For ice when camping, grocery shopping, etc. Use as many jugs as necessary for your time frame. If you need ice for a long time, freeze 1 gallon water/juice/cleaned milk jugs filled with potable water. Leave 1 cup headspace for freezing. If you only need ice for a short trip, or extended shopping trip an hour or two away, use the half gallon size. Keep a set frozen in the freezer to grab. This is a mainstay all summer long. Why buy a block of ice to keep things cold. This is recyclable and reuseable.
If you have a cooler for beverages of bottles/cans, freeze water in 9x13 inch cake pans. Pop out and place in bottom. When you get to location, put cans/bottles in and fill with water. Floating ice water will keep things cold for a long time.
By Grandma J from Benson MN
We have done a lot of camping and usually go for a week at a time. It was getting costly buying bags of ice all the time for the cooler. Then my husband came up with some solutions.
My husband is a long haul trucker who normally uses an electric cooler to keep his food and drinks cold. Recently his electric cooler died on him, so he had to resort to a regular cooler until we can buy him a new one (they ain't cheap!).
If you are bringing meat in a cooler that will not be cooked soon, freeze it before putting it in the cooler. Cans of concentrated juice can be brought along to help keep items cool as well, just be sure to put each can in its own ziplock bag in case it leaks.
