[Sca-cooks] things they dont explain about Pennsic

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- Kirsten Houseknecht
<kirsten at fabricdragon.com> wrote:
> Things no one told me about Pennsic until I was
> there.....
> 

> 10. food storage and eating
> 
> ice, lots of ice.  replace/add  ice frequently.
>  buy the best cooler you can
> get.  even if you do not plan on cooking store
> at least drinks in there....
> 
> wash your hands.  not just the alcohol goo..
> soap and water.
> 
> use a light amount of bleach on the rinse water
> of your dishes. dry dishes
> thoroughly
> 
> bring gateraid or similar drinks, and CUT THEM
> by half with water.
> 
> freeze all meats solid before leaving home. 
> use them as they thaw out in
> the cooler.
> 
> if the heat makes you lose your appetite, at
> least eat something salty and
> drink water. you MUST eat some salt in hot
> weather.  this does not have to
> be a lot, but some!

Thank you Kirsten.

I have never been to Pennsic.  I have always
dreamed of going, but now I am beginning to 
change my dream, after reading your list.

However, I have been to quite a few Caidan and
Atenveldt wars and so I wish to talk about ice
at wars.

Ice comes in four versions.  Crushed, cubes,
blocks and dry.  The greater the surface that
you have on your ice the faster it melts. 
Therefore, crushed ice is all surface and melts
the fastest.  Cubes melts pretty fast.  Block
ice melts pretty slowly.  Dry ice doesn't melt,
it evaporates, but its evaporation time is the
slowest of all.

Crushed and cubed ice is best for putting in
drinks and for quick chilling.  A bag of either
usually will not last more than 5-7 hours by
itself in an ice chest.  This depends a lot on 
the outside weather temps.  The hotter it is the
faster they melt.  The cooler it is the slower
they melt.

Block and dry ice are best for keeping your
ice chests cool/cold long term.

There are several ways of getting block ice.
1) buy it from an ice merchant. Usually in 10 lbs
blocks, although my local ice merchant is willing
to cut blocks in half for me.
2) take clean plastic milk bottles and fill them
with water and freeze them in your freezer [if
you have room].

Usually, a 10 lbs block of ice will take 2-3 days
to melt completely in an ice chest.  If cut in
half, the 5 lbs blocks will last only two days.
Home made milk bottle ice blocks usually last
one day, but can give you cold drinking water
at the same time.

My local ice merchant sells dry ice in 7 lbs
blocks.  However, because dry ice is so cold, it
freezes anything that it touches for long periods
of time.  A 7 lbs block of ice usually lasts
4 days, depending on the outside temps.  The
neat thing about dry ice is that when it
evaporates it doesn't leave water behind, so
your ice chest doesn't need to be drained.

When I go to a war, I usually bring two ice
chests.  One for immediate use and for items
that should not be frozen.  The second for
use later in the war and for items that need
to be kept frozen.  I have been known to bring
ice cream and frozen juice bars to wars.

In the first ice chest, I put one 5 lbs block
of ice and one bag of cubed ice.  In the second
chest, I put one 7 lbs block of dry ice and
the other 5 lbs block of ice.  The block of ice
is kept next to and frozen by the dry ice and
buffers the intense cold from the food.  I then
put things in like ice cream or meats I don't 
mind having frozen until I need them.  I once put
a carton of fresh orange juice in this chest and
had to remove it every day one or two hours 
before breakfast so that we would be able to 
drink it for breakfast.  I think I served the
coldest orange juice at that war.

If I were going to camp at Pennsic, I would
bring three ice chests.  The third would contain
another block of dry ice and two more 10 lbs 
blocks of ice cut in half.  This would not be
opened until the first chest needed new ice.
This would also keep you from having to make
an ice run into town too often.  Although you 
still would have to buy drinking ice on a daily
basis from the camp store. 

Huette

=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they 
shall never cease to be amused.


	
		
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