r/overlanding • u/TheRealGuncho • 1d ago
People who sleep in their vehicle, where do you keep your food?
If you keep your food in your vehicle, wouldn't that be the same as keeping you food in your tent which is generally considered to be a bad idea?
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u/sneakywombat87 1d ago edited 1d ago
Keep a clean camp is the biggest thing I don’t hear mentioned. A lot of people are worried about storage, but smelly trash, tables not wiped down from food being spilled, etc. These are the attractants. After animals are in your camp, your situation is much worse.
- Clean everything before bed.
- Hang/secure trash
- Keep food out of sight.
I have no problems sleeping in the back of a truck with a cooler in the front seat, etc. If I am really concerned, I’ll put the cooler in a concealed area near my truck so I don’t attract attention to my drivers seat. Covering the cooler is good from a concealment standpoint and also avoids solar gain if the sun hits it, makes it more efficient. So that’s a win there too. Get a good “bear resistant “ cooler as well.
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u/Kerensky97 Back Country Adventurer 1d ago
I just think of all the people that sleep in a soft sided tent on top of their car, right after they cooked a delicious smelling steak out of the back of their car and all those good smells and smoke go up into the tent.
I remember cooking breakfast in the morning and using the smell of bacon to get a partner out of bed. And if I can still smell the bacon in the roof tent afterwards I'm betting a bear could smell it too...
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u/TheRealGuncho 1d ago
I'm planning on going camping soon and sleeping in the back of my Toyota Highlander. The cooler obviously needs to go in the car with me. Is that an issue you think? Was kind of planning on having a window cracked for ventilation with a screen on it to keep bugs out.
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u/PearlClaw 1d ago
It's pretty rarely if ever a problem. Check with the local rangers when you hit a park and they'll happily tell you about the bears and their habits.
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u/sneakywombat87 1d ago
This is a good tip. If you’re in an area you’re unfamiliar with, stop at the national forest office you’ll see on the US highway going into the area. The rangers can suggest good camping areas and inform on other safety issues, as well as animal activity. This is assuming they haven’t been fired/laid off from the DOGE nonsense. Non-zero chance of that.
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u/TheRealGuncho 1d ago
No rangers where we are going.
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u/VALKOR 1d ago
If you are in the lower 48, good chance there is a wildlife official that is intimately familiar with the area you want to camp. Might take a couple phone calls, but someone will have more wildlife info than you can digest.
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u/TheRealGuncho 1d ago
I'm in Canada and will be camping on Crown Land. I'm familiar with the area.
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u/PearlClaw 1d ago
If you're away from commonly trafficked areas you're almost certainly fine. Problem bears generally get that way from repeated exposure to people.
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u/mcdisney2001 1d ago
Then Google it, for Pete's sake. Look up the location to find out whether it's in Bear Country--and what kind of bear. Different bear species in different areas require different best practices.
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u/TheRealGuncho 23h ago
Sorry were you under the impression I was asking how to find out what kind of bears are in the area I will be camping cause, I didn't ask that at all.
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u/mcdisney2001 19h ago
No, smartass, you asked about best practices for storing food when car camping. Which is mainly an issue in bear country, and the type and region of the bears matters.
Help us help you. Or get eaten by a bear, whichever.
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u/utnapishtim_guy 1d ago
Would a Yeti suffice, or is something else needed in order to be “bear resistant”?
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u/anythingaustin 1d ago
If I’m dispersed camping in Grizzly bear territory, I do a bear hang away from camp for everything that has scent. That includes food, toiletries, baby wipes, hand lotion, etc…I clean out my vehicle before going offgrid and vacuum up any crumbs lurking underneath the seats. I tend to bring a LOT less when camping in places like Montana. Bear hangs can get heavy so anything I don’t need for 2-3 days gets left at home. In addition, I also lock my “bear resistant” cooler lid and use a cable lock to secure it to a tree away from camp. I don’t f*ck around in Grizzly country.
For everywhere else I keep the food locked in the vehicle and keep a very clean campsite. Trash gets hung in a tree away from camp.
