Eek! Ice packs

[birdling]

I've just booked a campsite for us, basic with toilets, showers etc. Suddenly realised that there was no mention of facilities to freeze ice packs.
I've emailed them to ask, but in the possibility that they might not have, how do people manage?

We have a gas fridge.

Ah, ok. Can't get one of those.

Could you buy bags of ice from a supermarket?

Cupboard milk in small cartons, food that can be prepped there ( it potatoes to bake on a fire)
If you like them, then jarred hot dogs to grill.
Two coolers- one for food to use fairly quickly and will be opened more. Put in as many ice packs as you can.
Second cooler put frozen food in to be used later in the week- ie burgers, chops etc.
also bulk out with freezer packs

We do a mixture of

Don't have a lot that needs to be kept cold
Buy very small quantities often
Do without

With a frio bag for insulin

A cool box with a few inches of cold water in it kept outside the tent in a shady place will keep anything in plastic containers edible/drinkable for a few days.

Bags of ice in our esky stay frozen for days, they lasted three days when we went camping in 30+ degrees. I also pack frozen water bottles in it and cook and freeze a meal like chilli for the second night that helps keep stuff cool.

start with it cold: freeze juice/milk cartons and load the box with those.
at the campsite leave the box in the shade covered with a light coloured damp towel.
open only for a very short time at meal times.
this kept out box cool during a long drive in france in an august heatwave & for a couoke further days.

Take a rigid cold box and start w EVERYTHING frozen - 2x 4 pints milk, stew etc. Be incredibly strict abt not opening it. Never put warm stuff in. Wrap the box in blankets and keep it in deep shade. Most things don’t need to be kept cold!

Not been camping for ages but when I did the site shop sold frozen water bags and when they defrosted you could drink the water. This may well depend on where you're camping.

How long are you going for? I always take some form of meat frozen (sausages, pre-cooked chilli etc), so that defrosts in time to use on the first or 2nd day and keeps things cold for a while. A 2 pinter of milk takes quite a time to defrost. 2 or 3 nights is fine with no EHU I'd say. We haven't done longer than that, but I'd probably make sure the campsite has either a shared fridge or the facility to freeze blocks for longer. But I wouldn't want to keep meat in a cool box (not plugged in) - I don't think freezer blocks would keep it cold enough.

We shop daily.
Use small cartons of milk that are easier to store and are used quickly so no worries about going off.
We only take frozen food for the first day or two.
Sometimes we'll take two cool boxes. One for food which is rarely opened then another for beer etc

We don't use anything that needs to be kept cool..

We have a 80's Coleman cool box with a drain on it these are cheap used, ours was £8 much better that the rubbish sold cheaply now, Two bags of iice only half melted after 24 hours so kept breakfast and the barbecue meats, milk etc fresh.
The Supermarket ones are just a plastic box with some polystyrene inside so not the best you want a foam filled one but they are much better, you do get what you pay for. Heres ours but much more expensive https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225677131073?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAjwzo2mBhAUEiwAf7wjkrQbNFn96t4OnJ5VNpJAcUVxKYWSvKS0HUeF3IB_QD2bZdr3SSM2QhoCjPEQAvD_BwE

If you are handy a good quality box can easily made

Lots of ideas. Thank you everyone 🙂

We had this a few years ago when the freezer room was shut “due to covid”.

Main things that helped:

Decent cool box rather than a cool bag. We have a Coleman one.

Buy milk the evening before as you’re getting back to the campsite, and decant into a thermos - keeps it cold for the morning.

Use actual butter (salted) rather than spreadable - it doesn’t go into liquidy mush if it gets a bit warm. Put it in a sealed tub.

Freeze a couple of litre / 2 litre bottles of water and keep them in the ice box - they take ages to defrost.

Keep the cool box in as cool a place as possible and drape towels over it for insulation from the sun (if you are lucky enough to have any). We left ours outside the tent just in the porch area.

Some supermarkets etc sell frozen bottles of water or you can buy bags of ice from the freezer section to keep your cool box going. Bag them up as they might leak.