We're looking at car camping our way across Europe next year. I've heard ice is hard to find. Does anyone have ideas on how to keep food cold while on the road? I've thought about one of those 12v plug into the car coolers but they wouldn't work when the car is turned off. It would need to be small too. Any thoughts?
Posted by
Ocean Shores, Wa, USA
124 posts
In Ireland we carried a gel ice pack, and asked the B&B Hostess if she would put it the freezer overnight...they never refused. Other times we were able to locate ice at pubs and esp. at hotels with bars and restaurants. We also were able to find ice in larger chain supermarkets, and even able to get ice from the meat/fish department at smaller grocery stores. We had a small soft cooler, and generally only asked for ice in volumes of 1 or 2 qt. zip lock bags. Hope this helps...Dan
Posted by
OP
San Jose, CA, USA
7 posts
Dan - That is helpful and the direction I was heading in. I think I may look into a collapsible soft sided cooler. It doesn't need to be too big, just enough to hold a few things. Thanks very much for the tip! - Rick
Posted by
Lake Forest, CA, USA
1633 posts
Getting ice in Europe is tough. Maybe it's easier to get ice in Ireland. I don't recall it being sold in grocery stores on the continent. We had a freezer gel pack (we check our luggage through) that we would put in the hotel room frig or have our B&B host freeze for us. If you are going to campgrounds, maybe there will be ice machines. Unfortunately, in fast food restaurants, like McDonald's, you can't get ice at the drink fountains. Actually, for your purposes, I like your idea of a 12v car cooler. Just keep a daily supply of food in the cooler. We travel with a small soft cooler & keep our meat/cheese & cold drink for the day. It does o.k. in an air-conditioned car.
Posted by
Nederland, CO
108 posts
I don't remember the exact circumstances, but I once bought a bag of cheap, frozen vegetables at a small grocery in France to keep some stuff cold for a few hours. As I recall, it did the job.
Posted by
Boulder, CO, USA
780 posts
Hi neighbor Jason!
Rick, When I stay in London, I use a similar tactic as Jason. I buy a few frozen food items, like we bought a couple single serving frozen Tiramisu's and that was our dessert that night after it defrosted after keeping our cheese and cold cuts cool all day.
It is a bonus when your cooling agent is edible at the end of the day! (Just buy something else frozen before coming back to your hotel, etc and settling for the night!)