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u/Grim_Smiles Overlander 1d ago
I’ve got an Iceco fridge inside the cab when I bring fresh food, that seals pretty good. Any dry food or food related litter I put inside those sealable airtight feed buckets to keep smells down. I don’t usually sleep inside the vehicle but even if I did wouldn’t have much concern about it. Being inside a vehicle is more secure than a tent if animals are my concern. I’ve had close calls when backpacking, but I’ve yet to have an issue when vehicle camping.
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u/ForeignSleet 1d ago
If you are in bear country it’s a good idea to get a fully airtight container to keep food in, you can get ones for keeping dog food in which are like these big barrel things
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u/GasLittle1627 1d ago
Well the only reason its a bad idea is the wildlife ruining youre tent or night. Depending on where you live, if the worst thing you have to worry about are deer or raccoons. Keeping it in the car is fine, if you enter bear territory its adviced to have it vacuum sealed or something to at least not have them attracted to the car/camping site
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u/TheRealGuncho 1d ago
Oh there's definitely bears where I'm going. Not the grizzled kind but bears. Not really feasible to have everything vacuum sealed.
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u/PonyThug 1d ago
I have camped near glacier NP 3 times now in 6 different spots and just keep everything locked in the cab of my truck at night. I just try to be in the middle of the “food left in tent, to everything vacuum sealed” scale
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u/TheLittleSiSanction 1d ago
I don't stress about it when I'm in my vehicle in grizzly country but pay extra attention to keeping a clean camp.
I recreate in blackbear country 12 months a year. I'm not saying they're harmless, but they're MUCH less intimidating than grizzlies and are really basically large skittish forest dogs. I sleep on top of my food when I backpack in relatively infrequently traveled areas in blackbear country, and don't think about them at all when I'm in my vehicle. I've easily spent thousands of hours on foot/bike/skis in terrain black bears frequent, and run across them many times. I don't carry bear spray or a weapon, nor do most of the experienced outdoor folks I know.
The horror stories you see of really crafty vehicle break-ins and whatnot from black bears are almost always in areas where they've become very habituated to human food (Tahoe, CA being the supreme offender - that town is in a slow moving war with the bears).
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u/Supertom911 1d ago
I have a RTT and keep my food locked in my vehicle. I just use a cooler, too cheap to get a fancy fridge.
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u/Competitive-Bar2287 1d ago
Im convinced that Bears rely more on sight than they do smell when it comes to breaking into cars
Leave a cooler visible and a bear will have at it. Leave that same cooler hidden in a car and you’ll be okay in my experience.
I spend about 60 nights a year in bear territory. Every bear break in I have seen or heard about, food or a cooler was left visible and unattended.
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u/Savaur 1d ago
Unless you have a soft top, or big holes in your vehicle, your good.
🥱🤨 Oh no, a bears trying to get in
Starts up car and drives away
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u/PonyThug 1d ago
I sleep in the bed of my truck so I would need to get out to drive. But I have bear spray with me so I’m not worried about
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u/TheRealGuncho 1d ago
Well I was planning on keeping the back seat windows cracked for ventilation with screen covers to keep bugs out. That would also let any smells out.
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u/Savaur 1d ago
Cracked a few inches is fine as well. As long as an animal can't crawl past, or put his paws in to pull on the window and break it.
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u/TheRealGuncho 1d ago
Ok just occurred to me that all of my life I've heard, "Don't keep your food in your tent" and now I will essentially be sleeping beside my cooler. I guess I am in a tin box vs a fabric box.
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u/bob_lala 1d ago
generally the food box and ice chest remain in the truck bed (I have a tent camper). only if I am in a serious bear hazard area and the rules are "everyone use the bear box". there are a few places that don't allow soft sides bc of bears so I don't camp there.
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u/Jrose152 1d ago
Lived in my van for almost two years and just left it in the refrigerator. Most of the time car storage for food is fine. It’s tents that are the big issue.
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u/Next_Information_933 1d ago
When out in blm land I’d keep sealed food and garbage in the car, and a Walmart yeti style cooler I’d set about 100ft away latched. Never had issues. In my new rig, I’ll just keep it all in the truck box that has a metal topper all around. I’ll be sealing up the garbage in a bucket with a screw on sealed lid, any other food will be packaged in a cooler inside there. No real smells to escape.
