Tips needed for taking perishable food on long driving trips

[AuntTonia]

I need some advice from the nice Dis people who drive to Disney World or other vacation spots from far away or people who camp. Sadly I'm not doing a Disney Trip this year but I'm going to the beach (yea) & staying a week in a time share so we have a kitchen and plan on doing some cooking.

How hard is it to pack perishable food for long road trips? Does it stay safe?
Usually for vacations we take snacks, drinks, boxed items, then when we get to destination we go grocery shopping & buy perishables.
This time I was hoping to take most items with us.

If I pack a cooler with things like Frozen Hamburger, Chicken Breast, Sausage, Bacon & Lunch Meat will it last 12-15 hrs in a car? Can I refreeze when we get there & cook later in the week?
Can you freeze milk & orange juice and put that in there also?

Any tips on packing cooler? or wrapping meat? worried about what happens when ice melts. Leaking in car.

Any tips on taking eggs & bread?

Thanks

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

I usually pack the items that need to stay really cold all together and be sure to use lots ice. I pack ice on the bottom then use freezer packs to line the sides and make layers when needed between the items. If you just put ice on the bottom only, the stuff on tip may not be cold enough.

Empty Capri Sun cartons hold bread well while traveling.

Im not sure about defrosting the re-freezing the meat.

 

[ChristmasElf]

A good quality Marine cooler that has good insulation will work just fine for keeping food fresh!
The blue ice blocks that you can find at Target (near the camping supplies) are fairly cheap and will keep food colder than bagged ice cubes.

Freeze everything you can and line the bottom of the cooler with the frozen meats and blue ice blocks.
Put milk and OJ in the center of the cooler with more frozen food surrounding them. Put more frozen blue ice blocks on top of cooler.
Try not to open and close the cooler too often.

You can freeze both milk and OJ in the containers they come in. Take about 3/4 cup out of each before you freeze to allow for expansion.
Shake the milk well before you use it.

Meats that have not thawed completely and are still more frozen than not, can be re frozen. If its ground beef, do not re freeze. Chicken that has thawed should not be refrozen either.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We have a "Fridge" cooler. It is a plug in cooler. We freeze a bottle of water and there is a fan that circulates air. It won't keep things frozen, of course. But we have had great success on foods surviving a 2 day trip or extremely long one day trip. Meats should start out frozen though.

Ours plugs into a regular outlet and has an adaptor for a car power source. There needs to be a small space in front if the fan.

 

[PattnFmly]

Previous suggestions are all spot on! I just wanted to add that rather than buying freeze-packs, about a week before my trips I make ice blocks using sandwich keepers. I just pop them out like an ice cube and line the bottom of my cooler with these before putting in the frozen meat and surround the milk and cream with them (think igloo!). Since we usually go camping, I cannot refreeze any freeze-paks so once they defost they're done. But the large blocks usually are still frozen after a couple days of camping! LOL!

 

[golfgal]

Why not just buy the food when you get there?

If the meat is frozen when you leave, it should stay frozen in a cooler for that long as long as you keep the lid shut.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I need some advice from the nice Dis people who drive to Disney World or other vacation spots from far away or people who camp. Sadly I'm not doing a Disney Trip this year but I'm going to the beach (yea) & staying a week in a time share so we have a kitchen and plan on doing some cooking.

How hard is it to pack perishable food for long road trips? Does it stay safe?
Usually for vacations we take snacks, drinks, boxed items, then when we get to destination we go grocery shopping & buy perishables.
This time I was hoping to take most items with us.

If I pack a cooler with things like Frozen Hamburger, Chicken Breast, Sausage, Bacon & Lunch Meat will it last 12-15 hrs in a car? Can I refreeze when we get there & cook later in the week?
Can you freeze milk & orange juice and put that in there also?

Any tips on packing cooler? or wrapping meat? worried about what happens when ice melts. Leaking in car.

Any tips on taking eggs & bread?

Thanks

OK, go and buy a GOOD BOATING coolers at a Bass Pro or Sporting goods shop. They will keep things frozen for days. Do not use your "old coolers". Coolers do break down and new coolers will help with keeping things frozen.

