coolbox advice please?!

merlin1

hi all, i havent posted here for ages, circumstances have changed and i'm single again! lol

anyway, the reason for my post apart from say hi again is kind of akin to the one about what to take when self catering.

we have a family holiday in whitby, booked by my mum and dad, and we travel this coming saturday. its a farmouse so self catering, and 'we' will conisist of myself, my son, my brother and his girlfriend, my auntie, my mum and dad and my nutty collie.

i will be travelling up there with my son and dog, my brother and girlfriend will follow me as i'm taking the scenic route over the moors. this will also allow for plenty of stops for the dog.

i have a portable bbq, that i'd like to use on the evening of our arrival, and so i'm hoping to be able to safely use a cool box to transport food for all of us when we arrive. will be looking at 8hrs in the boot of the car!!!!

so my question is how long would a coolbox keep fresh meat safe for? i have lots of ice packs.

my idea was to freeze all the meat a couple of days before travelling and put it in the coolbox frozen to defrost and behave as ice packs for sandwiches through the saturday til we get there? though my friend thinks i'd still end up with frozen meat when we get there!?

what do you think? :cool: x

tyadog

Hi!
I think it will still be frozen when you get there - I did similarly for a camping holiday last year, and underestimated just how good the cool bag I had bought would be at keeping frozen food frozen Cue arrival, disposal barbie, and frozen dinner - had to pop to the shop for other food, and have it the next night!

have a great time!
T

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Why not drop into a supermarket when you're up there? That'll cut 8 hours + off the baking time (assuming there are no traffic jams on the way). Could also use it as a rest break, as 8 hours is too long to be driving anyway.

jillymit

Sounds fine to me. I'd stick as many frozen cool blocks as I had in there and take the meat fresh. I agree with your friend about the frozen stuff.

If you resist the urge to keep opening it up and having a look it should be fine and you'll have cool meat for your evening barbecue.

Just be careful to wrap it well and keep the raw meat well away from everything else.
Whitby is a lovely place. Have a fab holiday.:D

merlin1

tyadog wrote: »

Hi!
I think it will still be frozen when you get there - I did similarly for a camping holiday last year, and underestimated just how good the cool bag I had bought would be at keeping frozen food frozen Cue arrival, disposal barbie, and frozen dinner - had to pop to the shop for other food, and have it the next night!

have a great time!
T

hehe! see now we gonna be camping again soon and i can just see us doing that too! bbq planned, chippy it is...
can i ask how long it was in the box for? x

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Why not drop into a supermarket when you're up there? That'll cut 8 hours + off the baking time (assuming there are no traffic jams on the way). Could also use it as a rest break, as 8 hours is too long to be driving anyway.

hehe! thanks jojo, if i drove 8 hours i'd be in the shetlands i reckon! the reason i'm allowing for 8 hours is cos i'm travelling with a dog, so want to leave early while its cooler and also allow for plenty of stops. also we arent allowed to the farmhouse til 2pm, so i also need to allow for a meet up with the rest of the gang in whitby at lunch time?(the farmouse is about 10miles from whitby)
if it were just me then i think i could do it 3.5hrs with a stop, but would like to make an adventure of the journey for all concerned iyswim x

jillymit wrote: »

Sounds fine to me. I'd stick as many frozen cool blocks as I had in there and take the meat fresh. I agree with your friend about the frozen stuff.

If you resist the urge to keep opening it up and having a look it should be fine and you'll have cool meat for your evening barbecue.

Just be careful to wrap it well and keep the raw meat well away from everything else.
Whitby is a lovely place. Have a fab holiday.:D

ta much! i love all uk hols, am well travelled but normally tis just me and the boy on a road trip! lol!

the cool box will be opened for drinks and snacks on the way up tho? is that a problem do you think? i wonder if i put all fresh meat on top of the blocks at the bottom, then cover with foil and then put drinks and snacks on top? what do you advise to wrap in? x

cor blimey, i think jojo might be right and just go to a shop! lol:rotfl:

sooty&sweep

Hi

I've transported bags of frozen prawns in a cool box with lots of ice packs etc and they were still frozen 6 hours later ! So I agree that if you put the meat in frozen with icepacks etc it'll still be frozen when you get there. However if you keep taking the lid off it'll be less efficient.
Also I think from a food hygiene perspective its cooked meats etc that you're going to eat without reheating that they worry about more rather than raw meats as they are going to be cooked.

You mention that you're going to put sandwiches in the same cool box. If you do make sure that both are wrapped well and kept very seperate as you don't want the cross contamination of raw meat onto your sandwiches and start your hols with food poisoning !

Enjoy your hols !

Jen

Nile

Hello merlin1

When I'm driving to Scotland from East Yorkshire, I take a large coolbox with plenty of frozen blocks in it and I take a separate smaller coolbox with a couple of frozen blocks in it.

The big coolbox contains the food, the smaller coolbox contains the drinks. Because the drinks are in the small coolbox, there's no need to open the large coolbox.............so the contents stay nicely chilled on the long journey.;)

Now is a good time to buy a small coolbox or cooler bag and you can use that for the drinks that you want to consume before you arrive in Whitby.;)

Another tip I have is to place jackets or coats on top of the coolbox to act as another layer of insulation to keep the ambient heat from warming the coolbox and its contents.

I love Whitby. Have a great holiday.

Regards

Nile

Agapanthus

Put several blocks in and it'll be fine for eight hours in a reasonably insulated coolbox. To be on the safe side, I'd avoid taking chicken, though.

loracan1

I'd put the fresh meat at the bottom, the blocks on top of it - also acts as extra separation from the food you'll take as well.

purpleheather2810

I would definitely invest in another cool box or bag. Pack all the raw meat in one with the blocks on top and then have your other bag/box with snacks and drinks in. This saves the box with the meat in being constantly opened and any possible cross-contamination of raw and cooked food which would be a bit unpleasant and a terrible waste of food...

Home bargains, asda etc have very good, cheap cool bags. Home bargains has some very nice thermos ones.

sueeve

From fully frozen should be no problem. I have had frozen meat delivered from Scotland, and I live 20 miles from south coast