Keeping a packed lunch cool without ice packs?

[marthamoo]

Ds1 goes on his first overnight trip with school tomorrow. They are walking a section of the Gritstone Trail in Cheshire tomorrow and he has to take a packed lunch in a backpack. It's to be in a disposable bag so I can't put an ice pack in as I do with his school packed lunch.

If I freeze a carton of orange juice and put it in, will it be OK? It won't split the seam and start leaking in his bag? Or shall I freeze his sandwiches (hate the thought of him tucking into frozen sandwiches ) I was thinking if I got the juice out when I get up tomorrow (around 6) it will have bags of time to defrost before lunchtime.

Or shall I just give him cheese butties and accept they'll be warm and limp by lunchtime?

can you do frozen frubes? .. they will melt by the time he eats and form a handy pudding and keep the rest of his food cool

I freeze ds drink everyday, though its not a carton, its a sports bottle, you could put crackers in instead of sandwiches, less likely to go soggy.

I was goint to suggest freezing a juice carton. They kind of puff up and pop out the folded bits at the top/bottom but don't split

I always put a frozen juice in my boys' lunch boxes, moo. Never thought of them splitting and so far I've been lucky.
Hope the boy has a lovely time. I would be gibbering too! Did you find him a nice bag in the end?

I would think the juice would be OK or you could put in one of the small children's water bottles (a few companies do them - Highland Spring is one I think) and open the lid first and take a bit of the water out so it has space to expand (before you freeze it).

Otherwise, Woolies does packs of small gel cool blocks and you could always sacrifice one of those to the bin (and keep the others at home in the freezer).

A bottle of water frozen stays so for ages! My kids are taking them in every day at the moment.

I'm sure you could freeze those capri-sun drinks, less likely to split as they are foil wrapped.

Frozen juice carton should be fine, or just bottle of water frozen.

what about frozen peas

or frozen carrots.

beef burgers? but only birds eye

Or what about a mini fridge

He's not a big fan of yoghurt so Frubes are a no no. He has to take two drinks so I'm giving him a bottle of water and a carton of juice, so I think I'll take out a bit of the water, as suggested and freeze the rest, and have a go with the juice carton too. Thanks for the help.

I'm guessing that's you, scummy ? In the end we decided dh's rucksack would be OK - though I was fretting about the straps being proportioned for an adult, he doesn't actually have to carry it far. Then - entirely co-incidentally - I ordered an EHU for our tent (doesn't really matter what it is if you don't know) and it came yesterday in its own perfectly proportioned carry bag: exactly the right size of hold all for an overnight trip. Such a stroke of serendipity.

Mind you, the other year 4 class went today and some of them had vast holdalls - the sort on wheels that you take for a fortnight's holiday. They're only going overnight!

I am definitely gibbery. I know he'll be fine and have a fab time but it will be weird his bed being empty.

We have an electric coolbox...but I don't think the extension lead will reach that far (could plug it in the car and drive at a discreet distance behind him...)

Yes, tis me. Gibbery totally normal, imo.

serendipity is such a nice word and such a nice thing when applied to overnightbags.

I haven't tried this but my friend freezes a yogurt for her ds which has defrosted by lunchtime.

It's one of my favourite words. Serendipitous is even better, just trips off the tongue.

Message withdrawn

Poor child will have a totally frozen lunch at this rate...

just put in a frozen brger,bun and chips

I could nip to MaccyDs and freeze him a BigMac meal...

there you go sorted

yeah martha just freeze the lot

stick it all in the freezer including the bag

along with his socks and shorts