To keep your food fresh and drinks cold you will need some form of cooler. In the old days people used cool bags with freezer blocks. This method is fine, however if you are camping with your family these can be quite limiting. Potable cool boxes come in all shapes and sizes; it can be quite a confusing task when shopping for one as they do vary greatly in price.
First off there are insulated cool boxes whereby they have no cooling function to speak of, but you can fill them with ice or freezer blocks that you freeze in your freezer which are used to keep the contents of your cool box cold. Often these are good for a short break as many camp sites for a small fee will re-freeze your freezer blocks for you.
Your second offering although more expensive is the electric cool box. These use a special device called a thermocouple, which was invented way back in the nineteenth century. If you put 12 volts through the device one way it cools the box down, if you reverse the current the other way the box will heat up. So you could go and drive ten miles to get your Indian takeaway and it will still be piping hot by the time you return home.
There is a drawback though, it works best in small sizes and it is not as good as a real fridge. It won't keep your butter cold on a really hot day, it will still go runny. The other drawback also is that it runs off your 12 volt socket in your car. So its fine all the time you are travelling in the car, but if you park up and go for a walk then have a picnic, then your food will be near ruined. So you still need freezer packs in the electric cooler box if you are planning on taking a trip away from the car for any length of time.
Cool boxes are at their best when they are full, so before you leave for your trip get some empty pop bottles then fill with water and freeze. Use them to fill up any spare space in the cool box. So not only will you have nice cold fresh water to drink it will ensure your box is kept at its coolest for the longest period of time.
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