Now, you will have to drain water and refresh ice once or twice depending on the ice melt. Keep an eye on it. Refresh as needed.

Pack meats and everything in water proof containers. The thing that will destroy your contents is things getting waterlogged.

Pack meat in separate cooler just for the contamination aspect.

We boat and camp. It is very doable.

I do not see why you would need to freeze OJ, milk. You just need a good cooler with ice.

 

[shortbun]

No refreezing of meat. Plan to use whatever you take within two-three days at the latest. I freeze a couple plastic quart milk containers filled with water to use for my cooler so stuff doesn't get soggy. That big block of ice takes longer to thaw than cubed ice. We reinforce the cold with flexible blue cold paks between the perishables and we don't open the cooler. We carry a seperate soft sided cooler for drinks, etc.

 

[Meriweather]

DS used dry ice to transport for camping

 

[SpecialK]

If we're going somewhere without a grocery store nearby, we use dry ice and start with non-frozen meat so we don't have to deal with the thawing issue. Most of the meat usually freezes by the time we arrive, and we just transfer it to the freezer.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If we're going somewhere without a grocery store nearby, we use dry ice and start with non-frozen meat so we don't have to deal with the thawing issue. Most of the meat usually freezes by the time we arrive, and we just transfer it to the freezer.

That is a good one too.

 

[mrodgers]

Never did food. All we did was freeze 2 cases of water and put into a large cooler. We didn't have a fridge at Pop, so we were hoping the water would stay frozen for a long time.

We packed up at 3 am and drove 14 hours to Georgia. Arrived in Georgia at 6 pm wishing we could drink a water. We left the cooler in the car in 100+ degree heat. The next morning we left at 8 am and arrived in Disney around noon. It was HOT. We wish we could drink a water. We went to Magic Kingdom at 105 degrees with the cooler left in the car in the parking lot. We checked in at Pop at about 4 pm and finally got the cooler up to the hardly air conditioned room. Water still frozen solid.

It took about 3 days for our water to start to thaw out sitting just in the cooler in the room. I wouldn't foresee any problems with frozen meat thawing out in a cooler in just a 12-14 hour drive. I would guess it would still be frozen solid.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Never did food. All we did was freeze 2 cases of water and put into a large cooler. We didn't have a fridge at Pop, so we were hoping the water would stay frozen for a long time.

We packed up at 3 am and drove 14 hours to Georgia. Arrived in Georgia at 6 pm wishing we could drink a water. We left the cooler in the car in 100+ degree heat. The next morning we left at 8 am and arrived in Disney around noon. It was HOT. We wish we could drink a water. We went to Magic Kingdom at 105 degrees with the cooler left in the car in the parking lot. We checked in at Pop at about 4 pm and finally got the cooler up to the hardly air conditioned room. Water still frozen solid.

It took about 3 days for our water to start to thaw out sitting just in the cooler in the room. I wouldn't foresee any problems with frozen meat thawing out in a cooler in just a 12-14 hour drive. I would guess it would still be frozen solid.

Ah, only if you have a good cooler. That is KEY. Coolers do break down and do not work efficiently over time.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Another tip we use when camping. Take your 1/2 gallon milk plastic jug rinse completely and freeze water in it. It will stay a couple days and when it thaws you have home tap water to drink. Sometimes the water away from home doesn't taste the same.

 

[AuntTonia]

Thanks for all the advise it was helpful!!!!!

And to answer why not just buy food there. I know it sounds like a pain to take stuff but my thought is this:

1. I wont have to spend time out of my vacation to go grocery shopping. How many people go to Walmart and are in & out? I get to hotel after a long drive unpack car, that's it no going back out to shop so we can have milk for breakfast.
Plus no impulse buying!!!

2. Price! I can buy stuff on sale here. For example I just got bacon for $1.99lb, Boneless chicken breast $1.79lb. probably not going to find these prices at the beach.

 

[rwdavis2]

If you google re-freezing meat you should be able to find a guide on the Dept. of Agriculture web site. I do believe they said refreezing meat is safe. But confirm this just to make sure.