I've been looking into the best way to keep food and drink cool for short camping trips and have been reading about powered cool boxes. I've been getting a bit confused though when it comes to sizes, etc.
Am I right in thinking that you don't need to plug these in? I'm basically looking for one that would be suitable for a family of three, one adult and two children, for short camping trips of two or three nights where electricity is not available. Any advice would be much appreciated!
Quote: Am I right in thinking that you don't need to plug these in?
Er no. Powered ones have to be plugged into a power source - mains electricity.
There are very well insulated cool boxes around that are not powered that are supposed to keep things cool for about 3 days - but that will depend how often you open them, etc.
If you're going beyond the reach of the mains and want to keep food cool, you'll need either an expensive gas-powered fridge or you'll need to stay somewhere where you can use the freezers in the site shop to freeze chiller blocks for you.
Thanks Paul. It was this quote from a website that had me scratching my head:
"Quite new on the scene are the powered cool boxes (coolers), Whilst small these work very well as they keep incredible cool for days even when not plugged in. perfect if you are moving around."
It was reading that that made me wonder whether they could be somehow charged via the mains and then work for a few days without electricity.
We have a none powered cool box, quite a large one, What we do before we go camping we freeze a large container 2 make a bock of ice, 2 one litre milk cartons will do.Stand them up in the bottom of the cool box, then pack everything around or ontop of them.We also freeze ready cooked meals in foil containers[like you get from the chinese] pack them into the box, plus dairy product, the bigger chunk of ice the longer it stays cool, but it usualy lasts about 5 days,good luck.
Ours is a 35L one that plugs into the mains or the cigarette lighter in the car, it comfortably holds 6 x 2L pop bottles and room on top for more bits of food. It gets a lot colder than the fridge in the van.
We got it last summer in one of the Lidl offers for £30
Quote: Originally posted by callmechar on 06/7/2009
I got a camping gaz one on saturday, it was £59.99. Seems pretty good and has mains and 12v power supply attached.
If it is a 28L one, then you got it at a good price, as they are normally nearly 70 GBP!
I have two 28L ones, one by Coleman which is older than the CampingGaz one by a couple of years, both very similar in design, probably made by the same factory, as the parts appear to be interchangeable! Very pleased with them both.
The first year I went camping back in 2006 without EHU, and took a cool box with lots of ice packs to keep some desserts I made for a BBQ cool. I was so worried about the contents warming up which could led to food poisoning that I swore I would never do that again, and would always have EHU.
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Topic: Powered cool box advice
