I am thinking about purchasing a Cambro.

Can anyone suggest which model Cambro is the most popular and useful?

Thanks

I don't know which model it was, but I preferred the model which could store 6 full sized (4" deep) restaurant pans; 2 pans per "shelf".

Nowadays, with the Igloo-style coolers that are super-insulated, I use them instead of the far more expensive cambro.

Hi WJR,

I don't know about most popular and useful, I guess it depends on your needs. We use a lot of 3" deep full size foil pans for catering, and we find the Cambro model #UPCS140 very useful. Very durable as well.

We just got a new Cambro 400 I believe is the model and we are anxious about using it. We are hoping that it will help w/ the swap out on the serving line so that we won't have to walk away to the warmer to get new pans. But is sure is big!!!

I use the 300 MPC (holds (2) 6" or (3) 4" or (4) 2 1/2" deep pans) and the UPC 400 (hold (3) 6" or (4) 4" or (6) 2 1/2" deep pans.)

The 300 is better for 1 person to carry. The 400 is better if you have 2 people (with food it's too heavy for 1 person).

You should be able to get the 300 for $175 and the 400 for $225. Dollies are available for appoximately $150 which I think is way too expensive.

I also rent mine out to other caterers and they hold up great; however, the staff has been known to drag them, whick wears away the plastic on the bottoms) and melt them against ovens so be careful. The latches will break over time from heavy use.

Avoid RED; the dye comes out of the boxes on fabric- not too pretty on a white chef's jacket.

Best Regards,
John

I agree with all the comments mentioned above, except I find even a loaded Cambro 300 "too" heavy at the end of the day. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't like to carry things as much as I used to.

I had a large Cambro 1826DTC (think full size refer on wheels)that someone stole. I'm still trying to figure that out since it weighed about 200# empty, but oh well, truefully I'm kind of glad it's gone. I replaced it with a Cambro 1826LBC. This is basically half the size of the stolen unit or about 25% larger than a upc400 I believe, it comes with wheels, and it has a cutting board on top. I have found it to be very functional and less likely to tip over than the taller unit when being moved if it wasn't loaded correctly. I got it for ~$580 delivered. The top makes an excellent slicing station so it's one less table that needs loading at the end of the day.

I use regular coolers more than anything else though. I store most food in 1 gallon or 2.5 gallon ziploc bags. I've found that for me this method usually works best, even if I have to pan the contents in the trailer and then take out to a serving line. I have one of the new Igloo 150qt All Terrain coolers I won at a boat show and it is great(big tires, T-bar towing handle, 300# capacity). When these are actually available I will buy at least a couple more, but I have no problem with the several 100qt and 150qt Igloo Quick and Cool units I have been using. They have the super insulation and seem to be a lot better than the Cambro in this regard, but better still is that I can usually find them at boat dealers in the fall for about half price, or online anytime for less than $100 each. Thats a lot of holding space for not too much money. Northern Tool has a bunch of different wagons/carts for $100-200 in their ground maintainance section that would work well to transport these monster coolers. I use what they call a "nursery wagon" to haul mine.

Todd, do you put any kind of liner, barrier in your coolers that you store your food in? What kind of food do you store in them? I like the idea, but I am new to alot of this and I thought everything that was used for food prep/storage had to be NSF....We do double wrap our cooked butts in foil and place them in the coolers and if need be, we will foil line a cooler to put mass amounts of cooked chicken...but our chaffing dish pans don't fit that well in the 120qt coolers...Thanks

I'm not sure that everything has to be NSF approved. I know that for years our local health department has allowed consumer microwaves to be used for instance. I have been inspected several times at the farmers market and the fair grounds and have never had a problem as long as the food was in the appropriate temp range. The Igloo coolers I mentioned may not be NSF approved (I never looked) but based on their design, they could be.

I don't use any type of liner. I may place foil wrapped shoulders directly in the cooler, or bags of pulled meat. With the bags, I can take out what's needed without standing there with the cooler open for long. I've never weighed it, but a 2.5 gallon bag must hold close to 20# of pulled meat. I also use the bags for stew, potato/macaroni salad, beans, slaw, etc. For large jobs, I have placed most of these items directly in the sanitized cooler (HD inspectors like to see spray bottles of sanitizer. It makes them happy) and held or transported to the event site. It's all about what works for you really.

I do a lot of back yard events where my trailer might be in front of the house but the party's in the rear (good advertising BTW), so I like coolers, Cambro or otherwise, that roll across grass and driveway expansion joints. Cambro's little wheels won't do this.

Massive amounts of chicken could go directly into the cooler, or you could put it in disposable(and bendable) aluminium chaffing dish trays from BJ's/Costco. You might have some leakage but it shouldn't be much. Depending on how you work, the Cambro chests mentioned above all come in a sheet pan variant. These won't hold hotel pans, but they hold a large number of either half or full size sheet pans. This might work well for chicken to hold on a single layer. You can of course put hotel pans on the sheet pans, but they will be subject to some sliding. Hope this helps. Liked your website BTW.

quote:

Originally posted by Corndog:
.... I am new to alot of this and I thought everything that was used for food prep/storage had to be NSF....

NSF is a standard, nothing more. Having NSF-labled equipment assures you -- and the health district -- that the equipment meets the minimum standard for safe food use.

However, non nsf-labled equipment can be used as long as it meets the minimum standards that the health department looks for. You just have to know what the minimum performance standard is for the type of equipment you wish to use.

For food transport units, those minimum standards include the ability to sanitize the unit, and the ability of the unit to properly hot-hold or cold-hold food. The new generation of Igloo, Coleman, etc "super" coolers easily meet, and even surpass the cambro-style stuff.

The Igloo stuff is not as heavy-duty, but it is more than adequate if taken care of. And it doesn't cost an arm or a leg either.

Corndog, both my 120 and 150 Qt coolers from Sam's Club hold full-size food pans just fine. The nicest think about the Cambro's is placing them on a table near your serving table and just sliding trays out as you need them without all the bending and juggling pans required of a cooler. They definitely look more professional too. The other nice feature especially for transportation is they are stackable. They are too expensive though.

Thanks all for the info...that will help out alot!!! We are learning more and more as we go..We do like the fact that the Cambros do allow for the quick swap out of trays..but the coolers work just great for large amounts...Thanks again..

Everything Todd said and I use commercial vacuum bags heat at the restaurant in the Winston c-vap oven throw them in the igloo extreme and they are 140 + for at least 3-4 hours+ pull out as needed. you can throw some heated bricks in a towel on the bottom. Also as Todd said flex aluminum pans I get about 8-10 1/2 pans using 1/4 inch plywood cut to the interior of the igloo for stacking. I really think this out does cambros etc.
Jdawg

one problem with Cambros- if you like to use disposable aluminum trays- is with stacking.
A heavy aluminum pan won't hold up being held along the edge. So then you're stuck putting the aluminum tray inside a regular chafing pan. Then you have a lip that's too tall to slide into the cambro slots. In my experience the cambro that is supposed to hold 4 trays only holds 3 because of this.
So coolers and cambros seem to work best together, IMO.

Jdawg,

Using plywood to minimize squishing of food pan contents while stacking them in a cooler a great trick.

I have found that when carrying or stacking 1/2 size or full size aluminum/foil pans to use a compareable sized stainless or cambro plastic lid under each pan to act as a support. The lids are thin enough to allow full use of the cambro shelf guides. Keep stokin and smokin. Hawsfli