With the temperature heating up, keeping things cold or from wilting, before you get home can be a challenge and that's if you're just going straight home. Our Saturdays are spent hitting the farmers market, our regular grocer and then whatever else is on our plate for the day. Problem is, going home, sometimes just isn't in the cards. We're car cooler converts and you should be too...even if you don't have a car!
Tip: Become A Car Cooler Convert
It all started after watching an episode of Alton Brown, where he took his cooler to the meat market to purchase lobster. We ran with his advice and took it a step further. We currently have what the husband affectionately calls "Clifford the Car Cooler" (because everything is better when it's an alliteration).
It resides in our backseat and each Saturday when we head out to do early morning shopping (first the farmers market then to our regular grocer), it's there waiting for our finds. Even things that you might not worry about usually have a hard time surviving the stifling humidity that can build up in a car in full sun in the midwest, which is where the cooler comes in handy!
Before leaving home, we take with us two frozen 2-liter bottles (we keep them in our deep freeze to help fill space and thus reducing the electricity it uses) and place them inside. All of our meats and cheeses stay cool, our veggies stay crisp and can even keep ice cream from turning into a soupy pool in your backseat.
It's been invaluable to us to know we don't have to rush home to get groceries in the fridge, freezer, or just a less humid place than the sweltering car and has provided us with freedom to do as we please for as long as we please!
Don't have a car? Try this shoulder picnic bag from Coleman, it can be carried with you on the bus, planes, trains and any other form of transportation! If a few train rides or a walk home is in your future, it will allow you to purchase what you want and ensure your food arrives home safely!
Like the coolers above? Here's where you can find them!
Related: Summer Picnics: Best Monogrammed Coolers
(Images: Coleman)
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I keep a cooler in my trunk and throw a frozen gallon jug in it in the morning if I'm stopping at the market on the way home from work. The jug of ice stays frozen all day and I can make a few stops on the way home.
view NYKate's profile
I have a cooler bag...not from Coleman, just one of those cold bags you get at the grocery that's similar in size to a paper bag. But it works for hauling things home from the grocery store or farmers' market, and bonus! it fits in my bike pannier baskets perfectly.
view Shana Lee's profile