Here I go again, learning the hard way. A couple of summers ago we spent time exploring Utah. Many days, the afternoon temperatures remained in the mid-90s well into the late afternoon. After picking up our favorite chocolate bars, fruits, vegetables and other related snacks, we went four-wheeling. Upon our return after 6 p.m., our coach was a comfortable 75ish degrees. We decided to share a chocolate bar. To my amazement, upon opening, the bar was so soft it clung to the wrapper. To salvage the tasty snack, we had to put it in the freezer.
If our cabinets were hot enough that food was spoiling or melting, we needed to find a way to keep it cool.
We set out to create a heat-reflective barrier, starting with aluminized bubble wrap. It was easy to cut, size and apply using spray glue to the back wall of each cabinet. Aluminized bubble wrap is a radiant barrier that reduces heat transfer through reflecting. We debated whether we needed to go one step further and glue one-half-inch or three-quarter-inch styrofoam sheets to the bubble wrap as an additional insulative barrier. So far, we have not needed a second barrier in our food cabinets. If you chose to go that extra step, you would lose up to one inch of depth, but the tradeoff would be slightly more protection against excessive heat and cold.
So far, the aluminized bubble wrap has accomplished the task. Our cabinets keep our chocolate and perishable foods fresh and cool, and has prevented them from spoiling. Mission accomplished! The best part? It only took about half a day to complete.
Read the edited article published February 7, 2021 here: Hot weather? Prevent food from spoiling and melting with this trick – RV Travel
After this first experiment in our food cabinets, we installed aluminized “reflectix) bubble wrap in all cabinets and use in a few of our windows that face the sun to mitigate summer heat as well. It really helps your air conditioner.
Kate Doherty has been writing for more than 30 years in technical and general media. In her previous business, she and her spouse dealt with special projects within the military/government sector. Recently she published “Masquerade: A Logan Scott Novel” under the pen name Bryan Alexander, a thriller now available in eBook and paperback on Amazon. It’s a page-turner!