Living Car Free - How do you keep groceries cold?

Frozen foods and milk on a half-hour bike commute. . .thanks in advance.

Bungie a cooler to your rack, maybe? You've probably already thought of this, but is there a closer store to buy your groceries at? Otherwise, some form of insulated, soft sided cooler would seem like your best bet, if you can find one big enough. Cannondale makes a line of insulated rack trunks, Nashbar (http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=66&subcategory=1005&brand=&sku=11648&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=) carries them, and I'd bet other companies make similar items.

boog

Most messenger bags seem to have some insulation. I've never had a problem hauling fruit, milk, veggies, etc. in a messenger bag (I have Timbuk2 bags).

Koffee

you can use a cooler bag.
http://www.bagpeddler.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=cooler

I picked one up at Trader Joes for $2 and works great. I just put cold stuff in it and then all into my cycle bag and it will keep it much longer.

bubble wrap

Yep, those cooler bags are the way to go. I use them too. We picked up some freebies cause they were promnotional items, I think for some old yogurt company or something.

Also, we buy the milk in those Tetra pack things, so it doesn't need to be refrigerated. I know that wasn't the point of the original post, but it is an alternative to consider. Nothing wrong with thinking outside the box.

Cooler bag here. Mine is just like a plastic bag, but with a closure on top and added insulation. I have one of those soft-wall coolers as well, and it does a better job at keeping the contents cold for longer. But the bag compresses down to nothing when empty and is easier to stuff into pannier when full. For short distances it works well enough.

--J

I like the Igloo Playmates in different sizes for all my cooling needs. It is a simple matter to bungie cord it to my rear rack and tote everything home. I never had a problem yet with frozen food!

I like the Igloo Playmates in different sizes for all my cooling needs. It is a simple matter to bungie cord it to my rear rack and tote everything home.

Those are hard-sided, right? Made out of plastic? I'm planning to do something similar now the football season is here. I want a mobile cooler full of frosty barley pops to bring to tailgate (tail-rack?) parties and such. :)

Frozen foods and milk on a half-hour bike commute. . .thanks in advance.

I've never worried about it. I do a half-hour ride home from the grocery store all the time with milk, butter, and frozen vegies. Now, ice cream may be a problem. Probably best to eat that right away! :)

I bring frozen microwaveable dinners to work using my messenger bag. It is still frozen stiff after my 1.5 hour commute. Then again, I'm in Northern California where we have very cool or cold mornings.

I wouldn't worry about most foods for 30 minutes, unless it was a real hot day. I put all the cold and frozen stuff together in a paper bag inside my backpack.

you can use a cooler bag. I picked one up at Trader Joes for $2 and works great.

These cooler bags from Trader Joe's are handy, and will easily fit inside messenger bags, trailers, etc. And surprisingly, they are durable. I have been using my two cooler bags regularly for 2-3 years, and they show no sign of needing replacement.

To keep my food cold, I only go grocery shopping during winter... which is about 11 of twelve months of the year...

The cooler bags mentioned are good ideas.

On very hot days, I buy a bag of ice and put it on top of the frozen foods.

Colder food to the bottom, warmer to the top

While all the suggestions so far work I've used a "space
blanket" that I got a wal-mart for about a year now. It
folds nice and small with almost no weight so I carry it
in my handlebar bag for when I need it. When I get cold
stuff I use the blanket to line the pannier then fold the
excess blanket over to completely close all the cold in.
Works great!! I did have to trim to size but for no more
than they cost I got 2 pannier sized pads for the price of
one. :D :D

I use a cooler bag from coleman when I get paranoid about it on a hot summer day. I also add one of those "Blue Ice" things when I know I'll be getting frozen food. I'm an hour ride from Trader Joes and their frozen fish and meatless meatballs are still frozen by the time I get home. I'm not an icecream person but judging by how the bag plus blue ice keeps the frozen fish rock hard I'd not hesitate to haul ice cream that way. For a shorter trip or colder weather I just stick frozen food in a paper bag.

Sorry if someone already mentioned it, but I've also used this sort of freezer packs (http://www.epinions.com/content_100223782532).
Robert
(edit) Oops...see prev message.

A half hour commute with the groceries shouldn't affect the quality or longevity of cooled or frozen products. Pop them into their respective refrigerants when you arrive and it'll be fine. The worst would be some slight swelling of an ice cream container but a half hour isn't ought not be enough to cause it to burst.

Those are hard-sided, right? Made out of plastic? I'm planning to do something similar now the football season is here. I want a mobile cooler full of frosty barley pops to bring to tailgate (tail-rack?) parties and such. :)

Yes, Boog. The ones I have come in at least 3 sizes (the smallest one I have can fit a six pack of aluminum cans), hard plastic sides, bright colors, and a handle on top to string the bungee cord through with ease and assure me that the playmate will stay on the rear rack. They are a little heavier than the soft covered bags and such suggested by others, but I feel more confident that the whatever is inside will stay cool far longer than I need, protected from accidental spills and possible damage, and looks more attractive when riding or walking (I don't look homeless). I usually add a pre-frozen blue ice plastic package inside the playmate when I use it. It is not necessary. But it really helps to maintain ice cold temperatures far longer than I need.

