pound!

 

[highdesertranger]

3 days don't cut it. I need something for 2 weeks minimum. I tried dry ice didn't work for me. highdesertranger

 

[poot_traveller]

3 days don't cut it. I need something for 2 weeks minimum. I tried dry ice didn't work for me. highdesertranger

Why didn't the dry ice work for you?

 

[highdesertranger]

wouldn't last long enough. highdesertranger