ecovelo

Greetings CF community ~ Let me first say I admire you all for your commitment.
I am a long way from car-free - have family 75 miles away that I visit monthly - but locally I'm doing better and better.

I was wondering if any of you have experience toting frozen items 45-50 minutes or more in a warm climates?

I have an handful of grocery stores within a couple of miles... but the places I prefer to shop, are at least 6 miles away. With traffic lights and my current fitness level, it takes ~50 minutes one way.

With summer fast approaching, are there any products out there that will keep frozen food frozen for this period of time?

Thanks in advance for your input!

ftimw

I have seen dry ice machines at the end of checkout lanes. They have instructions for keeping things frozen or freezing them from thawed right on the box. I think you have to have your own cooler, a small one might work if you have a rack. I don't know how much you get or how much it costs. It's worth looking into maybe. Check with your better stores. That is where I have seen them.

ecovelo

I had no idea - I will have to check that out, thanks!

Volume is not a problem - I don't buy too many frozen items - but when I do, I've had to drive or ride my scooter
and I do have insulated bag(s)/cooler for refrigerated items.

I saw an over-sized shopping bag advertised (just a thin, silver thing with a handle) claiming it kept food frozen for "up to 3 hrs", but I kind of doubt that claim in Northern California summer heat. (I suppose I should just buy one and try it). Just wondering if there are cyclists out there who have tried certain products that worked.

Bikepacker67

You don't need dry ice - as if.

First of all, how are you hauling your groceries... panniers or trailer?

Find a soft sided cooler that will fit your equipment. Pack the densest at the bottom (ice cream/meat) then add frozen veggies and the like on top.
Heat moves - not cold. So if you insulate your MUST STAY FROZEN with the more "airy" frozen veggies you have a good 2 hours before your Rocky Road is puddled.

ftimw

Not to be contradictory or anything but a soft sided cooler in your part of the world may be ok. But dry ice in my part is very realistic. I believe NorCal may get pretty warm too. As if.

Ciufalon

I bought a couple of insulated shopping bags at Trader Joe's a couple of years ago when they had them on sale two or three bucks - but I think they are cheap to buy any time. I believe they still have them if there is a store near you and they are large. One would probably do just fine for you. The bags are the red and black ones. Kind of like a good sized, flexible, soft-sided cooler.

wahoonc

I have used the foil lined shopping bags from where ever, they work just fine keeping stuff pretty much frozen for up to an hour or so. FWIW I live in the deep south and in our warm season I doubt anything short of desert is going to be any hotter.

Aaron

bjjoondo 

We have 2 large insulated shopping bags and put a frozen Ice Pack in each of them, we put them inside our homemade utility trailer and head to the store. Put the frozen goods in the bags, load the rest in the trailer and head home, it's still frozen when we get home but we are only 2.5 miles from the food store, FYI, YMMV.

dcrowell

In a pinch you can just put all the frozen stuff together and hope for the best. Works best if it's *not* ice cream.

jon c. 

We've used a small, soft sided tote (fits nicely on my wife's front rack) with one of those re-freezable synthetic ice blocks. Stays plenty cold for 3 hours in mid 80s temps. Haven't yet tried it in midsummer, but based on our results to date I'm sure we'd still get a couple hours cold time even when the temps were nearing 100.

hank0604

Yeah here in northern Louisiana we've got about the worst summer weather outside of pure deserts, although those don't have the humidity

But really, I haven't yet found the need for any special equipment. My commuter bag is a Chrome Ivan, which has the waterproof interior that I suppose acts as a small bit of insulation. Frozen stuff on the bottom, fresh produce and unfrozen meats on top. This keeps the frozen stuff frozen and the fresh stuff fresh for the hour or so it needs to be. I end up making a separate grocery trip for dry goods and pantry items, so that makes it easier.

Also, when you're at the grocery store, plan your route through the aisles in such a way so that the last items you get are the frozen ones. A lot of people will get frozen/fresh food first, since that's usually the front section of the store. But if you do a bit of browsing after that, sometimes your frozen stuff has been out of a cooler for 30 minutes or more before you ever even make it to the register.

AutumnSylver

Some stores sell insulated cooler bags. You could try one of those. I used to use one when I took my groceries home on the bus (it usually took 45 minutes to an hour, including the time spent waiting for the bus). If you put all of your frozen items in a cooler bag, they all keep each other cold long enough for you to get home. I never had any problems with anything thawing during the trip home. I'm in Canada, but during the summer, it can sometimes get up to about 105�°F. I've never had a problem with anything thawing, even ice cream.

