Soft cooler recommendations?

food poisoning?
seems to me you should work on making foods that won’t develop bacteria quickly or are already full of a friendly fermented population.



I saw some Native brand coolers that look pretty good. I have no experience with them. On second thought maybe they weren’t Native,Annapolis Canoe and Kayak had some, I don’t think they were NRS.

based on the feedback here
I ordered the polar bear.



Really, I’m not keeping mayo or anything - just a small container of milk for AM coffee and some frozen ingredients for 2 dinners.



I’m ordering some essentials from Packit Gourmet - all are dry items and won’t need to be refrigerated.



Thanks for the help!


re. mayonnaise

– Last Updated: Apr-01-09 1:22 PM EST –

as long as you aren't making your own with raw eggs the issue of spoilage from mayonnaise isn't as much a problem as other issues with prepared foods.


http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/ext/pubs/picnic.html

http://www.chow.com/stories/11088

Or for mayo,
take the sealed packets from Subway or wherever. Same with 1000 Island dressing, etc. No spoilage worries. That’s what I use as a starting base for shrimp salad, etc.

packit
has a nice selection of various condiments in single serving sizes, as few or as many as one needs. Keeps me from poaching in restaurants and some of them are pretty good stuff!

or make high acid dressings
with fresh lemon juice.

open cell foam?
No problems with your cooler’s open cell insulation absorbing water from the bilge?

didn’t think of that
I can’t imagine them using an insulation that would soak up water,worth checking out

from their site
"Polar Bear Coolers are made with a water resistant exterior, so a little splash here and there, no worries. If possible, try to keep it from sitting in water."

cooler
I like my NRS cooler, but never used it for more than a day.



For the serious camper, a hard back cooler’s a must.

Want ice for 4-5 days?
I have 2 cheap soft-sided, open-cell foam coolers. One is slightly bigger than the other. I cut a piece of 3/8" closed-cell foam to fit the bottom of one of them. Then freeze 2 bottles of water and put in the bottom. Fill cooler with perishables. Freeze the things that you can (meat, butter). Fill the smaller cooler add 2 more frozen bottles of water if you can. Put that cooler inside the slightly larger one and there you go. I just got back from a 4 day trip, and the 4 water bottles were still half ice after 96 hours. Four long days. Could keep cheese, eggs and other items cold for another 2 days. Just keep it out of direct sunlight. I cannot justify $40 for a nice closed cell cooler that might last a little longer than a open cell one.