DIY Backpacking Meal Cozy
In my post about freezer bag cooking I showed you the homemade cozy that I use to insulate my backpacking meals. Today, I am excited to show you how you can make your own for only a few dollars and a few minutes time. Commercially produced products are available but a DIY backpacking meal cozy is a great way to save money and customize this piece of gear to meet your needs.
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DIY Backpacking Meal Cozy Materials
Reflective Accordion-Style Automobile Sun Shade
You can grab one of these while you are browsing some of the great gear deals at Walmart. I bought mine there for about $8.00 but they are also available at many other big box stores, hardware stores, and on Amazon. You might even have one hanging around at home that you never use. One sun share is enough material to make several meal cozies.
Tape
I used this aluminum HVAC repair tape. It is durable and designed for exposure to high temperatures. You can also use regular duct tape if you prefer.
Velcro (Optional)
I will show you a few different ways of closing your meal cozy. You may wish to use these self-adhesive Velcro strips as a closure.
You will also need…
A permanent marker
Scissors
A ruler
Step 1: Sizing
First, you need to decide on a size for your cozy. The one that I am making in these photos is quite large. It will accommodate commercial dehydrated meals like Mountain House or Backpacker’s Pantry or it can hold multiple freezer bags.
To find the width of my cozy, I laid one of the quart-sized bags I use for my meals on the sun shade and marked about a half inch from either side of the bag. Freezer bags squish down quite a bit when you put them in the cozy so this sizing actually allows room for multiple bags. A hiking partner and I can cook both of our meals at the same time or I can cook multiple items (ex. ramen with a side of mashed potatoes). If you plan to cook only one freezer bag at a time you can make the width of your cozy slightly less than the width of your freezer bag.
If you eat mostly commercially dehydrated meals you can measure from one of those instead of the freezer bag. Their packaging tends to be pretty rigid so I would definitely leave about a half inch of room on either side.
Step 2: Cut
Use your width measurement to cut a strip from your sun shade. I cut mine with normal kitchen scissors. Cutting a strip the entire height or the sun shade will probably be longer than you need but it can be trimmed later on.
Step 3: Fold
Use your bag to determine the height of your cozy. You will fold a flap of that height up from the bottom of your strip to be the front of the cozy. Again, remember that freezer bags squish down a lot. Your cozy probably only needs to be about six inches high if you only need to accomodate a single freezer bag. If you plan on rehydrating Mountain House or other similar meals in your cozy, however, it will need to be taller.
After you have determined the height, add another small fold to create a gusset at the bottom of your cozy. When viewed from the side, the bottom should look like the letter W. This gusset will allow the cozy to stand up and stay open on its own.
Step 4: Tape
I think it is easiest to tape up the sides using small squares of tape so I cut several squares before beginning. Start taping at the gusset at the bottom of the cozy. First, tape the two V shapes of the W shaped gusset. (You will need smaller strips of tape.) Then, tape up the entire side of the cozy. This means that you will be taping together the two already taped flaps of the bottom gusset. Use the pictures above for the best depiction of this process. Then, repeat on the other side of your cozy.
You should now be able to pop open the bottom gusset and your cozy should be starting to resemble a finished product.
Step 5: Flap and Closure
The Final step is to complete the flap and closure of your cozy. If the flap appears to be too large, trim it so it folds over about three inches at the top of the cozy. If you have any cut edges of the sun shade that are still exposed, cover them with tape.
There are several possible ways to close your cozy. You can attach Velcro beneath the flap or simply tuck the flap inside the cozy to close. My sun shade came with an elastic strap used to hold the shade closed when it is folded. I cut a piece of this elastic and attached it to my cozy to keep the flap closed.
Have you made your own backpacking meal cozy? Any other suggestions for DIY gear? Let us know in the comments below!
I know that this is an old post but my family has been ordering delivery groceries from Amazon Fresh and the “cold” food comes in giant coozies, which I cut down to the size I needed (slightly larger than a mountain house package and followed the same steps as above to finish it off.
This is a great idea. Thanks for sharing Bobby!
Thanks for the excellent instruction. I hadn’t seen a diy cozy that did the fold at the bottom to help it stand up. Thank you!
Car window sunshades can also be used as ground cover under a sleeping bag. Get two of larges size and cut them to shape. Use duct tape (Gorilla brand – I find the best) and stick the two shades together . . Low and behold you have an excellent sleeping mat at low cost. I t may be that you can find a car sun shade big enough to use just by itself.