Meat in cooler question

[Gulfgoose]

For those who avoid getting the meat wet, how do you store meat in a cooler with ice?
I've always put my whitetail in the ice/water mix prior to last year, but after reading about the bacteria spreading by water I've started putting the meat in garbage bags and keeping it from direct contact with the ice and water, but the meat seems to stay wet from its own moisture in the garbage bag. So it seems there wouldn't be any benefit.
I've considered putting a wire rack on blocks with the ice on bottom and meat on the rack, but wonder how well the temperature would maintain at the top of a standard cooler?

Best you can do is keep the drain plug open and flowing freely and have the cooler at an angle. A short wire rack on bottom with nothing under it will also help you to keep water off of the meat.

 

[Newt]

Best you can do is keep the drain plug open and flowing freely and have the cooler at an angle. A short wire rack on bottom with nothing under it will also help you to keep water off of the meat.

How do you keep the meat and ice separate? Does the ice or ice bag not contact the meat at all?

 

[jspradley]

How do you keep the meat and ice separate? Does the ice or ice bag not contact the meat at all?

You could do that, but it's not gonna stay completely dry in the cooler since its so moist.

I generally don't worry about ice contacting the meat too much I just try to keep the meat from being submerged.

 

[Trial153]

Lay my cutting board, or waxed card board or a garbage bag ...over the ice and meat sits on top. With the drain cracked everything stay cold and dry

 

[Arctic Hunter]

Early bow season for whitetails when it’s extremely hot, I put the meat in garbage bags and layer ice and meat all the way to the top of the cooler.

I add ice every day or two and prop it up to drain. I’ve left meat in the cooler like this for a week before with no issues.

This goes against what I was taught growing up, however I don’t recall the people saying it ever telling me about any real experience loosing meat that got wet and the circumstances behind it.

My theory is, If you can’t get it cold, then I would suggest not getting it wet.

 

[Marble]

Just put it in a contractors bag if you plan on putting it directly in ice. It wont hurt a damn thing.

 

[Newt]

My theory is, If you can’t get it cold, then I would suggest not getting it wet.

I think that's an excellent theory. My number one goal is to get the meat as cold as possible as soon as possible. Water is a way better thermal conductor than air, so submerging in an ice bath is the quickest way to cool meat.

 

[cmc9341616]

Frozen gallon ziploc bags on the bottom. Frozen quart jugs on top.