Submersible food storage container for cooler?

[corksil]

This is probably the wrong time of year to be asking this question -- seeing as winter is fast approaching and people are no longer thinking about hot weather and keeping food in a cooler.

Anyways.. I'm trying to find the best way to transport a sealed meal in a cooler on a daily basis. It's a pretty basic question -- but there are all kinds of considerations.

This is the best that I've come up with. Relatively thick/durable, glass container with plastic lid.



My primary concern is that it would leak in a cooler full of water while bouncing around. In a perfect world, a cooler would always be on a flat/level surface with minimal disturbance. It would also be full of ice, as opposed to water. We do not live in a perfect world. The cooler that this food transportation container will exist within is permanently in the back of a pickup truck which means it will constantly be subjected to violent jostling and impact. Said cooler is typically filled with chilled water, as opposed to ice. [This would be due to the fact that ice is typically in short supply, and also due to the fact that ice does indeed turn in to chilled water if left in a cooler for a long enough period of time.]

Think about that for a moment. If a cooler is filled with ice -- the items within typically rest on top of or within the ice as it melts, which forms a protective barrier between the bottom/sides of the cooler. Virtually all [edible] items float when submersed in water. If the cooler is filled with chilled water as opposed to ice, any items within the cooler will constantly be floating/bobbing/bouncing/colliding/banging around inside. It's a pretty rough environment to withstand.

My primary concern is that -- over time, the corners of the plastic lid will crack. Either that, or a forceful impact to the corner will allow water to spill into the container and spoil the food instantly.

This is a pretty simple question. What's the best way to transport [prepared] food inside a cooler that is constantly subjected to harsh impact and filled primarily with cold water?

Other types of container come to mind, but I cannot find any that seem comparable in durability to the glass option.

These two flimsy buckles are not confidence inspiring. Doubtful that they could provide enough clamping force to overcome the pressure exerted on the seal by the water in the cooler as the container bobbed up and down and banged around against various other floating items within cooler.


I'm somewhat considering the idea of trying out typical wide-mouth glass mason jars. The metal screw lid won't leak, and the glass is of comparable thickness to the rectangular container posted above.. Then again how the hell would you go about eating a salad out of a jar? Maybe with chopsticks.. but I can't picture it.


Surely I am over-thinking this.

Other solutions to different problems which would negate original problem.
-Buy/make ice to alleviate problem of ice shortage and minimize contact between "food container" and water (expensive)
-Eat dry food such as chips/nuts/jerky/canned food instead of pre-prepared meals (expensive and unhealthy)
-Buy tiny and extremely fast waterproof motorcycle to put inside cooler so lunch would consist of opening cooler, finding motorcycle, riding motorcycle to restaurant, eating, and returning to work without losing any time (very expensive)

[CaliGrrl]

You could use a small dry-bag like they have for kayaking. We have a largeish one, and the ends roll over and clip making a waterproof seal. My Kriega tailpack for the motorcycle has the same system to close it. It would be flexible, so it could handle smacking the sides of the cooler without damage, and your food would stay safe inside.

[corksil]

That's brilliant. Leads me to think of more ideas. Will post them later.

[JohnnyBravo]

When I'm carrying my lunch I use ice packs instead of ice... Ain't had a soggy or waterlogged lunch yet

[DannoXYZ]

I use ice packs too. Here's my provisions for day @ track. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, pre-cut oranges & apples, dog food. I also freeze two gatorade bottles, one with extra electrolytes added. Then stuff into cooler with ice packs.

[csmith12]

If your loading a larger cooler (jobsite, track, ect..), just make/get a cooler shelf and move on with life.

Honestly... You want to follow the KISS approach. When at the gas station because all your ice melted, you aint gunna find ice packs. Happens all the time when some fartknocker doesn't close the cooler lid tightly enough. You need a solution that allows on the fly cooling via gas station ice but still keeps your food items dry.

All you need to do is clean your cooler and allow it to dry really, really well. Get some industrial strength velcro and some material that the velcro will stick too or a plastic tray that fits your cooler well enough to be held in place securely by the velcro. Like tool box trays.

Basically, the solution is "elevation" above the water line. The ice pack/frozen jug/water bottle approach solves the problem via "flood control."

[AwDang]

Originally Posted by csmith12

If your loading a larger cooler (jobsite, track, ect..), just make/get a cooler shelf and move on with life.

wire shelving from HD / Lowes set on top of the cans on the lower level

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by csmith12

If your loading a larger cooler (jobsite, track, ect..), just make/get a cooler shelf and move on with life.

Honestly... You want to follow the KISS approach. When at the gas station because all your ice melted, you aint gunna find ice packs. Happens all the time when some fartknocker doesn't close the cooler lid tightly enough. You need a solution that allows on the fly cooling via gas station ice but still keeps your food items dry.

