I do it all the time I have a polar bear cooler use tech ice from them to and have had things out of the freezer for 24 hr's and it was still frozen

Sorry to ask this but what is tech ice and how would I check this in at the airport? Just say as a normal checked bag? What did you wrap your meats in to keep cold and preserve? Thanks

Here is the link to the coolers and the tech ice

http://polarbearcoolers.com/

http://polarbearcoolers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=polar&Product_Code=ICE

Tom

We bought a rolling cooler from Target, under $20 and packed it tightly with vac.sealed food. We didn't use an ice packs, just layered newpaper in between each layer of food.

We packed the cooler at 5:30am and finally unpacked it around 6:00pm. Everything was fine.

I bring 5 or so cooked meals with me. I stack them up in the freezer in gal. size ziplocks. The day I fly I just put them in the cooler and they act like one big block of ice. I surround them with butter, lunch meat (much cheaper here) and specialty cheeses. The frozen dinners keep the rest cold for the trip and I don't have to do anything but defrost and reheat after a long day on the beach. It's the best! They usually ask to look in the cooler at the airport so take your tape with you and ask them to tape it when they are done. Does anyone leave their cooler UNtaped? Just wondering. Leticia

Leticia, are you actually there when they want to look in your cooler? I'm assuming that you're talking about putting the cooler on as checked-in luggage, not as a carry on?

I was wondering how one would keep the cooler closed as they dont come with straps. But I guess you could buy straps maybe 3-4 and just strap it around the mid section of the cooler. That might work because god knows how the luggage gets tossed around it would come open in route if not secure.

We checked a cooler on our trip last November. Make sure to fill the cooler up and it will stay cold much longer. Packing frozen food will reduce your need for ice. Freeze a few water bottles if you need to fill up space, they don't leak when thawing. We used a strap like you'd use for camping, backpacking, etc. with velcro closure for keeping the lid closed. This way no tape was needed and it could be opened for inspection without needing to retape, etc. I did tape a paper with our destination and contact information to the lid of the cooler since it was hard to tag. No problem checking it there and on the way back we filled with wet beach clothes from the last day and could use the velcro strap again. Your local outdoors shop should have something that would work well.

We check as baggage one or two softsided coolers which zip closed. We freeze our meats and pack them in the coolers filling in with frozen bottles of water. We don't use ice packs just the frozen food and water and everything has kept frozen for two days. We use the coolers for the beach and fold them and pack them in our suitcase when we return home.

I suggest using tape to keep the cooler closed in addition to a strap if you're using one...last year our strap broke...had the cooler not also been taped, it would have been a disaster. The airlines have tape with their logo on it that they'll let you use at check-in.

Yes, they open it right there just like if it were your bag they wanted to search. Then I check it in. I ask them to tape it up really well so that it wont open and I loose everything. I have not yet had any trouble with it. I hope this trip will be the same. I'm leaving in 11 days! Yeah! Leticia

Hey Leticia....if you're going to be down there when we're all there, we should try to meet up.

Staying on St Thomas? If so, meet us at Duffy's one night because I'm sure we'll be there a few nights.

8 nights to go!

Leticia:

What are bringing in the gallon bags? We will be heading down to St. Thomas in the end of June with 2 very hungry teens. I plan on the usual meatballs/ sausage and possibly chili . Dinner is out the first evening as we will be up and going around 4 a m . Your suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks-
K

Connie, Wed night at Duffy's is I think ladies night free mixed drinks for gals. We plan to go for a couple then for sure! Also cant miss st john for happy hour too one night. How's Wed. sound to you? Yes, we are on stt Sapphire.

Jerseygirlk I have found that mashed potatoes, chicken piccata, bbq ribs, enchiladas all freeze well and homemade soup for lunch, yum! Don't forget to lay them flat in the freezer so they fit nice in the cooler. Hope this helps, Leticia

Leticia...i'm going to be at Duffy's as soon as we can. I know everybody in our party will love to go there. Just our type of place with great drinks, bartenders, crowd and dancing.

We'll probably be there on Saturday night when we get there if everybody is up for it. Try to make Wed night and Tues i think is taco tuesday! yeah!

Hope to see you there.

Leticia:

Thanks for all the freezing suggestions especially the chicken piccata. I never made enchiladas but i guess i can give it a try.

My pleasure. Enchiladas are one of my favs. Enjoy. Leticia