Small fridge or cool box - which is better with no hookup?

[KatyMac]

I have a leisure battery but I don't want to let it run out completely

Is there something I can look for that might keep the food for one person for about 2/2.5 days

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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 options that don't need battery power. We hope you find it useful.
MNHQ

Have you thought about getting an electrical hook up cable? You could then have the fridge without worrying.

a cool box, even with ice packs didn’t stay cold enough for us but the electric hook up cable was life changing, and the site fees weren’t much more expensive.

I have a hook up the field doesn't so I need to think up a plan

We have a camping fridge. Plugs into the car lighter when we are out and about. Then at the camp it is still cold enough to keep stuff fresh. Best camping item we got. Cost around 100 quid. Use it on picnics etc also.

We use a cool box. I just buy a bag of ice for the second day assuming there are shops nearby.

Tricky!

I'm so indecisive!

We have a gas fridge. They aren’t cheap though.

Unless it's an extreme heatwave, I can manage to keep a coolbox chilled for three days. I use a couple of water bottles frozen, rather than the blue plastic icepacks, they stay frozen for longer. I get all my food, as cold as possible and freeze what I can, like portions of chilli. I keep the coolbox outside the tent in the shade, and I plan to have food that doesn't need to be chilled towards the end of the trip.

I would come at it from the other angle. Can you replace what you want to keep cool with long life products

It's only a weekend, and it's only me

So maybe I can make it work

Consider extra lagging for the cool box.

Start with your food etc from the fridge, and pack with frozen water bottles, freezer blocks etc (the advantage of water bottles is that you can drink the water)

Then the almost obvious of keeping the cool box away from direct sunlight
Wrap it with a spare sleeping bag as lagging and keep it shut as much as possible - not much of a factor if it’s just you, but when there’s a group get everyone in the habit of offering drinks to others so that it’s opened and closed once instead of repeatedly for a few minutes

A friend managed this for one mid July extra long weekend (mid week to Monday) with many of his ice bottles still frozen

Until you have perfected it, choose your food wisely for something that is less likely to go off, and eat in a general order so that you eat the more perishables first and the longer lasting survivables later

When packing don’t put all the frozen goods at the bottom. Stand ice bottles upright and have some frozen items on top - heat rises and cold falls.

Assuming you have standard lead acid leisure battery- You will kill your battery running a fridge. You need a 3way camping fridge ie gas battery and mains. But if you have a 3 way fridge it will only really run off battery while towing and it’s not an option once you’re pitched up. Even if you had a lithium battery with a solar panel it would still kill the battery if you used it for any length of time. Gas is your only option if you’re not on hookup if you want proper fridge functionality.

You might be able to get enough power to run a very small fridge off something like a Jackery or Eco flow solar generator which are used by off grid camper vans but they are £££ to buy.

A 12v cool box won’t be able to do much unless you have access to somewhere to freeze ice packs as they really don’t have much cooling capacity and are really only able to use their insulation to slow the rate of warming of the contents and I don’t think would keep food safely for more than a day.

Cold box is FINE! We’ve managed 4 days for 5 of us and still had cold fresh mklk At the end.
Only open it once/twice a day - take out enough milk for a few hours, for eg. Take everything frozen. Add frozen water
bottles as well as blocks. No need at all for further chilling.

Yy to the cool box being fine. I used to do 5days four nights easily.

If you're unfussy freeze stuff like milk and pasties for day 3 and it will slowly unthaw in time. I used to do this for the 5 day stint no problems at all. Just dont leave in in the sun or a hot car!

If your fussy, cook from tins of the last day. I've done a remarkably successful bolognese with tinned corned beef.

We take a cool box with some frozen stuff eg pint of milk, sausages, bacon. If it's only a couple of days you don't need that much. Take a ready made meal like chilli for the first day. Eat out or fish and chips another day. Defrosted sausages with baked beans, bacon and eggs for other hot meals. Stuff like cheese and butter and yoghurt will be cool enough. Also if it's just you then buying from smaller local shops as and when you need things isn't too expensive.

I think cool box is the way to go - extra frozen water and extra insulation and keep in a cool place opening as little as possible

I can freeze food in meal sized portions but eating out or shopping is less likely

Solar panels are my next investment but it's a good while off yet!

Most of the time I take food from hone each day as I haven't really stayed over yet

So I'm nervous about the first time

Iceytek is your friend! Will definitely keep everything cold for a few days.

Definitely not a fridge, you need EHU or solar etc. for a fridge or your battery will be goosed. Remember you don't want your battery to go below half-charge - anything lower risks permanently damaging your battery.

We have a 12v cool box - and it is actually quite good at cooling. (e.g. I put a softened block of butter in it yestrday, and it was hard after a few hours, so it does actively cool, not just slow the heating up...). But we're on EHU at the mo, I wouldn't run even a 12v cool box for very long off my leisure battery.

For a weekend, I would go with a good quality cool box and some cool blocks - or a bag of ice, which you can use in drinks etc. as well.

Definitely iceytek. I have one and stuff was cold five days later.

Definitely not a fridge, you need EHU or solar etc. for a fridge or your battery will be goosed.

Ours runs on gas.

You can get plug in cool boxes too. Compromise between cook box and fridge.

I always take a cool box with lots of ice packs and the food for day 2/3 frozen.

Can you take some food that doesn't need to be kept chilled as backup (tinned meals like curry)?

Decent cool box (like the Coleman ones) freeze bottles of water and use them.

your leisure battery won’t last the night with a plug in one, plus they are shit. I just don’t think they are very well insulated.

We’ve gone for two coolboxes now.
one for food, one for drinks.
kids being kids being in and out the drink one, leaving it’s open etc.

Often the campsite will refreeze your ice packs for you.

I have a cool box which I plug in before we go so everything in there is super cold, plug in on the journey and only turn off when we arrive (if no EHU). It keeps things pretty cold if you don't open and close it loads.