Packing cupboards & Fridge for camping trip

[CiborgFL]

We just got a new 2017 Jayco 16XRB hybrid and prior campers we had were popups. We are perplexed on how to pack the trailer in preparation in for a camping trip regarding stocking the fridge and cupboards for perishable and non-perishable food and other items.
What would you do regarding stocking the fridge? We will prechill the fridge before departure and maybe stock it, but how do you keep it cold while traveling? Any other recommendations on how to pack the fridge?
What about stocking cupboards with non-perishable groceries and supplies? Any advice on this?

[Northern Jay]

Run the fridge on propane while travelling. I do that all the time. PerIshbles Should be removed after each trip if it will be a while before heading out again. Non perishables.we generally leave in for the season.

Happy Camping

[CiborgFL]

Thanks! What about when you go to a gas station to refuel with the propane on to the fridge? Do you turn the propane off before entering the station?

[Northern Jay]

Heck no. TT here is a 28BHBE. TV is 3500xcab LB. Fridge is some 25-30 ft away from fuel fill and on opposite side of TT. Even with Slide in camper I don't turn of fridge or even furnace while travelling as they are also opposite side from fuel fill. I know I will get the "riot act", but this is how we roll.
Happy Camping

[Jagiven]

The frig is supposed to keep cold for 6-8 hours while traveling with it off. Often if we are only going a few hours away I leave it off. Anything over that I travel with the frig off.

If we arw leaving Friday we turn the frig on Tuesday evening. Grocery shop wednesday evening.

When we get home we turn the frig off, and unload it. After cleaning the frig, there are a few clips to keep the door ajar, so it can beeath, and not mold.

Non perishables, typically stay in the tt. We also leave all our dishes, utensils, bedding in the tt too. In order to go, all we need to do is grocery shop, and toss in our clothes, everything else stays in the tt.

[Tunce the traveler]

On a 6-7 hour drive the frig. will stay way cold enough so no need to worry. The very first thing I do when pulling into a spot is power up.

[Marcm157]

We travel with propane on for most trips and has been stated, Trailer is far from the fuel pumps. We have also on occasion used cold packs in the fridge to keep food cold without using propane. As far as the cupboards go, we load heavy stuff like cans and bottles in the lowest possible cabinets and the lighter stuff up top. It will only take 1 Glass jar of strawberry preserves to drop from a top shelf while in route to convince you to load this way.(Ask me how I know!!!)

We also use "Baby Proof" latches on all our drawers and cabinet doors. We bought the type that you can rotate 90 degrees when not needed. We added them after the strawberry preserves incident.

[Jm9301]

Ahh yes the age old Propane when towing question. If you poke around the forums here you will see there is a lot of heated discussion about this.

I also have a 2016 XRB, My non perishables go in the cupboard above the couch and i have not once had it pop open or anything crazy like that (and the wife likes to take enough for 15x what we need sometimes :-P) The latches on all of the cupboards are super firm i have found and i quite appreciate it. As for keeping the fridge cold, i generally leave my trailer plugged in at home, but when i don't i give the fridge a day or so to cool off before we are to leave. I have yet to run anywhere with the propane on, and my longest single day drive without power was 8.5 hours, on that particular trip i threw an ice pack in the freezer (got to keep those freezies cool!) and off we went. The fridge was still somewhat cool when we arrived and everything was fine.

Just think of the Fridge as a large cooler. It seems to hold its cool really well as long as you don't go opening it while its off.

[NVGun40]

We travel with refrigerator off. The longest we have made was a 10 hour day with no issues, but the outside temperatures were moderate and that was pushing the envelope. As has been said, 6-8 hours should be easy. Think about it like this this: what happens when the power goes out at your home several hours?
When we de-winterize our rig in preparation for the season, we turn the refrigerator on (electric). Our rig is always plugged in at the house. We fill it up with the items which need refrigeration sans things which can spoil over long term storage in a refrigerator (those we stock for every trip, and remove when we get back home).
Non-perishables, we leave in the cupboards year round. In fact, the trailer is pretty much stocked 100% of the time with clothing, bedding, dry goods etc. In the event of an emergency, the trailer can be brought up online with very little prep and lived in if necessary.

[koko]

We travel with fridge on. We cool it down a day in advance. We do a lot of pre-freezing. We make pre-made breakfast burritos, lasagna, soups, gravy for bisquits and gravy-we buy frozen bisquits) and freeze them. Then, if we're on a long trip, they don't mold and are easy to defrost prior to eating. Some things, like breakfast burritos, don't even need to be thawed before cooking. We buy lots of dehydrated or freeze-dried fruits, because fruit has a tendency to mold very quickly. We don't take anything glass unless absolutely necessary. As someone else said, if we take canned goods, we are careful where we store them so that the weight doesn't damage shelves in a bouncing RV. We pack cereal, crackers, etc. in plastic air-tight containers. We leave all non-perishables in the camper for the whole season. Lastly, ziploc bags are a must for us. We pack everything in them, because we travel in so many varying altitudes that we don't want things to explode all over the fridge or cabinets. Nothing's worse than mustard or ketchup or honey or maple syrup or salad dressing all over the place (we speak from experience on this)!

[bansai]

There is a mega thread / poll on here somewhere about the fridge at the gas station question.

Long story short is do whatever you are comfortable with. Depending on the time of year and where we are camping, I don't find the need to have my fridge running at all while on the road.. but during the summer months, I'll keep it running 24/7 on propane if that's all that is available.

