Would those 12V/240V cool boxes be good enough to keep a couple of pints of milk cold enough for 24hr?

[DontNeedAnything]

I want to be able to keep DD3s morning milk cold in a premier Inn overnight (which apparently does not have fridges in rooms), then it would be useful to keep a bit of butter/ham/more milk cool for the 7hr journey through France.

Is it worth £35 and will it actually be cool enough?

Yes they are cool enough but beware they are noisy - I just shared a hotel room in France with one and got out of nnbed in the middle of the night to turn it off. I got a German one off e-bay and it's really good, although a bit bulky.

Are these the ciggie lighter jobbies?

If so, we have one and they are pretty good. They don't actively chill anything tho, they just maintain the temp inside.

I put loads of ice-blocks in it then put the chilled stuff in (milk, butter, ham, cheese, wine, chocolate LOL) and keep it plugged in all the time the engine is running.

DO NOT RUN IT OFF THE CAR WITHOUT THE ENGINE RUNNING AS IT IS A HUGE BATTERY DRAIN! as i found out at Glasto when i flattened the battery on the veedub

Once the ice-packs defrost I just fill it up with bags of ice.

Works very well.

Did you know you can get ice boxes that don't run on electricity but can keep ice frozen for up to 5 days? Igloo icemax or something like that. They are rather on the large size though. I got mine from ebay for about £50 but haven't used it yet (will be taking food I need to remain frozen to France next week) UK campsite has good reviews of them, apparently they do say what they say they do.

TBH I was going to put ice packs in as a back-up.

After MrsMalumbas post I was going to (jokingly) say that I would leave it in the car all night cos of the noise. I don't think I will be doing that htough cos a flat battery won't get us very far across France

Yes - it will be cool enough IME.

Agree with car thing though - we camp a lot and we've had to jump start many other vehicles over the last few years - good way of making new friends mind!

OK.

Another question. Will a small cool bag packed with 4 freezer packs be cold enough...at least overnight?

i like the idea of an electric free box that keeps thing frozen.

altho, have got "fridge" on my list of priorities for the new van i am looking to buy in the near future.

i would think so altho when you say overnight, what time are you going to put the blocks in?

if you keep the bag closed as much as poss you will help maintain teh temp.

the coolbags aren't as efficient as boxes tho IMO.

I don't know about the small cool bag - my knee-jerk reaction would be not to trust it BUT you could always give it a go at home, say tonight, and see what happens!

How old is the baby?

2.4

The blocks would probably have to go in when we leave at home late morning/early afternoon.

We would buy milk in Dover at bedtime.

tbh, i don't think it would work if you don't buy the milk till teatime as the bag will be losing it's chill by then anyway.

why not freeze the milk then take it out last thing before leaving and put in the bag with the blocks?

I have several sized bags so could do a russian doll effect; bag in a bag in a bag....

I may just have to send DP out at 6am to buy milk from the nearest 24hr store....

dd is 2.8 and when we're away/camping etc she gets milk that has come from home frozen (or sometimes not) into the chilli-bin with ice (blocks or other). on the journey we plug it in but when we arrive it just maintains that temp and gradually loses it unless i put more ice in.

by day 3 the milk is still fine tbh.

Paddlechick, do a search on ukcampsite.co.uk for igloo max cold, Coleman extreme and icey tek in the equipment section. If I can hide it from Dustystar who insists I should have sent mine back due to its size, I will review how mine does in France !

will do, thanks.

is it really that huge? lol

Well with hindsight (or bothering to get the tape measure out first) a smaller size might have been a better plan....

You can get these plug in battery saver things, they tell you how good the battery is and cut off at a certain level so you won't drain the battery. Only cost a fiver. So in theory you could leave it in the car all night I suppose. Got it online from Maplins.