I will be taking a 7 1/2 hour direct flight home from Europe. I hope to bring home some cheese and would like to keep it cool. I was thinking of getting a freezer pack and a cooler bag of some typ and putting it with the cheese in my checked luggage.
Any thoughts on this or recommendations for a cooler bag of some sort?
I often travel with some sort of cooler bag and use a frozen ice pack. It must stay frozen solid however, or TSA will not let it go through. As far as bringing cheese back, I remind you to check regulations. Some soft cheese were not allowed in the past.
I use the insulated bags you can find in most grocery stores or this bag, which was marketed as a flight attendant lunch luggage. EBags Crew Cooler
Edit to correct attachment. My bag was the larger one that could slip onto my roll aboard handle.
Also, I often use the EBags Crew Cooler as my personal item and load it with my essentials (meds, snacks, IPad, chargers, etc) along with food that needs to stay cool.
There are soft sided cooler bags, we usually take one that we have from either Trader Joes or Costco, that they sell for taking your product home. They are a bit large, but we use them mostly for beach activities or shopping if we are staying in an apartment. The freezer pack is more of a problem, unless you self cater the night before, where will you freeze it?
The good news is though, you really do not need any freezer pack, or even a cooler for any cheese you can bring back. Any aged firm or semi-soft cheese will do fine in your checked bag. You will not be able to bring back runny French cheeses, fresh mozzarella, or really soft cheeses that need refrigeration...but those would be confiscated at the border anyway. Yes, in the US all our cheese is in a refrigerated case, but in Europe, Gouda, Cheddar, Emmental, Pecorino, Parmesan, all will be out at room temp, at the most in a basic cooler, but not needed, especially if wrapped.
Just get well wrapped cheese, vac-packed is nice, wrap in clothes in your checked bag. It will keep fine for the ride home.
You are putting this cooler bag in your checked luggage? I've done this quite frequently with cheese and had good results. Actually, I've done it with frozen meat when I went to Hawaii for my daughter who lives there. The checked luggage stays cold. The only risk is if the luggage gets lost/delayed/ etc., then if your cheese gets warm or worse yet, my meat, you could end up with a smelly mess. But, its never happened to me, and I will continue to take the risk. I use cooler bags that the kids used for lunches. I double bag the food items.
Oh, I see here that you mentioned you will keep the cheese in your checked bag. I’ve never done that but it sounds like other Forum members have without problems.
