Camping fridges.

[TiggyD]

I miss not having fresh milk for cereal. I miss not having bacon or other fresh meat. I don't want to be tied to paces that have a freezer to charge ice packs. I'm thinking of getting a camping fridge.

Space is limited in my car so I wouldn't want a big one, which has always been the main issue in the past. They were all huge! I've discovered Halfords are selling a 14 Litre one. I just want enough room for a couple of pints of milk, bacon, butter, cheese, and some kind of meat. 14L is still a bit big, but I could live with it.

How good are they? The one I found said it can cool up to 18 degrees cooler than the outside temperature, but "up to" just means it won't do more. What if it just cools 5 degrees cooler? Do they work? Can I trust one not to poison me? Can I keep it plugged into my car in the boot?

Seems that the cheaper ones are 'electric coolboxes' that keep things cold for a short while, and proper 'fridges' start at £150 and are big.

Argos have some 'mini travel fridges' - would that type of thing be any good? I've never used one but my parents have a beer chiller that we get out every Christmas to store surplus food in (swiftly replaced by booze once space allows). If we were going camping for a week or more and had an electric hook up I'd definitely be borrowing it from them.

I would worry that it would make the car battery go flat. But I have no experience of electric.
An Icey Tek keeps things cold for 3 days, and you can use bags of ice bought from supermarkets to top up the chill. I think there is a cheaper 'extreme' cool box available somewhere like Matalan now?

We use a cheap aldi electric esky (cool box). It works really but we pack it with frozen stuff and only leave it running while driving.

For milk I'd pre freeze either pint or two pint bottles, I'd also freeze bacon. If the food is frozen when you pack the esky they stay cool for a long time. Make sure you include ice, keep the esky in the shade.

We had a big one. I used it to cool beer and wine!! Was like a huge coolbox size though.
Agree they are either huge or small and rubbish, no middle ground.

we've always gone for the option of taking lots of stuff totally frozen (inc milk) so it defrosts gradually in a cool box while keeping everything else cool too. Works for a weekend, but not longer.

Most campsites have big communal freezers that you can freeze your ice blocks in, rotating them. Write your name with a marker. I have used Aldi's electric coolbag too.