Handy Hints for Camping

Handy Sleeping Bag Hint A handy hint for making the most of your sleeping bag no matter what quality it is, is to get a bed sheet made [ sewn ] into a Sleeve/envelope to act as a liner to fit snugly inside the bag; this will make it easy to clean when you return home from your adventure, just pop it into the washing machine and ready it for the next trip.If you are like me and sometimes if it gets too hot you can open your sleeping bag to let out the heat a bit and still feel comfortable inside the sheet.A more warmer version would involve the sheet being made from a warmer type of material like flannelette for those cold encounters. Survival Hint A clever idea to keep warm if you find yourself sleeping overnight without a tent or a sleeping bag, is to collect the ashes and coals from your fire, built a shallow trench , pour the coals along this trench evenly and backfill the soil evenly and carefully to make a warm soil bed; not the same as your bed at home but could make the most of an uncomfortable circumstance. Healthy Water After dinner when you are all sitting around the campfire at the end of the day, make some tasty soup , make some toasted bread on a stick or torture some marshmallows ; boil some water for the next day if you are unsure of the quality of the water you will drink ; boil as much as you think you may need ; to kill any germs that may be in the water and let it cool overnight so the next day you will have enough safe drinking water and don't need to worry about a sore stomache to spoil your great adventure; it may not taste as good as red wine but you can trust it. Cooler Trick When we go away on our adventures we always take along our cooler which we load with bottles of frozen water that we have already boiled and know wont explode in the freezer at home, this way we have good quality water on hand to help keep the contents of our cooler nice and cool [ obviously this is only good for a few days ] and my wife makes a fantastic fruit salad that we freeze in those square take away food containers and readily stack to give us easy meals at any time. Insulated Hot Water Containers Before filling those insulated containers for your hot coffee/tea/soup ; prefill with hot water to warm the inside of the container and this will keep the contents warmer longer. Silly Question; What freezes quicker; warm water or cool water...................answer; warm water