Neat Idear...ice chest cold packs and extra water.

[unm1136]

Just reading my latest Cook's Illustrated, and came across this idea. Get a couple boxes of wine. Drink it, cook with it. Now that it is the summer make the Mrs. Sangria (wine,fruit juice, club soda, sliced fruit). Enjoy a glass or two with dinner for the health benefits. Or find a friend in the restaurant business to save you their empties. When empty open the box. Take out the polyethelene or mylar bladder and disassemble the valve. Wash. Fill 1/2 to 3/4 full with clean tap water. Either freeze flat or freeze in the box. Pack them in your cooler, doing a little tetris action. The boxes will likely add a bit of insulation, keeping it frozen longer. There is also less surface area than cubes, slowing the melt. Keep them in your cooler while you hunt, and have a dry source of cold for your hard earned meat. If you need to hike back in for more meat or your camp, you have cold water, 1.5-3.5 liters to drink, packaged for the hike back in.

pat

 

[fillthefreezer]

ive heard once you finish the bag, you can blow it up as a pillow for the impending passing out

 

[unm1136]

Deploy the airbag?

 

[colonel00]

Interesting idea. I wonder if you could modify the valve to be a quick disconnect for your hydration system. If you have to hike back in you just swap bladders and off you go. I guess the sizes of the bladders in the wine boxes might be a bit different from a typical hydration bladder though.

 

[larryschwartz]

I use them as a lightweight dirty water bag to use with my Hiker Pro filter.

 

[NEhunter]

I have been collecting half gallon milk jugs to freeze full of water and line my cooler with for the same reason.

 

[Hardstalk]

I have been collecting half gallon milk jugs to freeze full of water and line my cooler with for the same reason.

I go with 7 full frozen gallon jugs about 10 bags of ice and 25 lbs of dry ice. (Homemade cooler) keeps for 10 days. I wonder if I throw one of these wine boxes in full of wine if it would freeze and make for a sweet celebration slushy

 

[mtbshark]

Hmmm not a bad idea might have yo try it.
I have been using my empty 32oz Gatorade bottles. Fillem 3/4 with water and freeze, last lots longer than cubes

 

[Brock A]

I go with the gallon milk jugs too. Works well.

 

[HellsCanyon]

I know that they have actually mixed sawdust with water and froze it (pykrete). Lasts somethin like 12x longer before it melts but I'm not sure if it'll be as effective at keeping a cooler cold. Need to research it a bit more.

Mike

 

[Becca]

I do something similar when we haul a cooler along on trips with the Polaris 6x6's. Have had bad luck with the regular gallon jugs splitting in rough terrain (the coolers take a real jostling, no matter how well you pack them) so I went to heavier water jugs like these:

Freeze two solid in our chest freezer, and throw them in with the food around them when we leave the house. Last year they lasted 6 days in September for moose hunting. Granted the overnight temps were in the 30's but I was still pleased with them. Once they thaw, you have several extra gallons of drinking water!

 

[bbrown]

I had the same problem with the milk jugs but I switched to Simply Orange juice containers - they take up less room, have yet to crack one and no more soggy water soaked cooler stuff . Plus in a pinch you have clean drinking water...

Always have at least 2 in the freezer ready to go.