Washing and storing a cooler used to store game meat

[Kevinq6]

Many of us use coolers to ice our meat or quartered game and we want to make sure they don't contain any harmful bacteria from all the game meat we store in them.

My process is the following:

1. Rinse out immediately after using
2. Wash with soap
3. add bleach to water and coat all the interior surface with it and let sit for 15min or so
4. Rinse the bleach out and wash with soap, then rinse well
5. put a little vinegar in it to store

#1 is indisputable as you don't want raw blood rotting in your cooler but I imagine a lot of people just wash with soap or bleach and are done. Am I overdoing it?

Storing it with some vinegar in the bottom seems to keep it fresh but I think that is optional. I do also rinse it out well before adding meat and ice to it. I also drain the water out when I'm letting meat sit a few days.

How do you do it?

 

[nettlle]

I pour some hot water and Dawn dish soap in my cooler, wash it out, rinse and dry. Kind of like we do our dishes and knives when working with any raw meat. Game or otherwise.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

O.P.

I think you are GTG!

 

[Armored farmer]

Good old sunshine is the best disinfectant. Wash with your good stuff, then dry in the sun for the afternoon.

 

[Double_J]

We use clorox clean up to scrub the inside, then rinse and repeat and leave in the sun to dry. We do this before and after use for hunting and fishing and they don't stink or have any mold inside them.

 

[LoonWulf]

As with most things, do what makes you comfortable.
I dont generally cooler my meat unless i got back super late or im just being lazy. But i treat all my containers the same, rinse em out and give them a quick wash. Really greasy stuff like pigs ill sometimes need to use hot water and straight dish soap, but most of the time thr diluted stuff i have in a spray bottle for the kids slip n slide is all i use.

 

[41 Mag]

We use the same coolers for fishing and hunting so they are used at least bi-monthly. Usually we transport iced down quarters and trimmings from deer and hogs back home from our place in the country. All fish are from lake or bay to nearest place we are at.

Either way the coolers are all scrubbed with dish soap and a small hand brush that can get into the corners and once rinsed, they get about a half cup of bleach and washed down with a hand towel and then rinsed again.

After the bleach and rinse we leave open and upside down till dry before storing. Nobody likes to open a cooler and get a surprise smell.

 

[tazbigdog]

Double leaf trash bags for the meat. Ice on that. Meat and ice don’t mix and cooler doesn’t get that smell.

 

[Patocazador]

I place 2 liter cola bottles with frozen water on the bottom of the coolers to keep the meat out of melted ice. Then place the meat and fill up the cooler with crushed ice from one of those "more ice for the buck" machines. I keep the drain open on the bottom and transport (4 hours) on a rear rack on the truck.

After removing the meat, I wash down with a hose and brush the cooler out with a dish soap/bleach solution. Open in the sun and let dry. Florida is usually sunny year-round.

 

[crstrode]

Substitute vanilla extract for the vinegar.

 

[Kingcreek]

It ain't rocket surgery.
wash good, spray with 10% bleach and wash again. let it dry before storing- better yet in sunshine.
I've been doing it for 40 years and haven't opened a stinky cooler yet. I've hauled meat across the country as much as 1400 miles. elk, deer, antelope. never had a bad piece of meat.

 

[rdnktrkr]

I use Simple Green after I saw it used by the company that came out and repaired my house after the basement flooded. Odoban is another product they used and I started using it also. I have a couple of dedicated coolers just for meat/fish and keep them separate from coolers for beer and ice

 

[Armored farmer]

I have dedicated meat coolers. I have a pressure washer for our equipment, so I use it to clean up. It has hot water and soap, so I use that....then dry in the sun.
At the risk of thread drift, I do have a hack that I would like to share because it was so successful. It's not rocket science, anyone can do it.
Drill evenly spaced holes in the lid and sides of cheap double wall igloo or Coleman coolers. Fill the walls and lid with GREAT STUFF (or equivalent) foam insulation. Use a powerful flashlight shining through the plastic to judge how much to use..allow to thoroughly dry before breaking or trimming excess foam.
I can testify that the newly insulated coolers will rival those made by yeti or Bison or other top brands.
Best wishes.

 

[FL-NC]

After I am finished, I scrub-scrub-scrub the inside of my coolers with hot water, dish soap, and use a brillo pad. Don't neglect the lid and the areas at the top where it seals, then rinse well with more hot water. I get the hot water from the bath tub in a 5 gallon bucket. Then I let it air out until all dry and store. Before I use it again, I rinse it out with another bucket of hot water.

 

[buck460XVR]

Good old sunshine is the best disinfectant. Wash with your good stuff, then dry in the sun for the afternoon.

....yep. It's best to leave surfaces wet with your bleach solution for ten minutes before you rinse. This is the standtime needed to kill some of the harder to kill stuff. Bleach solutions left standing will basically turn to water in less than 24 hours, but if left to evaporate, there will be some salt residue left behind, that could cause irritation. Peroxide wipes work very well too and are easier to take along than a bottle of bleach and do not need to be rinsed afterwards.

 

[entropy]

Dawn, new clean dish scrubber pad, rinse well, wipe liquid bleach onto all interior surfaces, let sit @ 15 minutes , and let it dry in the sun. If no sun, and you need it, after the 15 minutes, wipe any wet areas with paper towel, then use antibacterial Clorox wipes, and towel dry

 

[zdc1775]

I use the same cooler for processing deer and fish for camping and occasionally brewing beer so cross contamination is a major concern.

To avoid any issues I wash with soap and water, spray with a bleach water solution and let that sit for 15-20 minutes, then rinse and spray with Star San and let it dry. Never had any issues.

I actually have to spend more time cleaning on the occasions when I use it for brewing. That process is the same but with the added first step of letting it soak overnight with a hot PBW solution.

 

[Armored farmer]

I use the same cooler for processing deer and fish for camping and occasionally brewing beer

With all the boutique microbreweries you might have a latch on the venison/tuna flavored IPA.

 

[zdc1775]

With all the boutique microbreweries you might have a latch on the venison/tuna flavored IPA.

Don't think I want to try that myself. Besides the only beers I make in a quantity to justify using the cooler as a mash tun are my English Porter and ESB and I doubt that many traditional British ale drinker would appreciate that particular flavor profile.

 

[PWC]

If the cooler has a drain spout, make sure you drain disinfectant water thru it too. Open box of Arm & Hammer baking soda set in bottom will kill any odors while stored.

 

[Bazoo]

Interesting discussion, thanks all for sharing. I dont generally use a cooler because I hunt the farm, but there may be a day when I'll need to.

 

[Rubone]

Good old sunshine is the best disinfectant. Wash with your good stuff, then dry in the sun for the afternoon.

+1, I wash well then place where sun dries it.

 

[Kingcreek]

I have 2 coolers 128qt marine. Long before Yeti and similar I built plywood boxes lined with 2” rigid foam insulation that are a good tight fit around the coolers for extra insulation on long road trips. I have kept fresh game cold for 3 days with the lids taped tight.
I can get an elk in two, a big buck deer in one cooler, or 2 antelope in one. For deer one collet easily holds hind quarters, front shoulders, back straps and neck with plenty of room for ice.
When we packed boned antelope we put dry ice on top and filled any additional top space with newspaper. On one trip it was quite warm and we even stopped and shot prairie dogs for most of a day.

 

[AK Hunter]

I always wash & sanitize it with bleach/water it before & after each use. I also keep it stored propped open so no moisture collects inside.