Bring me your passive coolbox wisdom, fellow campers!

[Imissmoominmama]

I’m currently looking at Icey-Tek (pricey tech!), Igloo and Coleman passive coolboxes. I don’t want an electric one.

Does anyone have any experience of any of these 3? I need something that will keep things cool for at least 5 days.

I’ve seen that the Icey-Tek work better with their own gel packs, and I’m prepared to pay the money to get a good product which will last, but if the others are just as good...

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If you’re looking for ways to keep your food and drinks chilled for long periods, we’ve rounded up the best cooling boxes as recommended by Mumsnet users, including advice comparing the top brands so you can find the right one for your family's needs. We hope you find it useful.
MNHQ

We have an igloo which is massive and very good but these days I go for a 2 pronged strategy. One solid cool box (smaller than the igloo), for food and one soft coolbag with a waterproof inner, for drinks. I use cool blocks and ice to top up and also to use in drinks. Feel like I've reached the pinnacle of camping cooling 😂

Icey Tek- it’s brilliant. Keeps things really cold and lasts for 3 days. If you manage to switch out ice blocks then it will last as long as you need.

It’s bulky and doesn’t hold that much though- the walls are so thick.

I also take a small insulated bag for day trips.

Thanks for replying!

@hillbilly-sorry if I’m being a bit thick- do you mean you use those inside the Igloo?

@Atalune- what size is yours?

I want it instead of a fridge for camping trips of up to 5 days.

we have the cheapo one from decathlon.
big and bulky, but reasonably spaceous inside. keeps well cool, have been in south of france last year.
we start off with filling it with frozen juice and milk cartons and a couple of gel filled ice packs as well as as a couple of large frozen water bottles.
most campsites have a freezer where you can swap the ice packs (we also put in a large water bottle over night)
label the ice packs with garish stickers so they are easy to find between all the other ice packs!

I use a very basic cool bag with frozen food in and ice blocks on top, bottom and sides. Pack any gaps with newspaper. Do this carefully and things will stay frozen for up to 4 days. Longer if you can replace/refresh the ice blocks. Packing air gaps is the key.

I've got a big igloo that's on wheels and has a drain plug in the bottom. Blue and grey I think. I love it but it is big and bulky. I freeze 4 points of milk, a large carton of juice and pre frozen sausages, bacon, burgers, ice creams, chilli in a tub etc and take a frozen bottle of vodka too. I keep a separate sealed box with ham, butter and cheese in to avoid cross contamination. Providing I only open the box 3-5 times a as day and swap out Frazer packs and add more frozen food from the sites market it lasts pretty much as long as you want it to. I do pre chill mine though for 24 hours minimum before I pack it and leave

I bought a 25l Icey Tek second hand for £50 a couple of months ago. Took it on our holiday last week and it was amazing! I pre-cooled it for 2 days and then used two gel packs in it. I froze 2 x 2l of milk and put those in along with 2 x 2l fresh milk, tub of butter, cheese and 4 beers. We got to day 4 before we needed ice to keep it cold as we had no facility to re-freeze the gel packs. We then topped it up with new ice each evening. Was worth every penny.

Some great tips here- thank you! 😃

25lt icey tek here.

@zebrapig- I can’t find any second hand ones 😕

I’ve just ordered the 25L, in purple, plus one large gel pack!

Thanks, all for your collective cooling wisdom!

Hi I have been been trying to decide which coolbox to buy. Think the Coleman xtreme 28qt is more in my price range. Where did you buy if from Imissmoominmama just incase you have found an unbelievable bargain.... hopeful

Just returned from 12 nights camping in cornwall with our Coleman cool box. Cost around £65 a few years ago.
I prechill with bottles of frozen water then freeze pints of milk, bacon etc and mix in with chilled food and drinks. I always put in two 2 litre frozen plastic bottles of water which take about a week to defrost. Always keep the box in the shade, preferable outside of the tent. I put a bag of ice cubes at the bottom for G&Ts and still had some ice left after 7 days. We usually refreeze ice packs but this site had no freezer. We tend to pick up food/beers daily after the beach so always bought two bags of ice as well - 1 to chill any cans/bottles in a container with water for an hour or so then transfer to the box and open out the second bag of ice. Ours has a drain to let out any water from melted ice which helps.
We had chilled food and drinks for the whole duration.

Thank you so much you had me at G & T. I will go with the Coleman

@Imissmoominmama I think I just got lucky on eBay. I've been looking at them on and off for a couple of years. This one was about 20 miles away. I actually lost the auction, wasn't even the second bidder but the first two passed so the guy came to me. It originally went for £70, my max was £50!

Oh bugger- it was a lot more than £60 😕.

Oh well- I’ve bought it now, and I’m excited about camping this summer!

I have a 55l Icey Tek and it's awesome, I would thoroughly recommend them.

A lot of it is in the preparation. I freeze about 5x 5l plastic bottles of water and 24 hours before we go away I put these in the cool box to chill it down.

We have the Icey Tek gel packs and if there are freezer facilities on the campsite I'll take some additional packs to swap out. With Covid many campsites are no longer able to do this.

I also freeze some pints of milk, boxes of juice, wine bags and meals for the next night's dinner. Anything else that goes into the cool box is well chilled first.

Once we are away no one goes in the cool box ad-hoc. I do take a cool bag and ice for beer/soft drinks so that we're not constantly in the cool box. Not surprisingly DH thinks I am the 'Coolbox Police' but when we're careful it stays properly cold for 5 days.

@Imissmoominmama no what I meant was that I don't use the big igloo cool box anymore. As I usually have a Sainsbury’s shop delivered to me at the campsite I only have the solid cool box full in the car and the soft cool bag is empty and only filled when the shopping arrives 😀

No idea about these boxes but something that worked for us this weekend was bringing a couple of big Tupperwares of frozen food - eg a ratatouille - which is your dinner on day 3 but also keeps the box cool for the first couple of days.

Definitely doing that next time we come camping - batch cook some veggie frozen meals in the weeks ahead for quick camping dinners.

The key as @Romainecalm said is to not keep opening it. I like to have 2 bags/boxes. The one with milk for today, the prefrozen bacon for tomorrow, the snacks for the kids etc and then the cold cold box which is only opened when I need to transfer things to the daily box.

I don’t let the kids open the box, and have the lid open for the minimum amount of time.

I have also started to experiment with a layer of bubble wrap across the box, and put ice / ice blocks / frozen items etc below it, and the things like salad, that I do not want to be icy, above it.

I have heard good reports about Iceytek, with any cool box pre chilling is key
But if its a 5 day trip have you considered a gas fridge?www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quest-Atlantic-3-Way-Chest-Gas-LPG-12v-240v-41lt-Camping-Fridge-Cooler/193344873630?hash=item2d0440a49e:g:BC0AAOSw74xeRr9B

I’m very tempted to buy a ridiculously expensive cool box- feels like we’d use it plenty as even if not camping we will often spend 2 days driving for our summer holiday so would be good to have chilled stuff when we arrive at our destination.
Has anyone used both the Coleman and an icey-tek? If so is the icey-tek worth the extra?

I bought the icey-tek. I prepared it very well by getting it really cold, both times I’ve used it. I tried not to open it a lot. It lasted 3 days being really cold both times. I’m not sure it would last 5 days, as advertised though. I can’t help wondering whether a less expensive coolbox would perform similarly with the same amount of prep...