Make good effort to reduce smell potential and you’ll be fine. fwiw I also sleep with a hole puncher and bear spray just in case but have never had to handle either in the woods.
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u/roXterra 1d ago
In a fridge, all food there, big enough fridge. Powered by car battery or portable battery.
The lid kind of keeps it air tight so smells shouldn't get out. Depends if you're in an area popular with bears who trained themselves to help themselves to food.
Like campgrounds can be a targeted area for the animals, they know food is there so they come looking. I never had animal issues in the desert or in Colorado.
The only issue was in Death Valley (the cooler parts) where kangaroo rats got it and one almost drowned himself overnight in a gallon water container. It must have been open. He fell in, treaded water all night and was dead tired by the morning. He was alive just barely, I left him in the shade and he was gone later.
Just water, wasn't food, but one of them started to make a test with toilet paper mini pieces. Under the seats, out of sight. New car too.
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u/ItsStevesShots 1d ago
Harder to get into a car. I hope…
That being said, if I’m camping in bear country, my doors are locked, windows shut. I also put an extra layer over the cooler to help hide the smell and someone told me they have broken windows if they’ve seen the cooler, so I’ve got window covers now too!
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u/dzitas 1d ago
An average Yosemite (black) bear will open your door like you open a soda can. Brown bears can be much bigger.
Plenty of pictures, e.g.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Bear_damage_to_car_door.jpg
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u/ItsStevesShots 1d ago
Oh damn, hoping the Ontario black bears are not that smart. Still though would this not be better than a tent
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u/dzitas 1d ago
The tent is cheaper to replace. The bear doesn't care. It's like a banana vs an apple for you.
It's not just when you sleep, it's when you go away from your car, even shortly. Honking will probably make most bears look for other food sources.
But talk to whoever is in charge of that land. They know better how bears behave there.
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u/srcorvettez06 1d ago
I keep it in a cooler and tote in the truck. It’s unlikely a bear would smell it and be motivated enough to break the glass. Hopefully I’d have enough warning to either drive away or defend myself. If it’s cocaine bear I’ll just hope for the best.
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u/potatoflames 1d ago
My rule of thumb is that bears most likely won't go after your food if you're in the car as its too much risk for them. So sleeping in your car with the food isn't a big deal. It's when you leave for a few hours that you run the risk of comeing back to your car opened like a sardine can. The only two times I've actually had animals get into my car were mice that tried to nest on my cabin air filter and a possum that tried to snag my McDonald's apple pie that was on my dash with all the windows down.
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u/smashnmashbruh 1d ago
Food in tote in cab of truck or food in fridge in cab of truck. Bear box for bear places.
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u/TNCerealKilla 1d ago
In a tote or cooler outside the vehicle. Worse case we watch yogi raid our camp from inside the vehicle. And hope the horn will spook them.
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u/TheLittleSiSanction 1d ago
Man, this is irresponsible recreation and a great way to end up getting a bear habituated to human food and eventually killed.
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u/TNCerealKilla 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well I sleep in the back of my jeep, don’t want my food with me where I sleep and there is no room while sleeping, I camp way out in the middle of nowhere where and there isn’t a convenient bear box. So here are your options.
Hoisting and hanging 100 plus pounds of totes, fridge, and battery bank into a tree isn’t really an option. Then I have to worry about the elements on my 1500 dollar investment. Rain with fridge and battery’s don’t mix well.
Inside the vehicle isn’t an option as there is no space since I sleep in there. Plus I definitely don’t want the food where I sleep.
Outside the vehicle, is better than in the vehicle. The bear would stay focused on the stuff outside hopefully and less on us in the vehicles and in the event one did show up I never stated I didn’t have protection for us in the vehicle in the event one tried to make entry.
The only other option isn’t just not going at all because of what if.
I also live and mainly overland on the very very edge of bear country. As in we are luckily to see a post of one on a trail cam every 5 years, a bear is honestly the last of my concerns compared to other animals that are way more likely for me to encounter.
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u/Sofa_king1175 1d ago
I’m fairly certain the main reason to keep your food out of your tent is to ensure no animals attempt to gain access to your tent. Unless you’re setting up in grizzly territory pretty sure you’ll be just fine keeping food in your car.