5 Cooler Tips for a one night glamping trip

A one night glamping trip is easy to pack for, but still takes organization.

We’re having a photo shoot at Dollar Lake Provincial Park tomorrow morning and will need dinner for five and breakfast for eight.

There’s no electricity and to save Tilly’s battery we’ve decided to take a strategic approach to organising the coolers and skip turning on the fridge.

So how do we do it with style?

one cooler for breakfast
one for dinner
one for bevvies
and a pantry basket with non-cooler goods
Packing coolers ‘by meal’ for an overnight glamping trip is an organized way to save rooting for individual items, and keeps the chill in your coolers.

In the dinner cooler we’ve packed:

cubed steak marinated in lime, sweet Thai chili sauce, herbs, spicy oil and garlic
skewers (Cooler Trick #1: As the ice melts the skewers will soak and be ready for barbecued steak & pepper kabobs)
tzatziki dip
bell peppers, pre-chopped into chunks and marinated in balsamic vinegar, blood orange fused oil and herbs
two tins of brown beans
bananas (for post-dinner banana boats)
chocolate chips (for the banana boats)

Cooler Trick #2: using a small grill over the ice layer can help keep cooler items dry as ice melts, but it’ll eventually sink along with the ice if not propped above something stable.

Keep eggs in a camping container to protect against messy cracks and soggy cartons. A staple on Canadian Tire camping shelves and camping stores.

For breakfast we’ll be cooking up tortilla wraps filled with scrambled eggs and a selection of toppings. We’ve packed:

oranges for slicing
ground coffee
2 packs of whole wheat tortilla wraps
12 eggs
2-3 green onion
pre-washed cherry tomatoes, rocket and spinach
grated cheese
Sirracha sauce
berries
and a porridge breakfast bar including: porridge, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds & flax & raisins
butter

Cooler Trick #3: A flexible tub from the dollar store inserted into the cooler prevents items from getting water-logged as ice melts. Cooler Trick #4:We love the idea of freezing empty milk jugs with water to use as an ice block, but we’ve never enough room in our freezer to try this option.

Tiffin box is a hold-all porridge bar stacked with oatmeal, berries, and a three section layer containing dried cranberries, raisins & seeds.

Our colourful Tiffin Box makes a handy porridge bar:

One layer blackberries
One layer instant porridge
The orange layer has three sections for raisins, dried cranberries & seeds and flax

The drinks cooler is par-for-the-course staples: milk, juice, evening beverages, bottles of water and any little extras that won’t fit in the other two, stackable coolers. Cooler Trick #5: Ziplock bag your drinks cartons to avoid soggy, leaky cartons.