Fruits that stay the best

[rockin]

My kids love fruits and I like them to eat them a couple of times a day. Usually at home I will cut them up and make a fruit salad. I have tried this at camp but the cooler does not seem to keep them fresh as long as the fridge does. They tend to get brown quicker.

What fruits do you take (kids don't like apples or oranges). We always have bananas though.

[Grandpa]

See the thread about watermelon and cantelope in the creek. We always have both green and red grapes in the ice chest. Apples and oranges are no problem with my grandkids. A sack of apples will disappear by the second day.

[limbs]

When I take fruits camping I cut them up and put them in a syrup. The sugar helps keep them fresh longer. Vitamin C tablets (chew tablets are good) added to the syrup helps keep the fresh longer too.

[Scotty]

That's a good idea, limbs! I never thought of a vitamin C tablet to keep it fresh. I would rather not give the kids any more refined sugar than necessary though. We do take apples, oranges, bananas and grapes with us in various combinations but usually it's apples. They don't require any refrigeration unless you want them cold.

[mikepond]

I just cut up two boxes of strawberries but I never thought to take them camping with us before. I knew the sugar trick worked for when you are at home too, but never on the run like this.

[wvbreamfisherman]

I dry my fruit so it takes up less space and doesn't spoil too fast. Cherries, peaches, apples, strawberries are my favorites. Drying also lets me buy fruit when it's cheap to have all year long.

[Greatoutdoors]

I usually dry or freeze a good bit of fruit myself when I find a good price. Berries especially seem to be more expensive certain times of year. When we are camping we usually take apples and bananas.

[campclose]

Great ideas everyone, I usually take the normal fruit that does not have to be chilled. I did not know that you could use Vitamin C to keep it fresh. We take a paring knife and kiwi, strawberries, oranges, apples and bananas'

[rockin]

I am not real crazy about the syrup idea, I want the fruit to stay fresh in it's own form. I take fruit to cut up when we camp too. I did not think about Vitamin C either. I bet it would work.

[dinosaur]

I'm not too thrilled with the sugar idea either. The fruit has fructose and then you add sucrose to keep it pretty. No wonder diabetic children are becoming more commonplace. Why can't you just bring a knife and a cutting board with you to camp and cut the fruit on site?