5 Ways To Use Milwaukee Packout For Your Next Camping Trip

Milwaukee's line of Packout storage containers and accessories are intended primarily to be used on a worksite. Their sturdy, modular designs are meant to haul tools and heavy components, all while easily connecting to each other in a way that keeps everything organized and tracked. That said, there are more situations in life where you may have a need for sturdy, modular storage than just construction site work. For example, do you know where you could always use some more reliable storage? At a campsite in the woods, miles away from civilization.

Milwaukee's Packout products are great to have at your favorite campsite. It can't be understated how important good storage options are for camping, as you only have so much space available in a car to haul the essentials. That's also assuming you can even bring your car all the way to a campsite rather than having to manually lug everything there. Camping, fishing, and general wild travel enthusiasts have seen the appeal of Packout products for their various passions, and made use of them in a variety of novel ways.

The big draw of the Packout system is its modular, connecting lids and bases. Every product in the Packout line has the same interlocking grooves built into the tops and bottoms, which allows them to hook firmly on top of each other for easier transport. Now, if you're planning on bringing a bunch of Packout cases to the campsite, you're going to want a sturdy, mobile base to easily facilitate that. This is why any good Packout stack should start with the Rolling Tool Chest.

Of course, it wouldn't be very efficient to get a huge rolling chest if you're only going to use it as a rolling dolly. Luckily, this thing has a 35 gallon, 250 pound capacity, which makes it perfect for hauling the largest, most unwieldy items in your camping setup. For instance, if you've got a big sleeping bag that would normally be hanging loose and exposed off your pack, you can instead drop it into the rolling chest for more secure storage. Don't worry, Packout products are water-resistant, so you won't get any mud or dirt on your sleeping bag.

The thing about camping, particularly full-on wilderness camping rather than at a commercial campsite, is that you never quite know what you're going to need until you actually need it. The best policy is to keep a reasonable stash of essentials on hand, like small tools and dehydrated snacks. However, even small necessities can hog space if they're not stored in an optimal manner.

To optimize your camping odds and ends, just stash and organize all of them in a Packout Three-drawer Toolbox. This sturdy case is small enough to comfortably fit in a car trunk or on an existing Packout stack, while providing three fairly spacious drawers to store whatever you could need. The drawers come with an organizational insert, so you can create separate compartments for different essentials like medicines, tools, snacks, and so on. If you need to store something slightly larger like bowls, clothes, or blankets, you can take the insert out to maximize available space.

One of the most appealing aspects of camping is getting to cook for yourself. There's something pleasantly rugged about cooking out in the middle of nowhere and enjoying the results of your labor with a side of fresh air. Of course, camp cooking is a rather unwieldy process, requiring things like portable stoves, dishes, cutting and storage tools, and of course, a myriad of potential ingredients. It's enough of a commitment that camp cooking basically requires dedicated storage, separate from everything else.

For the precise purposes of camp cooking, you might want to bring along a Packout Two-drawer toolbox. This toolbox is roughly the same size as its three-drawer sibling, but since there's only two drawers, they can fit a lot more stuff, and of larger sizes. These drawers are perfect for stashing your larger bowls and kitchen knives, as well as bagged ingredients and cleaning implements like rags and wet wipes. If the toolbox alone doesn't quite cut it, you can also attach the Packout Deep Organizer to the top for even more easily accessible storage

Out in the middle of nowhere, one thing you may be surprised to find at a premium is good work surfaces. You can't very well do things like cooking prep or handicrafts on a dirty stump, but bringing along a full camping table means another hefty space and weight commitment. If all you need is a small space to perform some simple tasks, you might as well make use of that Packout stack you've been building up. Of course, those modular grooves don't make for such a good work surface either, but that's easily remedied by snapping on the Packout customizable worktop.

This simple worktop can be attached to the top of a Packout stack to get a clean, flat work surface. Technically, this worktop is designed for things like power tool work, hence the attachment points for things like vises. That said, the wood is marine-grade, meaning it's impact-resistant, waterproof, and boil-resistant, so it should stand up just fine to whatever miscellaneous tasks you might be performing at the campsite. As an added bonus, the wood top is removable from the mount, making it easy to clean and care for.

An absolutely vital tool that no camping kit is complete without is a good source of stationary light. It's nice to make a fire, and you can use a flashlight in a pinch, but the best policy for fending off the darkness is a reasonably powerful electronic stationary light. If you're in need of lighting solutions for your camping setup, you could make a hybrid light and battery from scratch with one of the Packout cases, but it would probably be easier to just use the Packout floodlight.

As the name implies, this Packout-compatible accessory can clip onto a Packout stack and deploy a 1,400 lumen rotating light head. This powerful light provides good passive illumination, though you can also use it to light up tasks like setting up a tent or cooking. As an added bonus, the inside of the floodlight contains USB-A and USB-C charging ports for charging up small devices. You will need to plug in a Milwaukee M12 battery pack, but just one of those can provide enough power to get you up to 12 hours of continuous energy delivery. That's more than enough to power up your phone in an emergency or get some light in the middle of the night.