Most caravan freezers are incredibly tiny. I managed to make the most use of my freezer space by getting hold of a pair of 4 litre empty ice cream buckets. Trim about a cm off the top edge so it just slips into your van's freezer. Prior to going away, pre freeze your meat in your household freezer. Pre freezing of the meat is achieved by laying a freezer bag across the bottom of the ice cream tub. Put in one layer of fresh boneless meat. Fold the freezer bag back over the layer of meat so that you fill the ice cream bucket with interleaved layers of meat and plastic bags. DONT seal the meat inside the bags. Once the ice cream tub SEEMS full smack it down ( spank it with your hand flat, hit it. ) It will pack down and seal the air spaces. Then freeze it. Once it has frozen in your house freezer you can move it to the van freezer. I packed a 4 litre tub of chicken breast and a 4 litre tub of beef steak. The gap up between the tubs takes a few slices of bacon. Add a couple of cans of Tuna and you can free camp for a fortnight or more on this much meat. Remember bones are waste space in the freezer and increase the rubbish load at your camp site. Of course we try to patronize butchers in small towns, country butcher's sausages are the best.
If you pack in containers you always loose space. My cook vacuum packs individual meal size units. You can pack more in the freezer that way. Also by having your food vacuum packed, you thaw it in the fridge and if you don't use it on the intended time it will keep up to a week after the thawing date.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
We carry a vacuum sealer and my husband trims all the meat prior to packing.
We are travelling almost full time so packing at home is not an option. We buy fresh meat from quality butchers where possible and if we eat some on the night of the day we buy it it just goes into the fridge. The rest we vacuum seal and either freeze for longer storage or just store the sealed bags in the fridge. The meat tends to keep very well this way in the fridge without taking up freezer room.
Meat chicken and fish keep well in the vacuum seal bags in the freezer and making them the size for one meal makes it very practical.
My hubby says a well packed freezer helps the 3 way fridge work a bit better??? I go along with him as I am a neat freak when it comes to storage and things. Lol!
