Travel Cooler for Car recommendation

[My2CrazyGirls]

Hi! We have a 15 hour drive to Orlando and we want to pack some cold items from home. Mainly fresh fruits and veggies (strawberries, grapes, carrots, peppers), some hardboiled eggs, and half n half. We have a medium sized soft cooler from Costco but it doesn't really keep things cold enough and 15 hours is a long time. Any recommendations on a cooler and also on what you use inside (ice in bags, some type of icepack things etc.) to keep things cold?

This is not for snacking on the trip, the stuff all needs to be cold 15 hours later when we arrive at resort.

Thanks in advance

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Any "hard" cooler sold anywhere in town, or Amazon, will keep your stuff cold for 15 hours.

We hoard ice from our icemaker starting about 5 days before our trip. For a cheap "top off" we tell the fast food person we want an extra cup of ice with our meal and add that to the cooler.

Hard coolers do a much better job than coolers because of thickness and the type of foam they use to fill the space between the inside and outside plasctic shell.

Make sure the cooler has space for both your stuff and the ice.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Hikergirl]

I think for that long you would definitely need a hard sided cooler. I have a nice softsided one with a hard insert that I use for soccer games but I don't think it would work for 15 hours in a car.
It fits nice behind the drivers seat of my car (when I drive, not when dh does)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006HFB7UY/ref=twister_B006HFBA4W?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Disney Khi]

We have a cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter. We love it. It works like a little fridge. And I like not having to worry about ice. We have an adapter to plug it into a regular electric outlet, too, and that has come in handy in hotel rooms, too. We got ours at Costco a few years ago, but I haven't seen them there recently. We ordered one from Amazon for my dad for Christmas last year, and he likes his, too.

 

[cvjw]

You may not want to spring for a Yeti, but they will easily keep something cold all day long. We have the hard sided Yeti cooler and the Yeti bag type cooler and both are great

 

[Judique]

Hi! We have a 15 hour drive to Orlando and we want to pack some cold items from home. Mainly fresh fruits and veggies (strawberries, grapes, carrots, peppers), some hardboiled eggs, and half n half. We have a medium sized soft cooler from Costco but it doesn't really keep things cold enough and 15 hours is a long time. Any recommendations on a cooler and also on what you use inside (ice in bags, some type of icepack things etc.) to keep things cold?

This is not for snacking on the trip, the stuff all needs to be cold 15 hours later when we arrive at resort.

Thanks in advance

I would wait and buy the strawberries when I got there. (Editing to say the Florida strawberries were delicious this trip and less expensive than at home!)

I use the Max Cold cooler and I think it does well. I freeze water in plastic containers and it works well - better than loose ice. You can also buy the blue ice packs.

 

[docsoliday1]

Hi! We have a 15 hour drive to Orlando and we want to pack some cold items from home. Mainly fresh fruits and veggies (strawberries, grapes, carrots, peppers), some hardboiled eggs, and half n half. We have a medium sized soft cooler from Costco but it doesn't really keep things cold enough and 15 hours is a long time. Any recommendations on a cooler and also on what you use inside (ice in bags, some type of icepack things etc.) to keep things cold?

This is not for snacking on the trip, the stuff all needs to be cold 15 hours later when we arrive at resort.

Thanks in advance

There are many stores close to Disney property. If they're not for snacking on the trip, why not just hit the store before you check in? All of those things you mention can be purchased at stores and FL strawberries are some of the best you'll find anywhere. Would also save room in the car on the trip.

 

[docsoliday1]

Any "hard" cooler sold anywhere in town, or Amazon, will keep your stuff cold for 15 hours.

We hoard ice from our icemaker starting about 5 days before our trip. For a cheap "top off" we tell the fast food person we want an extra cup of ice with our meal and add that to the cooler.

Hard coolers do a much better job than coolers because of thickness and the type of foam they use to fill the space between the inside and outside plasctic shell.

Make sure the cooler has space for both your stuff and the ice.

Enjoy your trip!

