topic Re: Cooler in Kitchen

Cooler

hondagirl — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 16:35:09 GMT

Did anyone buy the Flip-Box cooler recently... I just received mine and will give it a try this weekend if it does keep items cold... Any input on the item???

Re: Cooler

itsmagic — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:42:01 GMT

I did not buy it but did see a presentation. In addition to using it for cold items, I thought it would be good for taking hot items to football tailgates in the fall. I'd be interested to hear how you like it!

Re: Cooler

hondagirl — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 18:26:35 GMT

Stopping at some fruit and vegetable stands upstate NY this weekend and see how this cooler holds all my perishables. Then I will decide if I keep it or not... It hardly weighs anything and according to the writeup it's not styrofoam....Don't know how long it will hold up everytime you open and close it - seems like it could break easily... Will know by Monday or sooner...

Re: Cooler

SharkE — Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:31:28 GMT

Not worth a............... Sorry

I'm buying a Yenti one of these days

Re: Cooler

moejoe — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 00:32:02 GMT

I bought the larger one, as when we go to Costco, it is an hour ride each way and we always want to stop somewhere else instead of coming right home....anyhow, bought about six large items that were frozen, put them all in there, and I was glad it was the larger one, but by the time we got home about 3 hours after the purchase, the items were still frozen. So I say it works if that is what you want to use it for, like I did....just keep it collapsed in my trunk. Takes up hardly any room. And the temp was 95 that day.

Re: Cooler

homedecor1 — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 04:25:28 GMT

@SharkE

my son is a semi-pro fisherman & he has invested in YETI & his opinion is his cheap Coleman cooler works better than the YETI! In fact, his biggest complaint is -- ice melts faster than expected!

You may want to rethink or check reviews before you invest big $$$$ in their products. (Just sharing)

Re: Cooler

VaBelle35 — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 10:43:44 GMT

I have a Coleman set of coolers that I got for a ridiculous price at some outlet store.

I keep the largest in the trunk for grocery shopping.

Re: Cooler

Tigriss — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 19:57:05 GMT

I like the idea of this foldable cooler. I read the reviews to find that people either liked it or didn't. Looking at it, it looks like styrofoam, so the idea of it keeping things for a bit is good, but I don't think that you can get away without having a cold gel pack or something to help keep things cold. I also don't think you can put ice cream in it, even with a cold pack, and it stays frozen after an hour's travel. Some of the reviews have people that tried to do that with and without a cold pack. They were disappointed and seriously unrealistic with their expectations.

Re: Cooler

Elom — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 21:00:43 GMT

I must add that I did purchase the small flip box. My opinion is if you put a lot of cold things together they stay frozen and cold. However I had one bag of cold yogurts etc and a pack of klondikes and I travel 25 miles back from store and it failed they were very Mushy. . I am going to try my cold pack next time as I don't want my ice cream to melt. I set my priorities! LOL

Re: Cooler

Carmie — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 21:21:56 GMT

The secret to using these boxes is to fill them up. When they are filled up, the air in the box will stay at a constant hot or cold temperature,

if the box only is half full, the box is half full of whatever the room or outside temperature is. On a day that it is 95 degrees out, a gallon of ice cream will melt in no time if it is the only item in the box. If the box is full of frozen food, everything will remain frozen, because there is no warm air in the box.

i would take newspapers or magazines and thickly layer them on top of the food if the box isn't full. That would help keep the food on the bottom either cold or hot. Don't keep opening the box or you will let warm or cold air that you don't want.

Hope this helps.

Re: Cooler

Tigriss — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 21:51:07 GMT

I remember an Alton Brown episode where he packed a cooler for a picnic. He puts the ice packs/cold packs on top, so the cold air can sink down. It is what cold air does, so his thinking is right. You could also line the bottom of the folding cooler with newspaper to keep air from leaving the cracks its has and help thing that might produce condensation/leak. I'll have to look into getting one of these..

Re: Cooler

hondagirl — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:27:20 GMT

Stopped at a fruit and veg. stand and purchased quite a bit of produce... Also bought a small container of potato and macroni salad for the next day....
Filled the container with the food and there wasn't any room for anything else. When I got home several hours later the salads were warm and had to be tossed....The cooler did not do what I thought.... Really needed to add ice packs - so this did not worki for me. Not worth the money...

Re: Cooler

RollTide2008 — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 16:54:20 GMT

Hondagirl, was everything cold when you put it in the box?

Re: Cooler

hondagirl — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 14:27:07 GMT

Everything was not cold in the box (fruit and vegetables). Guess the salads got warm and I probably needed to add ice to keep them fresh. According to the vendor no ice is needed but I will try again this time with cold or frozen food. I usually make a large purchase of meat etc. from a local butcher and the items will be in the car for a few hours... Hope it will work and I will not lose a ton of food. Will try again...

Re: Cooler

RollTide2008 — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 03:17:51 GMT

@Hondagirl wrote:
Everything was not cold in the box (fruit and vegetables). Guess the salads got warm and I probably needed to add ice to keep them fresh. According to the vendor no ice is needed but I will try again this time with cold or frozen food. I usually make a large purchase of meat etc. from a local butcher and the items will be in the car for a few hours... Hope it will work and I will not lose a ton of food. Will try again...

There's your trouble. This thing doesn't defy the laws of thermodynamics. Items will only stay as cold as the least cold item you put it in.

I have this cooler. If things are really cold when you pack it, it stays really cold for a long time. If things are only a little cold, you really need a few cold packs. Any cooler is like that.

Re: Cooler

gacat123 — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 04:23:17 GMT

@SharkE

I have a YETI/35 and love it. It keeps a bag of ICE for about 3 days more or less. I use newspaper and thick towels for extra insulation around the bag of ICE/frozen items.

I put a layer of ice water bottles in the bottom to start out and layer items with more ice water bottles for food storage. I use for cooling batches of spaghetti sauce B4 freezer.

Very useful but I do not open the cooler very often in order to keep the stuff COLD.

Good Luck, CAT

Re: Cooler

Tigriss — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 22:05:07 GMT

OK, so here is my theory on this cooler. Since cold moves to an area of warmth, if all items are not cold/frozen when you put them in, then the warmer items will suck the cold from the others quickly. If you make sure that you only fill it with cold things, then you will be fine to a certain point for time. If you make sure that your items are frozen and cold, then fill the thing full with no air gaps, then you should be fine for a few hours, providing the cooler is not in full sun, but in the trunk/coolest part of the car. This is any cooler. There are 5 day coolers out there, but even with that, you will need cold packs and cold food to keep things that way. Mixing the cold with the warm, will do nothing even in a cooler with cold packs for too much time. The best thing is to plan ahead and make sure your cold items are the last thing you buy and go home, or plan to have cold packs/ice and have it in your cooler first with layers of newspaper too prevent quick cold air loss. I would use the cooler that way and not just toss thing in willy nilly.

Re: Cooler

SharkE — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 01:06:19 GMT

I figure get what you pay for. Anything 25-36 bucks can't be worth to much

I'll get a Yenti as time goes by. LOL 25% off most places now, price coming down.

Re: Cooler

RollTide2008 — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 01:55:16 GMT

@SharkE wrote:
I figure get what you pay for. Anything 25-36 bucks can't be worth to much
I'll get a Yenti as time goes by. LOL 25% off most places now, price coming down.

Putting a bunch of lukewarm food into a $300 cooler is also not going to defy the laws of thermodynamics and magically make it colder either.