I use a space blanket-style bag from wally world. $2 I think. It keeps my ice cream from melting in August Baltimore, but I live 3 blocks from the store (2 downhill, 1 up). For longer rides, you might want to buy a little ice at the store, or use something like a frozen dinner to keep your ice cream from melting.

Yes, Boog. The ones I have come in at least 3 sizes (the smallest one I have can fit a six pack of aluminum cans), hard plastic sides, bright colors, and a handle on top to string the bungee cord through with ease and assure me that the playmate will stay on the rear rack. They are a little heavier than the soft covered bags and such suggested by others, but I feel more confident that the whatever is inside will stay cool far longer than I need, protected from accidental spills and possible damage, and looks more attractive when riding or walking (I don't look homeless). I usually add a pre-frozen blue ice plastic package inside the playmate when I use it. It is not necessary. But it really helps to maintain ice cold temperatures far longer than I need.


Yup, thats what I've been thinking of. Thanks for the info, Folder Fanantic, I will have to look for one when I'm out this afternoon.

boog

Stone Cold Outdoor makes a bike cooler bag. It's available at stores or stonecoldoutdoor.com

I'm having a running argument with my wife about this. My feeling is that most things don't mind warming up a little and then refreezing. I always get my meat and fish from the counter and I just ask the guy to add a bag of ice when he wraps it up. It's worked for me, 10 years living on my own and no food poisoning yet. My wife in particular feels that milk will go bad the minute it gets warm. My experience has been that you could leave it on a counter for 24 hours without any adverse affects :D . Yogurt and Cheese can actually be stored warm for quite a while (I used to bring a little bit of these backpacking with me). So in summary, only worry about keeping your meat cold, and even then don't stress out about it.

I think I'm going to buy some blue ice at lunchtime to throw into the pannier w/ the fish I hope to be bringing home this evening.

I picked up a soft-sided cooler from Family dollar... cost me a whole $5. I use it to keep lunch warm when I bring food back to the office, and to keep cold stuff cold if I'm riding farther than the half mile I usually ride to the store.

As an added bonus, the color matches my bike! (Yeah... you should have seen me standing in the doorway of the store with the cashiers as we held up a couple different shades of blue to see which one matched the best. :p ) I can put it in my grocery panniers, or use the strap through and over my rack to strap it to the side like a pannier.

IF the situation you are trying to cover is that of picking up some groceries on the way home, AND if you have an office refrigerator with a freezer, THEN you could do some advance preparation by bringing to work a couple of those blue re-usable frozen things and storing them at work in the freezer. On a day when you plan to stop at the grocery store, grab one before you leave work and carry it in the insulated bag. Put the cold groceries in the bag with the blue thing. When you get home, set out the blue thing so that you remember to take it back to work the next day, to pop into the freezer again. If you have to do this two days in a row, the second blue thing is there at work ready to go while the first one re-freezes. Be sure to tape your name on the blue things so that when the maintenance guys clean out the refrigerator they don't throw them away.

Frozen foods and milk on a half-hour bike commute. . .thanks in advance.

I have a soft-sided cooler that I got from a local convenience store. It seems to keep things cold.

You might consider a freezer brick to keep things cold, then pop it in the refrigerator at work.

I used to carry a 2 liter of Pepsi to work. I would freeze it and bungie it to my rack. By the time I got to work 50 minutes later it was thawed but still cold. I would cover it though to prevent the sun from warming it up. Plastic bags in winter, a newspaper in summer.

I have a soft cooler that's made for my rack. I use cold packs that used to be for my injured back. If I forget to freeze them, I use ziplocks full of ice and a bit of water -- just don't let them pop open :)

I have Ortlieb waterproof panniers, and they're made of fairly thick material. I've carried bags of ice in them before for well over half an hour in 85-90 F, and have only noticed minimal melting in that time. Maybe they'd work for frozen foods, milk, and meat as well. (My grocery store is only 10 minutes away by bike, so I've never tried food for the same length of time, though..)

Made it home w/ the salmon, one fish per pannier, 2 blue ice packs per fish.

Construction gloves ask one of the clerks working in the frozen section to see if they have dry ice. When I worked at a local grocery store the frozen warehouses would stick chunks of dry ice in the trailers to keep things cold and then we would put them in our freezers for customers that ask. Some grocery stores even carry dry ice you can buy. Even if the frozen food is not frozen and still at a chill it is still good milk and yogurt need to be kept at a constant 40 degrees cheese no problem fish be carefull eggs no problem they can actually set out side at room temp for days butter no problem it can stay at room temp for awhile but no pressure please other wise it will squeeze out everywhere somethings I learned while working in parishables meat is nice it freezes well and stays that way for long so if you can pick some frozen chunks of meat and have them act as freeze packs for the rest of the stuff

Ask at your grocery store for one of these bad boys! You can also check www.carrycool.net:

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m67/legot73/HotCold.jpg

I just stick the frozen stuff in the back of my backpack and it keeps me cool. :)

I remember taking my Thanksgiving Bonus turkey home in a backpack. It's frozen, bony little knees were sticking into my back for the whole ride, and every dog in town was following me.