Making ice last long time

Dry ice is the answer. Put some ice on the bottom, load the meat (sealed plastic bags like zip lock) Pour some ice over the top and around the sides. Then put your dry ice on top. Cold air sinks and warm air rises, hence the dry ice on top. Stay out of the cooler and drain cooler from the spigot every 12 hours or so. I have been on extended hunting trips where we froze water in milk jugs, and added some cubed ice, then meat, then more ice and finally dry ice. After 3 weeks, meat was still semi frozen.
 
I was fortunate enough to work in some high class restaurants in my younger day.. Lobster and crab that is flown to fancy restaurants is stored in what they call a 7 day cooler. I did manage to snag 2 of them. They work very well and do keep ice for a long time. By looking at them all they appear to be is a styrofoam cooler that is 5 inches thick.
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That reminds me of something I was unhappy to throw away a few years ago.

I used to have what I referred to as the "redneck cooler" - a heavy-duty, double-corrugated 36" cardboard box (cube), lined with sheets of 4" thick styrofoam that had a foil laminate on the outside. I got it from a previous employer that received their snack goods and temperature-sensitive products in the boxes (they kept chocolate and things like cell phone cases from melting in non-refrigerated semi trailers).

When I ran out of room in my other coolers, I'd line the 'redneck cooler' with a trash compactor bag, or two, and use it like any other cooler. It kept food and ice almost twice as long as anything else. I'm sure that was due, in large part, to the thickness of the insulation and the nearly air-tight seal of the foam sheets.

I miss that cooler.
 
a heavy-duty, double-corrugated 36" cardboard box
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A couple weeks ago, I happened to be at a place that processed chickens. I bought a case(40lbs) of fresh wings for a cookout. The chicken came in heavy plastic bags placed in a cardboard box. But the cardboard box was a thicker/heavier than normal cardboard box that had like a waxy/plastic coating on it.

I would bet a box like this placed inside a cooler filled with ice, topped with dry ice would keep wrapped meat for a very,very long time. Especially if the cooler was taped shut as well.
 
Unless I could wash it down and disinfect it,I'd be leary of introducing a container that held fresh chicken to my meat cooler.Chicken is pretty famous for salmonella.Just my opinion.

While I appreciate the value of dry ice,in my experience the meat may very well freeze.I'll leave it up to you to decide if that is a problem,but,if it is still in quarters or large boneless chunks,that may mean thawing and cutting,then re-freezing.There is a problem with ice crystals and cell walls and losing juices.It is best to freeze meat only once.

Dry ice is great for keeping a cooler of backup ice frozen.I suppose a thermometer could be inserted to the cooler drain hole to monitor.All of the meat must stay under 40 deg f.,and colder is better.
 
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Unless I could wash it down and disinfect it,I'd be leary of introducing a container that held fresh chicken to my meat cooler.Chicken is pretty famous for salmonella.Just my opinion.
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You are correct HiBC. I wasn't promoting using the same boxes the chicken came in but rather new/unused boxes like them.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
Mythbusters proved the salt trick. I am not quite sure how, but they dropped the temperature around 5 degrees by adding a good amount of salt to it. I always buy block ice or freeze some 2 litre bottles and cut the plastic off before i use them. If cold air drops, wouldn't you be better off putting all your ice on top of your meat instead of layering it?
 
ChasingWhitetail brings up a good point - for the 'salt trick' to work well, you have to add a significant amount (like 5 ounces per gallon).
 
Gee never made ice cream? Salt and ice are used to make it frozen. Used on fishing boats too.
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That does make the food (ice cream) colder faster but it also makes the ice melt faster. In effect it transfers heat energy from the food into the ice. Since the original purpose of this thread was to make ice last longer, adding salt might not be the ideal option.
 
Adding salt doesn't make the ice colder, it melts the ice, the resulting water is held at ice temperature by the remaining ice and the surface area in contact with the food/meat/ice cream container is greatly increased.

The specific heat capacity of water is much higher than that of ice, so it can absorb more heat than the ice can. However, deep frozen ice is typically much colder than salty ice water, so it's a trade-off.
 
Making ice last long time
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Everybody has their way in trying to make ice last longer. Considering what the cost was to hunt the animal who's meat your happily bringing home. All in all you have to watch your coolers ice level when transporting fresh meat in warm weather. Ice is cheap. No doubt about that. Why chance excessive raw meat blood loss.
The only problem I've encountered with my bring meat home. {and I'm sure others have done the same} Was the coolers placement in the pick-up box as we were packing up to come home. Once by me and once by my son. I have to admit I shot myself in the foot a couple times not watching close enough where the coolers were not located for ease of access too when the time came to check on them at the end of a days ride.
 
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if you make ice in blocks and dont brake it up into small pieces it will last alot longer.
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I use half gallon plastic juice bottles, fill, freeze, and put the whole bottles in the cooler. Great for food or anything else you don't want floating in water as it melts. When the loose ice is all melted, these are still 3/4 frozen.
 
You can also use plastic 1 gallon milk jugs that have been cleaned. When the ice melts, you still have water to drink. Remember to fill below the neck just to the lower sholder area and put the cap back on. The ice will expand to just below the cap.
 
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