How long can you keep cooked food in a cooler with ice?

Question

I'm going camping soon and it was suggested that i cook some foods first and just take it with me, specifically i was wondering about scrambled eggs and also about sausage?

Answer 1

Cooked eggs for a picnic should be packed in an insulated cooler with enough ice or frozen gel packs to keep them cold.
Don't put the cooler in the trunk—carry it in the air-conditioned passenger compartment of the car.
If taking cooked eggs to work or school, pack them with a small frozen gel pack or a frozen juice box.


Perishable foods that are normally in the refrigerator, such as luncheon meats, cooked meat, chicken, and potato or pasta salads, must be kept in an insulated cooler with freezer packs or blocks of ice to keep it at 4º C (40º F) or below.
Refrigerate or freeze food the day before you pack it for a trip.
When packing a cooler, put your meat or poultry on the bottom, and then pack food in reverse order, so that the foods packed on top are the ones you expect to use first.
Keep the cooler in the coolest part of the car, and place it in shade or shelter, away from direct sunlight. Keep the cooler closed as much as possible.
Consider using one cooler for beverages and another for perishable foods, since the beverage cooler is likely to be opened more frequently.
Put leftovers back in the cooler as soon as you are finished eating.
Discard all perishable foods once the ice or freezer packs in your cooler have melted.
The simple rule is: When in doubt, throw it out.



There are some valuable info here about it:
http://www.edining.ca/viewarticle.asp?ID=191

http://www.delawareriver.net/campingtip.php

Answer 2

You must keep the internal temperature of the food below 41 degrees F in order to insure safety from food-bourne illness. If the food is above 41 degrees F for more than 4 hours you need to throw it away (and that is 4 total hours, i.e. if it is above 41 for 2 hours and you re-chill it to below 41 and then the temp rises again at that point you only have 2 hours). Especially when dealing with high risk foods like eggs and other proteins.

Hope that Helps!

Answer 3

It also depends on outside ambient temperatures, how often the cooler is opened, how cool the food was when you put it in.

If you have a large cooler and use block ice you can keep your stuff as long as you could in your refrigerator. Just make sure to 1) Keep it in the shade 2) Only open it as needed(use a seperate cooler for drinks and 3) do not return hot food to it.

Answer 4

It will depend on the temperature you will be able to maintain, if you can keep it below 30degrees you will keep it a lot longer than if it's around 40degrees. If it's around 40 or below it should be good 3 days, If it's below 30 it should be good a week. Have fun.