All you need to do is clean your cooler and allow it to dry really, really well. Get some industrial strength velcro and some material that the velcro will stick too or a plastic tray that fits your cooler well enough to be held in place securely by the velcro. Like tool box trays.

Basically, the solution is "elevation" above the water line. The ice pack/frozen jug/water bottle approach solves the problem via "flood control."

Ziplock bags

Keep a few that you can throw a load of ice into if needs be, should minimise the leaks.

A grill rack or similar to keep above the waterline will let the food container slip & slide, that may or may not be an issue.

[csmith12]

Double seal zip lock bags work very well but are only as effective as the person sealing the bag. If you double and triple check that you have sealed it completely, then there is normally not a problem with zip locks. The biggest problem with zip lock bags is bread. Condensation is a b*tch. Hot bread in a ziplock submerged in ice water = soggy bread.

The battle of condensation is won by pre-cooling your items and keeping the cooler in a shaded area.

[csmith12]

I also tried the grill rack thing and can overall say it is not a "set and forget" solution. Contents of coolers shift in transit. So expect your stuff on the rack to be in the water when you arrive at your destination.

Get a very secure shelf, so you can set and forget. It's $13... there are bigger problems in life to solve vs this one, as it has already been solved.

[corksil]

Thanks for all the info and suggestions. Yes there are bigger problems in life to solve but some of the simple stuff still nags at me.

To sum it all up...
- Cooler shelf with legs or velcro attachment to keep food above the water line
- Grill rack on top of ice not optimal due to ice melting and things shifting around
- Ice packs as opposed to regular ice will minimize moisture infiltration upon food
- Dry ice too volatile due to it burning cooler interior and exploding if lid is latched

I will continue pondering this. I have yet to find ice packs that last a long time without rupturing.

Putting ice into ziplock bags to mimic ice packs is not a long term strategy.

I've finally got a nice stacking block ice production station set up and working well in the freezer. It can churn out a few 1*6*5" blocks of ice in a few hours so that has been my primary ice supply.

[corksil]

I'm going to see if I can come up with something like this that fits tightly within the dimensions of the cooler. If the rack is relatively the same size as the inside of cooler, nothing will be able to slip around the edges and get down to the area with the block-ice/water/ice-packs.

Adding more ice should be relatively simple. Lift out the rack, add ice, replace rack. Food stays on top of the rack during the process. Hopefully the fresh ice doesn't interfere with the feet of the rack touching down to bottom of cooler and being level.

This sounds like the winning strategy. Will try this for a few weeks and report back. Now then... the only design flaw I can see from this point forward is the ice being in the way of the rack feet and keeping it from sitting level within the cooler. If there were little tabs on the inner corners of the cooler they would give the shelf a place to rest and therefore not require it to have feet.

Will see if I can fab some stuff and try and post some pictures. This is a pretty dang simple concept --- "Best way to keep food in cooler."

[AwDang]

saw these at the store the other day and thought of this thread

http://www.rubbermaid.com/en-US/brilliance

[corksil]

Yeah those just popped up on sale at the local costco. Wonder how well they would hold up if bouncing around in a cooler full of water.

[csmith12]

They hold up well but still, doesn't solve the condensation problem

The problem remains, keep the container out of the ice water or pre-cool the food.

[MrAtom]

Partially unrelated question, but has anyone ever found tupperware-style containers that are plastic on the outside, but the inside is glass? Cheap plastics can taint good food, and expensive plastics tend to turn out the same after a few years.

[corksil]

Originally Posted by AwDang

saw these at the store the other day and thought of this thread

http://www.rubbermaid.com/en-US/brilliance

Will try to keep this brief...

On Oct 26th I bought a set of those containers. On the same day I filled one of the smallest sized containers with color-changing desiccant.

For the first two days it sat in the cooler with ice, motionless. For the next few days the cooler was in the back of a car, with a few miles per day of driving. For the past ten days, the cooler has been in the back of the work truck, with lots of driving each day on very poor quality roads. Most of the time, the cooler has one or two small chunks of ice and is filled the rest of the way with water and aluminum canned beverages which all bounce around and float.

Yesterday the desiccant showed signs of water absorption (color change) for the first time in 15 days. The container has not been removed from the cooler, or opened since it was originally put in there back in October.

Pretty sure that the method of action compromising the lid-seal (and leading to water absorption) was the fact that the container was sitting directly on a large block of ice, lid-side down, for a number of hours.

Anyways -- those containers pass my test. Once coupled with an in-cooler ice shelf, this problem has officially been solved.

FWIW I've also had a few nice salads sealed in the medium sized containers, floating around among the aluminum cans and block ice -- and they did not leak.

I liked those rubbermaid containers so much that I actually went back to the store and bought two more sets a few days after purchasing the first.