2 questions.... Wine & Vac sealing

Not sure about the wine but double bagging is like the Irishman using two condoms, To be sure, To be sure.
No difference if one seals and works ok, just higher insurance factor.

we pre cook and freeze stews soups and meats. we have our fridge as a freezer and it is no different to being at home. we take our frozen dinner out in the morning an place into a small15ltr fridge in cabin to help keep drinks and nibbles cool or cold. the fridge rearly turns on, in fact we still need to put frozen meal onto the gamma oven to finish defrosting (bonnet or bulbar). As for judys wine, we buy some small picilo.s that do not take up much room and have a screw lid that we dispose of at the next major town along with our other rubbish. old vac bags etc. We create about 1 plastic shopping bag worth of rubbish every 5days. That is our way, so hope that helps

We vac seal meat and pre freeze flat and thaw as needed. Casseroles etc in take away containers pre frozen the same.
Wine ... we always buy bulk 25l. and decant to bottles and wrap the bottles in swimming pool blanket (looks like bubble wrap) with an elastic band around.
Casks, the plastic liner will eventually break open and leak on rough roads, big mess of drenched cardboard.
The wine bottles come home for a refill.

Thanks Pinko, didn't think of the cask rubbing away and causing a mess, we've never broke a bottle in our journeys, maybe we'll just stay with them, but just over 3 weeks with not a town in site will make for a heavy Bushranger bin bashing about every day.... LOL Might have to drink more cider (cans)!

Thanks RMD, again tho we've never had issues with the vac sealed food, had read somewhere about double bagging, but didn't know if it was worth wasting the bags, wanted to see if anyone had any experience with doing it that way. Again we are 3 weeks away from all civilization and I like your thinking "insurance factor"

Thanks Gronk, yeh suppose if I drink enough cider during the day the wine will taste ok around the fire at night....LOL

I thought vacuum packing was to prevent the need for freezing.
We find red meat with no bone lasts around 6 weeks unfrozen, chicken & meat with bones around 4 weeks. Our butcher told us not to vacuum pack prepared meals with onion unless we freeze it or the pack will “blow”, so we don’t bother with onion.
I also vacuum pack pre-greased wheel bearings!

Vac packing doesn't really have to apply if you freeze ( and keep frozen ) the food, just clip lock bags will do the job, but we used to freeze it, even though it was going into the fridge. Only an extra day you save, but it helps to keep the fridge temp stable for an extra day.

If you wanted to double bag it, you could use the vac bag for the main one and a clip lock bag for the 2nd. I've done a 1/2 vac bag with clip locks by sealing it almost fully up and using a straw, sucking most of the air out and sealing it up.

Vacuum packing is only of benefit if you are going to carry your meat in the fridge. It extends the keeping time in the fridge but not in the freezer.

Austag soon you'll be a pro like Cheryl and moving on to Champagne.

You'll be the envy of all your camping buddies. As Cheryl says, "Bloody Beautiful"

I forgot, try this

Tote Wines

Tony, that's a great idea tho not suitable for our style of camping, but maybe even at home! I looked into tote, that might be a way to go, thanks!

Hey Austag, I hope you're not seriously talking about Cheryl's video as a good idea. I just found that today when I was trying to find the Tote brand of cask. Cheryl is all class.

BTW I have never tried the Tote, someone told me about it a while ago, In fact, I just ordered some to see if it is ok or not. I have a long trip coming up and you prompted me to take another look a the situation before I go. Thanks

Hi Boobook,
I also like wine with some age but often find older wines don’t travel well.
I have assumed that the shaking they receive on rough roads causes problems.
Have you ever experienced such problems or is it just me?
I’ m talking of reds more than 10 years old
Ross

It's interesting you say that Ross. On my last big trip, I took a half a dozen of my favorite wine 1998 Bin 389. ( or my favorite wine I own and can afford)

It was crap. It was September in SA so the temperature wasn't too hot but that wine just didn't travel at all well. I think the corrugations and shaking around killed it. Lesser wines survived a lot better.

Now I take wines around 4 years old. They do seem to fare better. I thought it was just me because the '98 is getting close to the edge anyway. BTW, it was $30 a bottle in 2001. That looks awfully cheap now.

Hi Tony,
That is amazing as the 98 389 is one of my favourite wines and it was that same wine I was thinking about when I wrote about old wines not travelling
Like you I don"t buy 389 anymore due to price.
Fortunately I bought a considerable quantity of the 98 as it was such a great year
The best since 1990.
Sorry about being off topic folks
Ross

LOL, yes tongue in cheek Tony

.

Bogan Bordeaux.

If you are "slight wine snobs" then I suggest you forget cask wine.


I hate any sort of wine....can't stand the stuff, but the wife likes it and is a regular cask drinker, but she likes a fruity white wine which is usually not a "connoisseur" type wine, which means a cask is OK by her.

I'm a beer drinker and sometimes you gotta drink what suits the area you are going to....which means cans for places with no bins available. Amazing how many cans you can fit in a normal shopping plastic bag ( squashed down of course ), which can easily be transported back to civilization.

Thanks Michelle, good idea, will try that. Will hit Dan Murphys on the weekend for our test box....LOL

A girl after my own heart Michelle.

For Gin and tonic, I bought a cheap Soda stream and make tonic water, With a bit of lime it is almost a good as schweppes.

Tawney Port - oh dear. If it was an alternative to red from 6PM the night would get pretty messy. I remember a friend said that once you start drinking port over a camp fire, you go through a "portal" into a parallel world where you know everything, and can solve every problem.

The only issue is that none of that wisdom, knowledge or problem solving can pass back into the real world the next morning.

Soda stream don't make "tonic" water unless you infuse the water with the quinine.
What you will be making is soda water!

And nothing would convince me to drink quinine - not even with gin (bleeerrk!)!

One of the better cask wines is the deBortoli selection in 4L casks. A single-handed sailer mate used to discard the cask and just keep the bladder in a plastic box. Never had one "disgorge" the contents, even in some fairly rough seas!

Don't forget - if you're carrying cans on rough roads, ensure they have a layer of cardboard under them to prevent abrasion from rough road movement, wearing holes in the bottom of the cans!

Some enthusiastic young blokes I employed once, related their story to me, about how they threw their couple of cartons of XXXX into the trailer, and went 4WD-ing through many kms of dunes and fishing tracks, to their favourite camping spot.

After getting settled, their thoughts turned to a few nice "coldies" - and they then discovered that EVERY SINGLE CAN of the XXXX, was COMPLETELY EMPTY! - thanks to the constant abrasion on the bottom of the cans, caused by the bouncing trailer, creating pinholes in the bottom of the cans!!

They related how the gloom that settled over their camp was palpable, it lasted for the length of their camping trip, and it was their unhappiest camping trip they could ever remember!!

Cheers, Ron.

Johnat said "Soda stream don't make "tonic" water unless you infuse the water with the quinine.
What you will be making is soda water!"

Well I guess I must have been imagining it all these years Johnat.

Sodastream Tonic - With Quinine

Ah Boobook - that really made me chuckle until I realised that its all so very true!!