What I like better than loose ice is I'll get inexpensive bottles of water. open them, squeeze out a few tablespoons of water, reseal them tightly and put in freezer. This serves two purposes....keeps stuff cold and if you want some nice cold water, you can sip as they melt. Actually 3 purposes...you can do the same thing going to the parks...gives you cold water a good part of the day.

 

[aprilgail]

If you have a car why not just stop on the way to the hotel at a store in Florida? Any cooler and ice pack should be ok for a 15 hour drive, that is not that long and as long as you are not opening and closing the cooler repeatedly during the car ride it should be fine with just ice packs. The fruits you mentioned don't have to be refrigerated anyway.

 

[HeatherC]

We take road trips a couple times a year. We use a hard sided cooler. For ice, I use the bottles from OJ...like the Simply Orange ones. I freeze one or two of them and it stays frozen until we arrive at the other end.

 

[afan]

We have a cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter. We love it. It works like a little fridge. And I like not having to worry about ice. We have an adapter to plug it into a regular electric outlet, too, and that has come in handy in hotel rooms, too. We got ours at Costco a few years ago, but I haven't seen them there recently. We ordered one from Amazon for my dad for Christmas last year, and he likes his, too.

We have one of these too and it works great. I will also warm up to keep things warm. The only difference is which way you put the plug in, make sure it's cold when you want cold, we warmed up our stuff one trip and had to toss some stuff out. Opps. But it's great not having to deal with ice or worry if the hotel has a mini fridge for the night.

 

[elaine amj]

What I like better than loose ice is I'll get inexpensive bottles of water. open them, squeeze out a few tablespoons of water, reseal them tightly and put in freezer. This serves two purposes....keeps stuff cold and if you want some nice cold water, you can sip as they melt. Actually 3 purposes...you can do the same thing going to the parks...gives you cold water a good part of the day.

I freeze water bottles all the time for my cooler and have never had to pour out a bit of water before freezing. They freeze just fine without doing anything.

 

[azdisneylover]

We freeze water bottles all the time too, without pouring any out. We use the frozen water bottles. I put ice in freezer Ziploc baggies (different sizes) so, if we need water or ice, we just grab a bag or two. We also freeze Lipton teas that come in the plastic bottles too. I would put the fruit in hard plastic containers so they wouldn't get bruised before packing in the ice chest. Like others have said, you should be fine since you are not going to be opening repeatedly the ice chest during that 15 hour drive.

 

[xlxo]

I just freeze cooler packs for the cooler overnight. When I go into a hotel, they go into the room freezer for the next day.

 

[docsoliday1]

I freeze water bottles all the time for my cooler and have never had to pour out a bit of water before freezing. They freeze just fine without doing anything.

The reason I pour out a bit is so when they expand when they freeze, the bottles are still the same basic diameter. For a hard sided cooler, it will still fit the same number in the same space. For a soft sided cooler, it really doesn't matter as much. The other reason I prefer to drain a bit is when you first open the bottle, it doesn't squirt everywhere due to the pressure. I not only squeeze out a little water, but the air at the top of the bottle, so there is actually LESS pressure in the bottle when you open it. Obviously, it's not mandatory, I just figure the little bit of water I squeeze out is in the sink instead of all over me or the car.

 

[elaine amj]

The reason I pour out a bit is so when they expand when they freeze, the bottles are still the same basic diameter. For a hard sided cooler, it will still fit the same number in the same space. For a soft sided cooler, it really doesn't matter as much. The other reason I prefer to drain a bit is when you first open the bottle, it doesn't squirt everywhere due to the pressure. I not only squeeze out a little water, but the air at the top of the bottle, so there is actually LESS pressure in the bottle when you open it. Obviously, it's not mandatory, I just figure the little bit of water I squeeze out is in the sink instead of all over me or the car.

I see. I guess I just haven't encountered the same issues so haven't needed to take this extra step. Isn't it great using frozen water bottles instead of leaky awkward ziploc bags and payong for bags of ice that melt all over the place? Love that my food doesn't have to float in water!

 

[docsoliday1]

When the apples and oranges float, it's not a big deal, but opening up the sandwich bag and finding soggy bread is ewwwww.