Cooler ice suggestions
 

What do you guys use to keep your lunch boxes cool?

I use a medical ice pack like one you'd put on your head for a headache (Similar to THIS, seems to be pretty common. However, I've found that ice cubes tend not to last all day, and it takes forever to fill the bag with the small fill hole.

I've gotten much better performance by filling the bag partially with water, and freezing the bag as one big block of ice, however it's hard to get it to freeze into a shape that fits into my bag.

So, I'm thinking that maybe I should get some of those freeze packs, since a large block tends to do better than cubes... BUT...

Some of our hotels don't have freezers in the room (I'm sure you've run into this). In this case, I'd have to use the ice machine to fill my bag, and I have the associated problems with the cubes not lasting all day.

I can always swipe some ice from the galley, but that can be difficult during a day with 40 minute turns.

What do you all do?

Use my per diem to buy food.

Thanks, that was helpful.

I'm back to the hotel ice in the baggie. Those freeze packs don't seem to last to the next day unless you have a freezer in your room. Plus, after a while they start to leak the nasty all over your lunch bag.

At least when your ice bag leaks it's just water... just never put it above your laptop bag.

Another suggestion would be to work for Delta, just like HockeyPilot. :D

I went to Target. They have these ice packs that are like a sheet about 14" long and 8" wide that roll up. They are really handy and use them to sort of surround my food in the bag. It keeps the stuff cool all day long.

Just curious how you guys do this. Do you stock up the food prior to each trip, or grab food the day of or night before each new day?

Freeze all your food first. The colder everything is to start, the longer it will stay cool. Plan your meals to eat the most perishable foods first.

If you carry drinks, freeze them too. When talking about frozen liquids, keep in mind higher surface area means faster cooling and shorter lasting cubes. So, a frozen liter bottle of water will last a long time, but not cool quickly. If possible, use a couple different sized bottles. That way, they will melt at different rates: day one, the small bottles melt; day four, the big ones will have melted.

A bigger cooler requires more ice to keep the same stuff cold. Use the smallest cooler you can. If you can, find a good collapsible cooler and smoosh it as you use food.

Get reusable ice cubes; liquor stores carry them. Get the water filled ones since they do fail occasionally. As you fill the cooler, put a layer every 2-3 inches. More importantly, fill all the spaces with the cubes. Pack them tight, leave no voids. Voids are just room temperature air that needs to be chilled.

I make a grocery run the day before 4-days and get enough to last 5. Which is good practice if your on first year pay and work for an extension happy company or if your "cultivating mass"

I've been getting this pre-made chicken salad from whole foods- they have many flavors and it's very good. Kind of expensive- about $11 per pound, but a pound of it lasts me a 4 day trip.

I get tortillas, and make chicken salad tortillas during the day. For dinner, I like to have hot food, so I bring a meal sized tupperware of frozen casserole for each night, that I freeze solid at home. Microwave that, and voila.

Simple recipe-

1 can of cream of mushroom soup, one pack of lipton dry onion soup mix, 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water... mix well in a large baking dish. Cut up chicken breast (thawed), season, throw on top. Cover with foil- bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, remove foil, bake an additional 15 minutes.

Great tasting casserole that freezes and reheats great for the road- that would be enough for a 4 day (using the chicken salad as lunch/snacks throughout the day).

I can spend about $20 on food for a 4 day, not the cheapest, but you're not going to beat $5 a day on airport food. If I could just reliably keep it cold with such factors as no freezer in the hotel, broken ice machines, etc...

I really wish I could think of a way to shape my ice bag when I freeze it solid. Hmmm...