Storing food in car for a few days for a split trip

[Chad “Stick” Poindexter]

I have a 2 part hike coming up soon and am trying to figure out the best way to store my food for the second part of the hike in my car while doing the first part of the hike. The first part will only take 2.5 days (Monday thru Wednesday noon). But, I would rather store the food in the car than pack it all from the get go.

I will to attempt to park the car in a shaded area, however, until I figure out exactly where I am parking it, I won’t know for sure if it’ll be a shady area, so… The anticipated temperatures will be around mid 80’s during the day and 60’s at night. Examples of the food I will be storing will be oatmeal, raisins, pop tarts, Kind bars, Larabars, PB crackers, jerky, fruit leathers, knor sides, pepperoni, and some other similar items.

I have never measured, and doing a brief search online, don’t really come up with a good answer as to whether the interior of the car is hotter or cooler than the trunk. So, first off, any suggestions on where in a car is the better place to keep food items? I do know that the interior of a car can be many degrees hotter than the outside temperature though. Also, I would prefer not to leave the windows cracked in case it rains, so no way for any of the hot air to escape…

I have thought about getting a cooler and putting some ice in it, then putting the food in the cooler, but I jam not so sure that is truly necessary with these food choices… besides that, in the coolers I personally have, ice only lasts about a day, so it wouldn’t really work for the entire time I was gone. I guess I could store a cooler inside a cooler though, which in theory should provide a little more insulation, and the ice would last longer… I don’t know though…

Anyway, I may be overthinking this, considering it is only 2.5 days, it’s mostly dried foods, and at least temps won’t (or shouldn’t) be in the 100’s! So, curious as to what everyone else may think about this, or for suggestions as to what others may have done in similar situations.

Thanks!

[Matthew / BPL]

I don’t think you should worry about it but you could use a cooler with no ice. It will take a long time for any heat to penetrate the cooler. I’d put it low in the car (backseat floor) to avoid the hot air at the top and maybe shade it with a piece of reflectix to keep any direct solar radiation from hitting it.

[BlackHatGuy]

Should be fine in the car with what you’re packing, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. In theory, I guess, trunk should be cooler than in the passenger compartment since you don’t have the sun’s rays passing through glass to ‘help’ warm up in the interior, but don’t really know what the difference would be.

I recently left some bars (ProBar minis and meals) in my car for 8 days while hiking in Idaho. Temps during the day were generally 80s and 90s. Bars looked fine to me when I got back. I still have them for my next trip.

[Chad “Stick” Poindexter]

That’s a good idea Matthew. I could probably just put it in a bag style cooler to help keep the light from shining on it, insulating it, and then covering it with some reflectix.

And that’s good to hear about your ProBar’s after 8 days in the car Still Here!

Thanks for the input!

[Nick Gatel]

I buy food in bulk and store in my garage. It is not uncommon for some of the food to stay in the garage for a year or more. Never had a problem. The garage is not insulated. I just checked the official temp for Palm Springs, which is now 111F. Both wall thermometers in the garage read 110F. Not unusual for us to hit 120F or higher in summer. You should be fine, temperature-wise.

I do not store foods that can melt (e.g., candy) in the garage.

If you have food that can melt, store it wrapped in a spare piece of down equipment (make sure it is also in something that cannot leak, just in case).

Coolers need to be initially filled with about 75% ice. A quality 5 day cooler will work for 5 days if it is filled with 75% ice. Dry ice is another good option.

All bets are off if you store food in your car in an area where bears are active.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Jerry Adams]

I’ve had rodents eat food out of my car, so I put it in bear canister

Put insulated stuff on top and it doesn’t get too warm

Maybe chocolate would melt

[John Klinepeter]

+1 re: Jerry and the rodents.  I use an ice chest or bear canister to keep the little guys out of my food.  Necessity depends on how the food is packaged, of course.  They like to get into TP and clean clothing, too.  I have an older Honda Accord; other cars may be more critter-proof.

[Jerry Adams]

It seems like once rodents start getting in, they leave a track so more then get in

My Camry was fine for years, then started getting broken into regularly

You don’t want them to become frequent visitors, they can start doing major damage, like chewing on wires.  They can total your car.

I have a small snap trap, and leave a few bits of food on the floor so I can tell if they’re there, then trap them if so

 

 

[David Thomas]

The trunk will be cooler, especially if you keep the car windows closed.  Over the long term (many days) a good cooler will average the day and night temperatures and avoid the highest temps getting to the food.  If the cooler is leak-free, loading it up with a lot of ice will really help.  I’d suggest dumpster-diving at the recycling center for 2-liter soda bottles, filling them 80% with water, and freezing them on their side (so the air gap goes lengthwise and gives the ice room to expand into).  Advantages: no pool of water from melted ice cubes; useable water for washing / drinking when you return to the car; can be reused endlessly just like “Blue Ice” but far bigger with more “cold capacity”.

Clothes, blankets, quilts, and sleeping bags are excellent insulation.  After getting your ice chest all set up, wrap the whole thing in a beater sleeping bag or old blankets or even just bath/beach towels.  The additional R-value really makes a difference.  Sometimes I’ll even wrap in towels, then in a big trash big, then in a sleeping bag, another trash bag, etc to reduce air and water-vapor infiltration.

And if you’re going to all this trouble to keep some granola bars cool, remember to put some good beer in there, too.  Oh, and leave a few water bottles NOT in the ice chest but where they’ll get hot in the sun.  Then when you get back from your first trip, you can have a hot shower and a cold beer!

[Chad “Stick” Poindexter]

Thanks for all the replies. It sounds like I will just use a small hard-sided cooler to make sure nothing can get in and get to it. I have a bear canister too that I could use that would be easy to store in my car too… Nick, it’s good to hear about your experiences with keeping food in such high temperatures for so long. I wasn’t planing on storing any chocolate out there… unfortunately. I will bring some dark chocolate with me for the first leg of the hike though… it shouldn’t be around long enough to melt! :)

David, I will have an extra quilt, pad and tent in my car as I plan to tent before the hike, and in between the hike. So I can use the quilt to wrap it up too… And that is a good idea about using bottles to freeze water so there is not mess, or at least everything floating in water once the ice melts… And we will be heading to Damascus, VA for the second part of the hike, so I won’t need to store beers… planing on picking some up on the way! :)

[Kelly G]

If you can acquire a small medicine shipping cooler, I’ve found one of these to be excellent. Thick, basic foam. And blankets on top work well too.

Kelly

[Jason McSpadden]

It looks like you’ve got this figured out.  I will put down a +3 for the rodents! There are something about which to be careful.

[Author]

Posts