over the years we have allways had to tag along a cooler, firstly to keep down the traffic in and out of the RV (bugs and dirt reduction strategy) as well secondly longer trips (more than 4 days, theres never enough room for the refreshments, pop water wine and beer for 4 to 5 of us in the rv fridge, looking at a hand full of receipts we noticed at a couple places we payed as much as $4 per bag of ice, and it was the cheap hollow ice cubes that melt fast, and we went through 2 to 3 bags a day figuring that out for 10 days we spent about $80 on ice like WTF so I was tossing around getting a 3 cubic foot bar fridge, its small enough to pick up and move around (empty) put a couple handles on it to make it easier to lift, and bring it instead of a cooler. I saw them on sale at CTC for $140anyone else consider this or doing this instead of paying a small fortune for frozen water??

Block ice is the answer. Beer tastes better out of a cooler.

How about a portable ice maker?

How about a portable ice maker and a cooler? The ice maker should be small enough to store inside the cooler.

We keep a small dorm fridge in the TT to supplement the TT fridge. Crank the thermostat down in it and it will keep the beer (and anything else) good and frosty. We set ours up on a folding table under the awning. If the wind picks up and we have to put the awning in, we keep a tarp to cover the table and fridge. Beats the heck outa buying ice every day.

What kind of cooler do you have? I have a Coleman Xtreme cooler and I can keep ice in it for 4 days. Even milk and other perishable items are great.The thing with a fridge is that it will take time to cool down. We have a small bar fridge in our front storage that came with our TT. We load it up with brews before a trip so everything is nice and cold already. When we get to the CG we plug in and the fridge gets to work again but everything is ALREADY cold to begin with.

bar fridge or cooler | Good Sam Community

15 Replies

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jun 12, 2013
Years ago the campground where I spent many a weekend decided to start charging extra for electricity.. now on a hot day in August I' might well spend 11.00 for ice.. But they wanted 4 bucks for electricity.

So I went to Sears and got a small Fridge (Doorm/office size) for 100 bucks (This was a LONG time ago) and never bought another ice cube/block from them again.. Plus the food came out of the fridge nicer.

Sold the fridge for 25 bucks when I got the class A.

So they got 4.00 a night for power.. And I saved 7.00 a night.. Got better food, and well, 10 nights (And I used it way more than10 nights) and the fridge was free.
kevden
Explorer
Jun 11, 2013
We used a supplemental cooler also with our last camper for the same reasons as you. The ice lasted a little longer after we bought one of the extreme coolers previously mentioned. Our new TT came with an outdoor kitchen with an electric fridge. I added an inverter and an automatic transfer switch to power it while travelling or boondocking, and it has been great. I do like my beer ice cold, though, so lately I have been thinking about the cooler.
sausageking
Explorer
Jun 11, 2013
I take a cooler and portable ice maker. The ice maker sits on the counter and when it needs emptying we start filling up a ziplock bag and put in freezer of rv fridge, when bag is full we dump in cooler, oh and when you want a mix drink the ice is in the machine waiting for you. I bought our ice maker from Canadian Tire, works great and on our second season, great for house parties as well.
relaxin
Explorer
Jun 11, 2013
I have a good cooler, but when taking out and adding in it tends to make the ice disappear as well with the kids they have to look for that one illusive flavor in there and have the cooler open and be stirring everything up.
what I was thinking is I don't need it for weekenders trips, but when I am out for like 5 to 10 days then there is plenty of time to cool down and that would be allot of ice I don't have to get, and I would just leave it in the garage on those short trips

now the ice maker sound like it may be a feasible idea, don't they need a permanent water hook up?
MPI_Mallard
Explorer
Jun 11, 2013
I remember every two days going up to the camp-ground office and shelling out $6 for two bags of frozen water to keep my beer cold,i have one of those small fridges that I keep in my side storage bay just for my beerit'll hold almost two 24's of cans with a little freezer for those freezies for da' grandkids(I use them for bribing them to re-stock the beer)and with a 1000 watt inverter in my truck we leave it in the rear of the cab for pop,water,sandwiches and such when we go to Florida,works like a charm. We also have a Amana residential fridge with an ice-maker in the fiver which cranks ot tons of ice to use in out smaller travel coolers!

Red Green:

They say necessity is the
mother of invention,
don't know who
the father is,
probably remorse.
Ronnie2Bennett
Explorer
Jun 11, 2013
We have a family of 5 and what we do is take those little frozen pops/chilly willy things with us. When we go to the pool,ocean,waterslides etc then we just put 4 or 5 beers, 3 or 4 gatorades, a couple juice boxes in the cooler and put about 15-20 freeze pops on top of them. They keep the drinks cold all day and the kids can eat a couple pops wherever we are. Then when we get back to the camper we just throw them back in the freezer and freeze them for the next day to repeat the process. One box usually lasts the whole week while we are using them as refreezable ice and eating as popsicles...best of both worlds!!!
aruba5er
Explorer
Jun 10, 2013
I had a dorm refer and it worked well but we didn"t always have 120 volts so I got a small thermo-electric by IGLOO. 12 vdc or 120vac. Works great but is a battery sucker. 5 amps all the time. Doesn"t have a thermostat. takes a while to cool down a load so put stuff in cold, or use ice also. Looks just like a icebox except for the fan. Wasn't real expensive. Around $70 if I remember right.
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Jun 10, 2013
I was staying at the Kentucky Horse Park CG and watched a camper come in with a FULL size refrigerator in the back of his pick up!!
He had drilled holes and attached handles on the side and two people easily picked that beast out of the truck and along side their camper!!

He had that filled to the brim with beer. They were planning on some serious partying. The freezer was stocked with nothing but ice for the pop for the kiddies and the non drinkers. They had a good time that weekend and they were great camping neighbors.
skipnchar
Explorer
Jun 09, 2013
Works fine as long as you're staying in RV Parking lots and not campgrounds. Not so good if you don't have that 120 volt power though. We've always fed new refreshments through our fridge on a daily basis, stocking enough to last a day then filling it again before bed time so we're ready for the next day. Just didn't like the idea of being tied to an RV park when traveling and missing out on all that scenery found in the back country.
Good luck / Skip
Tothill
Explorer
Jun 09, 2013
We rarely have hook-ups so we use ice, freezer packs and a cooler.

Before we leave home I freeze juice boxes, the freezer packs, as much as I can that freezes easily and thaws nicely. I rotate the freezer packs through the RV freezer (they freeze up firm overnight). And only buy block ice. We do not buy much ice, our drinks are cold.