Jerseygirl

Unless the temp in the cooler is several degrees below freezing I thought water would accelerate the melting of the ice. A safe and quickish way to thaw chicken is to put it in cold water.

Michael

When I was a kid, my father owned a grocery store and used to receive fresh chickens packed in crushed ice and the chickens were always fresh. However if he received frozen foods, that always arrived in a refrigerated truck with temperatures below freezing.

Bob

Ice alone leaves a lot of air pockets, which you fill with water. It won't freeze the food, obviously, but it will keep frozen food frozen and safe a lot longer than bunging it in just ice or not freezing it first.

Michael

I would agree if she was going to use the frozen food immediately when she arrives in Florida but she wants to use that food over a week or two. Since the water is not below freezing, the food will partially thaw and will likely spoil very quickly and she can't refreeze the food once it is partially thawed.

If you don't freeze the food first, packing it in ice and water should keep it safe since all she would be doing is refrigerating it on the trip to Florida and refigerated precooked foods last a long time before spoilage sets in.

Yorkieabroad

There was a report I read a few weeks back, pretty sure it was online, but can't find it now so may have been in one of the outdoors magazines. Google around and you might find it. Anyway, this report was comparing 5 different brands of coolers ranging from a $40 Coleman to those $300 jobbies that the hunting guys use - can't remember the brand - Yeti? They froze a 2 gallon block of ice, then packed it in the coolers with ice cubes and measured how much of the block was still frozen after 1/2/3/4/5 days.
All of them still had pretty much the whole block after 3 days, but the poorer performing ones then lost a lot by the 5th day. But in all of them, the temperature in the cooler, even with all the ice melted, was still cooler than most people would set their domestic refrigerator, and was cool enough to satisfy the health requirements of whichever state they were in.

I'm guessing you're talking easy dinners here - pasta sauces and chilli rather than beef wellington? If so, if I were you, I'd freeze your dinners in blocks (rather than flat), pack them in as much block ice as you can (rather than cubes) and fill in with ice cubes. Leave the cooler closed as much as you can, and keep it in the coolest part of wherever you are. If the hotel has a proper freezer that is already cold, use it, but if its just one of those freezer compartments inside the fridge, you may be better leaving everything sealed in the cooler. Top off the ice when you get chance, and I reckon when you get there, you'll be pretty well frozen still. If anything has thawed, reheat the thawed meals and simmer for at least 6 minutes, then either cool or re-freeze as necessary for your schedule.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Oh, and a big for a) saving the cash on eating out and b) even more important, feeding the kids proper food instead of giving in to the "burger-pizza-nuggets-fries-every-night cos we're on vacation" mentality!

WEBlue

I agree. If it's Disneyhell, the over-priced stuff they have the nerve to call 'food' is horrible. So much better to bring your own food!

The Horticulturalist

We don't eat at fast food places very often, even if we wanted to they can't accommodate our funky diets.

We do love Five Guys as a treat, everything is gluten free in the restaurant except the bun. And I just found out that an Irish pub in Downtown Disney does gluten free fish and chips so I am very excited about that!

Yorkieabroad

So have you done your road trip yet? How did it go? Any tips on the cooler?