Logistics question re: bringing or using a cooler

I almost always bring a small cooler bag on trips. When we don't check luggage, I bring several sponges and ziplock bags to make my own ice packs. I either get 2 inch thick sponges or stack 2 or 3 in a bag, add water and through in freezer.

How elaborate are the meals you’re thinking of taking on the road? We’re just two adults, no youngsters who may or may not be pickier eaters.

Cheese travels pretty well during the day, if it’s not sitting out in hot sun. Bread and fruit (especially whole citrus), maybe a section of sausage, and you’re good to go. In mediterranean locations, we include olives, but in Iceland, you’ll find dried fish jerky, which you might or might not want. A knife would be handy.

When driving Snaefullsness, we found many places selling strawberries at the end of the driveway, with an honesty box to place the cash payment. We’ve usually kept food in the cloth bag we bring for shopping at the grocery or at a market. Wound around the food, it’s worked to keep things coolish, although sometimes our rental place has had a more substantial container to borrow.

The fridges in your places may or may not have much of a freezer. Sometimes we’ve had ice cube trays, too. Disposable plastic water bottles aren’t the greenest things on the planet, but are much more so if you freeze water in them and reuse them as ice packs.

We always bring one of those very thin cooler bags, the kind you see in the grocery freezer section and stay cool for roughly 3 hours. We haven ever needed ice packs, even in the summer. This has worked for us on every trip to Iceland, FWIW. The bags keep the foods cool enough and no worries about getting sick etc.

Some years ago on a driving trip in New Zealand we simply went to WalMart and bought a "Chilly Bin" which is Kiwi for a styrofoam ice chest. Left it with the last B&B owner (he had a garage full of them).

Point being - it's a solid bet that there is some kind of small ice chest available in Iceland. You simply have to have some way to keep your beer cold when you go fishing. Your only challenge is finding out what to ask for and finding the right store. The web says Hagkaup is the Walmart of Iceland. You could google map the nearest one or ask the car rental staff.

Good luck!

Thank you, all!

Good call with the sponges! I've never heard of that hack before! And I also like the idea of the insulated grocery bag as a make-shift cooler. I'm hoping we won't have too much excess fresh stuff to lug around, but might have some milk or some extra Skyr, cheese, etc. to pack away while we travel. I have used the water bottle trick before, too, and was thinking of doing that again - I agree, it doesn't feel great for the environment, but we will likely buy some water anyway as we will be far away from towns much of the time and will need a supply of water anyway.

Great ideas!

Forget the ice packs. Use the other methods given.

TSA only allows ice packs in carry on when completely frozen. If melted, they must meet the 3-1-1 requirements.

Reusiing water bottles or the sponge in the ziploc are good ideas.

There are also ice cube bags that you fill with water and freeze. They make individual ice cubes--which are a pain to get out of the bags--but would make a good ice pack.

Bring your own water bottles and just use the tap water there to keep refilling them. They actually encourage you to not buy bottled water. You can also refill your water bottles at many streams, the water is that fresh. We would never do that here at home without using a filter, but it is fine there. I have lived to tell the tale, and done it on every trip lol. We stopped for groceries every other day or so, and the stuff we had leftover each morning, like milk, oj, was fine in the thin cooler bag. It never gets really warm in Iceland, so staying in that bag all day is just fine.

You might inquire with your rental car company if there is an option for an add-on. For example mine (Go) offers one for 15 EUR. (Their extras also include a chair and thermos.)

Hagkaup is the Walmart of Iceland.

LOVE IT, and frankly I was wanting to know this!