AsanaCycles

depending on your bike:

I ride a Surly Big Dummy and it would be easy enough to carry a large cooler with those blue ice cooler things...
but I don't even do that. typically i just throw everything in together in whatever it is that I'm using at the moment, and go.

bragi

If you're not going too far, say 5 miles, your food will keep, even ice cream. A bike, no matter how you carry your food, is a lot cooler than a car in hot weather. I carry my groceries in waterproof panniers with no special accommodations ever, usually over distances of 2 miles, but sometimes as much as 6, and I've never had any issues. When I get home, my eggs are unbroken, my broccoli still cool, my beer still cold, and my ice cream still solid. I can't tell any difference between driving and riding as far as groceries are concerned...

ecovelo

How did you all know it was ice cream?

Thanks for all the tips! I've had ice packs begin to thaw in insulated bags in the car after 45-60 minutes, during the summer - but I didn't consider the airflow/cooler temps while riding - makes sense.

Thanks for the packing tips bikepacker67! I will rig something up with what I currently have (panniers and several soft sided cooler bags) - and I'll let you know if my Rocky Road puddles on a 95+ degree ride home.

Nightshade

To carry cold stuff this works for me......
step one....have store put your stuff in a PAPER bag then fold top of bag over to capture the stuffs cold. (this works great for shorter runs of opportunity)
step two....set the stuff ,in the paper bag, into a cooler of some type
step three... bring at least two prefrozen ice packs.

This will work when temp are around 90>100 for about 1 hour for longer trips.

fietsbob

Foam Ice chest in the Bike trailer, you can just buy a bag of Ice.
salt in the ice cools a bit more ,
that is what you use in a home ice cream maker..

Torrilin

Depends on where in NorCal. The heaviest population areas tend to have a year round cool and foggy climate, and in some areas high temperatures of 80F are unusual. It's the southern end of the Pacific Northwest rain forests, so temperatures can be a lot lower than you might expect if you're used to Savannah's weather . There's also a pretty substantial effect on climate because the main current on the Pacific coast is a cool one running down from the Arctic and Alaska, rather than the East Coast's warm Gulf Stream.

Anyway, I'd generally class the 1hr danger zone as being around 85F or above. For me that'd be an 8-10 mile ride tho, and I don't have *any* grocery stores I'd go to that are that far. My usual ones are all about 15-30 minutes away (used to be 15 only, but we moved) and in that time span, there just isn't any temperature where I'd plan on doing something special to my food to transport it. That's a time span car drivers routinely use with no special protections, no matter what the weather. And cars get a lot hotter than bikes.

Roody

Mark Twain: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a SUMMER in San Fransisco."

AsanaCycles

today must be about the 3rd or 4th day now, of 20mph winds.
right now its overcast, 20% chance of rain, monochrome grey 55f

Cyclepup

What else could it be but ice cream?

I'd like to add another suggestion if you're really concerned about the heat and your travel time from store to home. These Polar Bear Coolers sound like they might give you a little extra protection from the heat if you really need it. I plan to try out the 12-pack size for my solo runs to the market. Currently DH packs the frozen in a camping cooler full of ice on his trailer, so no small portable cooler needed for me - yet.

If you do try it, let us know how it works!

folder fanatic

I am a big fan of the Igloo Playmate coolers: https://www.igloo-store.com/products/...personplaymate. I have 2 of them in those pictured 2 sizes.
These sizes fits my rear rack on my own 2 bikes very well with the straps of bungee cords or Velcro slipped through underneath the handle very securely. Plus when I don't use a bike but the bus/train, I like carrying it around with that nice comfortable shaped handle even though the Playmates are made of hard plastic. I also to prefer to augment it's very cool temperature retention further by using a block of Blue Ice & here also inside the Playmate after it is frozen in the freezer. Not only it keeps the food cold the best, it protects the food products the best as well. I included the link to see them, but you can buy both Igloo Playmate & Blue Ice blocks most anywhere.

kardar2

in Northern California summer heat
++1

Bikepacker67

Actually you'd be wrong.
Although I live north of the 49th, I happen to live in a "pocket desert", where winter temps rarely dip much below 32F, and summer time temps easily hit 100F.

I know, weird, eh? But they don't call this a "place to stay forever" for nothing!

ecovelo

I'm inland. Triple digits in the summer are not unusual - I usually limit my riding beyond 98+ degrees, but not always. I adapt as the summer goes on.