Frozen Food

KROBI · Post by **KROBI** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:29 pm

Hello,
WE will be going to St. John in July. I have read that some people bring frozen food and check it as bagage. How is the best way to pack and ship the food?

Thanks,
Kenny

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:37 pm

I freeze the meat put into my Polar bear cooler with Thecni ice always is still frozen when I get there

KROBI · Post by **KROBI** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:02 pm

waterguy wrote:I freeze the meat put into my Polar bear cooler with Thecni ice always is still frozen when I get there

Thanks waterguy,
How do you seal the cooler? do you use tape? How big of a cooler do you use?

Thanks
Kenny

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:03 pm

I will second the Polar Bear Techniice combo - it worked well for us two weeks ago. I like the coolers so much, I have one of each size.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:04 pm

Polar Bears are soft-sided coolers with zippers. The coolers do fold flat if you want to put it in your suitcase for the return trip.

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:26 pm

Here is a link to them.

http://polarbearcoolers.com/

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:30 pm

I started a Polar Bear endurance test Sunday morning. I'll post the results tomorrow.

Cheers, RickG

chicagoans · Post by **chicagoans** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:52 pm

Are you checking bags or doing carry on only? We did carry on, so I bought a cooler with detachable wheels that was so much easier to bring through the airport. I don't do so well carrying heavy stuff over my shoulder for a long time, and this was easy enough for one of the kids to pull. I know everyone loves Polar Bear coolers but I couldn't find one with wheels. I got the 'all terrain' at keepyourcooler.com. We took the wheels off when we brought it to the beach.

Since we did carry on we couldn't use any fake ice, but everything was still frozen when we got to STJ, after about 13 hours.

I'm looking forward to hearing the results of Rick's science experiment!

crickett · Post by **crickett** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:25 am

Hi KROBI,
We brought frozen fillet mignon, lobster tails, shrimp and a few other frozen items down last week. I went to our local fish market and asked them for one of the styrofoam containers they get their fish in. They showed me different sizes and gave me the one that was the right size. It had NO fish odor at all. I then packed that in a cardboard box (a heavyweight one) with about 4 inches of space on all sides. I filled the space with styrofoam peanuts, sealed it with tape and put a label on it. Total trip time until we unpacked it at the villa was 30 hours (although it sat in the car for 8 hours overnight below freezing in Boston at a hotel.) Everything was still completely frozen solid when unpacked.
We checked it with our luggage and it worked perfectly. Cost = $0.

crickett : )

Xislandgirl · Post by **Xislandgirl** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:31 am

We used a rolling cooler that I got at Target for about $20.00. We packed it with frozen food in between layers of newspaper with a few dozen steamers on top for Ruth. We left the house at 6am and got to the villa at 5pm. Everything was frozen solid and the steamers were still alive. We did not use any techni-ice or any artificial ice product just the food.

I think the key is to be sure that the cooler is packed tight.

California Girl · Post by **California Girl** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:05 am

IMHO I think a lot of it depends on how far you're traveling. If you live on the east coast, you have a lot less travel time than if you live on the west coast. I envy you, Xislandgirl, leaving you house at 6 a.m. and getting to your villa at 5 p.m. If we leave the AIRPORT at 6 a.m. we get to the STT airport at 10 p.m.!!

VayCay · Post by **VayCay** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:09 pm

California Girl wrote:IMHO I think a lot of it depends on how far you're traveling. If you live on the east coast, you have a lot less travel time than if you live on the west coast. I envy you, Xislandgirl, leaving you house at 6 a.m. and getting to your villa at 5 p.m. If we leave the AIRPORT at 6 a.m. we get to the STT airport at 10 p.m.!!

we're leaving at 9:30pm (local time) and getting to STJ @ 11:10am (local time)

So we are looking at about 10hrs 40mins of travel time... Plus the two hours to get through hell (security) at LAX So i'm hoping that even if our meat defrosts that it will still be in under 45 degrees. I'm planning on getting a unbutchered piece of new yorks. We are taking it carry-on with no ice/techice...so i will have a good report of how long newspaper and a soft sided cooler will keep this baby going. Oh....this just occoured to me. So I know that once you are in the airport terminal you can buy food and drinks....couldn't i just fill it with ice from the airport mcdonalds soda fountain once i'm past security???????

-VayCay

augie · Post by **augie** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:22 pm

If it's crushed ice, it won't cool the contents of the cooler for very long before it melts - it might not be worth the space it will take up.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:30 pm

theshopper3's buddy Woody brought steaks and burgers in a carryon cooler with no refrigerant and the goods were still frozen. They did an overnight in Detroit before flying to STT/STJ. A primal loin should freeze up nicely, just get it as cold as possible!

Cheers, RickG

VayCay · Post by **VayCay** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:33 pm

RickG wrote:theshopper3's buddy Woody brought steaks and burgers in a carryon cooler with no refrigerant and the goods were still frozen. They did an overnight in Detroit before flying to STT/STJ. A primal loin should freeze up nicely, just get it as cold as possible!

Cheers, RickG

thanks Rick!

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Frozen Food

Frozen Food