Food Storage in a Trailer

[dossfc]

Question for you travel vets...we own an Airstream trailer and note that it gets rather warm when closed up during the day. We have concerns about food storage (oils, can goods, etc.) when the trailer is closed up. Since we think most trailers are about the same, where do you store your like items to keep the from the heat and fresh?

[moosetags]

First off, Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us.

As to your question, we store our non-refrigerated food items in the pantry and cabinets in our Airstream. We have twelve years experience in Airstream travel with almost 1,900 nights camping.

We have never had any problems with food going bad from the heat.

Brian

[dossfc]

Originally Posted by moosetags

First off, Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us.

As to your question, we store our non-refrigerated food items in the pantry and cabinets in our Airstream. We have twelve years experience in Airstream travel with almost 1,900 nights camping.

We have never had any problems with food going bad from the heat.

Brian

Moosetags,

Do appreciate the kind welcome and your food storage experience. We live here in New Mexico and temps get in the 80 and 90’s. The trailer when closed up and no air conditioner running gets into the mid 80’s. If we may ask, when you’re parked during your adventures, and you’ve closed up your trailer, do you leave any fans or perhaps the A/C running? We use a lot to canned and boxed good like tuna and chicken, not exactly heat friendly items.

V/R

DOSSFC

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by moosetags

First off, Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us.

As to your question, we store our non-refrigerated food items in the pantry and cabinets in our Airstream. We have twelve years experience in Airstream travel with almost 1,900 nights camping.

We have never had any problems with food going bad from the heat.

Brian

Ditto @ 11 years.

Maggie

[RamRider]

When the weather is hot we run the ac while parked or at least open vents etc

[Overstreet]

Originally Posted by RamRider

When the weather is hot we run the ac while parked or at least open vents etc

We are based in Florida. At a park when hooked up we run the AC when away from the trailer, Airstream or otherwise. That's primarily because we have a big dog in the trailer. Its "his" trailer anyway so he stays there while we kayak. Food must be away from open areas. We fill up the pantry, the overhead shelves, the wardrobe and the shower at times. We close off the shower/bed room/bathroom to keep him out of there. He loves bread or bread products. Food is stored in the microwave. He figured out the oven at home so it stays out of there. He has defeated two latching trash cans and an electrified scat mat so we have to be careful with leaving things where he can get to them.
My father, the engineer, was defeated by the scat mat.

Heat.....we remove fresh items when parking it at the RV port at home. Things like shortning, nuts, cooking oil and spices can stay for a little while but can get rancid. So the solution is only keep the things you regularily use and buy small amounts. Small space, small cans, bottles, etc.

Dry goods like flour, rice, dried beans and cornmeal can store longer. But they need to be in air tight containers. We're in the south. We've got a bug for everything and those things attract them. Ants got in my brown sugar once. They made a really bitter apple pie.

Greens............like mustards, collards, romain, iceberg, go in the frige. They go bad quickly.

[Overstreet]

Originally Posted by dossfc

Moosetags,
............ We use a lot to canned and boxed good like tuna and chicken, not exactly heat friendly items.............

Cans don't care. They were packed in heat anyway. In many cases that's how they were cooked and how they get the vacuum sealing.

Boxed goods are normally dry and can take the heat, but beware of leaving them too long. No GIANT boxes or left a long time without use.

[LBOskiBear]

If you mean when the trailer is in storage between trips (versus when you're using it and out for the day):

Food is stored in the pantry/cabinets. However, that said, we don't usually leave anything that we don't think can't handle the temperature variations. What I leave in the trailer are usually dry goods (coffee/sugar/salt/spices/flour mixes). A few canned goods and that's it.

I found that certain things don't last too well: oil and syrup so I bring those each time as needed.

We only use the trailer 2 weekends a month at the most so there is definitely a long dormancy period in between. Additionally, certain things deteriorate much faster than we can use them. We've taken to buying pretty small-sized versions of consumables that need to last a long time.

Originally, I left the cooking oil - that went rancid. The pancake syrup was pretty gross. Coffee creamers seemed OK but kinda grossed me out so I stopped buying those to leave in the trailer.

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by LBOskiBear

If you mean when the trailer is in storage between trips (versus when you're using it and out for the day):

Food is stored in the pantry/cabinets. However, that said, we don't usually leave anything that we don't think can't handle the temperature variations. What I leave in the trailer are usually dry goods (coffee/sugar/salt/spices/flour mixes). A few canned goods and that's it.

I found that certain things don't last too well: oil and syrup so I bring those each time as needed.

We only use the trailer 2 weekends a month at the most so there is definitely a long dormancy period in between. Additionally, certain things deteriorate much faster than we can use them. We've taken to buying pretty small-sized versions of consumables that need to last a long time.

Originally, I left the cooking oil - that went rancid. The pancake syrup was pretty gross. Coffee creamers seemed OK but kinda grossed me out so I stopped buying those to leave in the trailer.

We full-time. No special arrangements for dry goods. Normal pantry storage, never had a problem. We don't store huge amounts of food long-term because of space and weight concerns, so it doesn't seem likely that anything would deteriorate noticably before we used it.

I admit, I do not have proper accommodations for cellaring wine.

[Hittenstiehl]

We have a vintage trailer and mostly boondock. If we are going to be gone from the trailer during the heat of the day we will leave the roof vents open a bit to disapate the accumulation of day time heat. I will look at which windows will get sun during the day and move the fruit bowl, cooking spray and candy dish out of the way. We will close curtains during the day if needed and open windows as soon as the temps break or sun sets. We don't store any food and not to much else in the trailer at home as we live on Mars/Phoenix.