[Jagiven]

One thing not mentioned; When you open the frig or cabinets for the first time after traveling, open them SLOWLY, as things tend to shift, and sometimes things will fall. So far, we have had a few things fall out of the frig and pantry, but NOTHING has broken open yet (Knock on wood).

[Crabman]

Originally Posted by bansai

There is a mega thread / poll on here somewhere about the fridge at the gas station question.

Long story short is do whatever you are comfortable with. Depending on the time of year and where we are camping, I don't find the need to have my fridge running at all while on the road.. but during the summer months, I'll keep it running 24/7 on propane if that's all that is available.

Some classic questions and some polls are timeless...Here it is


http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f1...oll-15414.html

[BCK]

We find at least a rough meal plan for lunches and dinners helps to keep the food packed to a reasonable volume. We have found if we don't then we usually end up back home with half of the food untouched.

During the summer we don't go very long between trips so the fridge stays on and all the condiments etc. stay in for the season and just perishables are taken out.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

One thing not mentioned; When you open the frig or cabinets for the first time after traveling, open them SLOWLY, as things tend to shift, and sometimes things will fall. So far, we have had a few things fall out of the frig and pantry, but NOTHING has broken open yet (Knock on wood).

+1!!

We had a jar of pickled okra fall out of the fridge and break on the floor. So, we proceed with caution when opening the fridge after traveling. Most of our "cupboard" stuff doesn't tend to move because the space is very narrow and stuff is packed against other stuff.

I bring the TT home from storage and run the fridge on shore power for the week before we leave (I make ice in trays, so I'm constantly making ice throughout the week to build up a supply). One or two days before departure, I go to the grocery store and fill the fridge. It runs for at least another 12 hrs on shore power, then it's on propane until we get to another source of shore power.

We travel with the fridge on propane. I am cautious in the event we need to stop for fuel, not to let the fridge be near a filling station. Most of the time, it's hanging 30 feet out into a driving lane anyway! LOL! Seriously though, I just keep that side of the trailer far away from fuel vapors, which is very easy to do in most cases since my rig is SO long, and the fridge is on the opposite side of my truck's fuel fill.

For all those who say the fridge should go 6-8 hours while off without causing concern, what about when it's 110 outside? I'm simply not willing to take the chance on food spoilage.

[SteveMM]

I'm not the most experienced RVer here, and I haven't gone on really long trips, but I know what good coolers can do and I know what happens in my home fridge when the power goes out. I don't see a need to drive around with something running in my camper that's powered by propane. Like others, I turn the fridge on a day or so before it's time to leave, then pack it full of whatever I'm taking. When I arrive at my destination, it's just fine. If you're really concerned, cool off the fridge *and* put a couple of ice packs in there. No one is opening and closing the fridge while you're in transit, so you should be just fine.

[BonnieL]

In our 16XRB we put spices, pancake mix, noodles, etc in the cabinet above and to the right of the sink so the "chef" can easily reach those items while cooking. Small appliances (single waffle maker, 1.5 qt. crockpot) go in the angled cabinet that is just inside the trailer door. Dog food goes on the bottom shelf of the angled cabinet. Pots/pans and "junk drawer" basket go in the cabinet below the stove. Canned goods/boxes are above the couch on the left in plastic cubes I bought at Office Depot. They nest so you can stack them and get more items in the cabinet. Dishes and cups are above the couch on the right so someone can set the table and not interfere with the person cooking. Heavier items (laundry soap, cast iron Dutch oven, BBQ utensils) go below the dinette seats. Extra sheets, blankets, towels are shoved in the storage space below the one bunk. Since there are only two of us, I can store two weeks of meat in the freezer. I have a "Foodsaver" vacuum sealing contraption that I love! You can seal items into small servings that will stack in the freezer and not take up so much space. My husband packs his clothes into a large duffel that sits on the bunk near the bathroom. I pack my clothes into "packing cubes" and spread them on the shelf across the top bunk next to the dinette. We have over-the-door racks to hang towels in the bathroom and plastic pockets hanging on the door for those bathroom items that don't fit into the small cabinet. This will be our third season with the hybrid and we love it! It was a great step up for us from the pop-up we had used for years!

[mike837go]

X3 on the carefully opening the fridge after setting up!


Personally, I travel with the whole propane system off.


I'm also 'odd' in that I fire up my TT for the season. Stock the fridge and cabinets and use it all summer long. Restocking as needed. Bringing up the inventory when we go boondocking.


Putting as much as possible on individual shelves (both cupboard and fridge) helps keep stuff from wandering around too much during transit.


Make sure that the doors and all cargo are secured before hitching up.


My tale of woe: A can of beans fell onto the bottom of the boot brush and ruptured the can. Cleaning up that mess was not hard, but could it would have been prevented by keeping the denser stuff on the back of the shelf and stowing the boot brush upright.

[Kim Gass]

We travel with the fridge off. We did last year when temps were between freezing and 95.

We don't use the freezer so it is easy to find room fore some 2 liter soda bottles or smaller filled with water and frozen before the start of the trip. Heck all I have to do now is throw them filled with water in the trailer anywhere.

Those frozen containers keep the fridge well cooled for ten hours. I just hate using propane when I don't have to. Maybe that's why we did 50 days with 30 lbs.

At this time of the year stocking the TT ahead of time with canned goods is not a good idea.. Its 2 degrees. Things do explode at that temp. We are leaving next week and frozen food is my concern traveling the first part of the trip in zero temps.. We might have to travel with the heat on....

[Jm9301]

We pulled 100% of the edible stuff out of our camper before storing it for the winter, but it does get to -35c here and the mice like to find a place to hide.