any experience with Dry Ice? keeping food solid for 2 days?
 

i am gonna blast across X-country..california to texas. i have 2 days or more if i want. here is the rub. my family wants frozen dungeness crab. i considered trying to keep them alive with that power plug in my trucks bed. i thought an ice chest with salt water, bags of icecubes, and i simple aquarium power head plugged into my truck..but eff it.

i'll steam the crabs and freeze them. i am also gonna bring fresh pork, and some unobtainium ice cream. i have a great Ultra-cool ice chest. if i pack it full, and cover it with newspaper, and put a block or two of dry ice on top, will i have a shot?

Can't help with the question you asked, but I've been meaning to tell you, love the new Avatar. Hilarious movie.

It should work. Keeps steaks and other meat cold for 2-3 days of shipping. Just don't touch it or put it in your mouth . . . was it Hughes or Harvey that blew his tooth to pieces doing that?

Keep the cooler in the truck bed, not in the cab with you. As dry ice evaporates, it puts out carbon dioxide which "could" displace the oxygen in the cab if vents are closed tight.

More than. Might actually be too cold and freeze stuff harder/more than you want.

Remember the off gassing so vent the cooler every so often but not too often - keep it closed and you'll still have everything frozen more than a few days later.

thanks fellas!!

Can anyone else knwo instantly when reading a thread title that it's a thread by Vash?

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO doing that tomorrow!! I even know where I can borrow a cooler exactly like that!

Best put the lid on tight and run some straps around it.... Doan want that lid blowing off!

LOL, I just had a flashback to a family camping trip when I was a kid. Dad put too much dry ice in the cooler and our food was frozen rock solid after the long road trip. It would've been funnier if we weren't hungry that first night.

So yes, it will do the job given the right quantity and the right container and packing job.

We get temp sensitive meds packed with dryice all the time at work. They put a layer of cardboard between the meds and the dryice. Zovirax survives just fine that way.

If you have a good cooler, freeze your food solid, pack it tight, with lots of regular ice, keep it out of hot sun, it will be okay for two days. You're gonna defrost the crab when you get there, so if the defrosting starts a bit at day 1.5, no problem.

Or, get a thermoelectric cooler and run it off the truck's power. If the bed is 65F the thermo cooler will hold 30-40F lower than that, assuming the contents start out frozen. I have such a cooler, $40 on craigslist, it's been pretty useful. The main problem is you can't set the desired temp. It tries to cool to 30-40F below ambient no matter what, so in cool weather, stuff can eventually get frozen that you merely wanted to be chilled.

also if you go the frozen CO2 route - you can likely buy it while on your trip

Call Omaha Steaks or someplace similar that ships stuff with dry ice and ask them for tips. We have received their stuff as gifts, but had no idea how long it had been in transit.

It was shipped in (very) thick white styrofoam. I don't know if your cooler would supply equivalent insulation... might be good to try to get some advice from people who do it every day.

Don't have an answer for ya, but are you by chance coming thru the Phoenix area? :D

Back in the day I used to go on a week long desert excursion every year. I would pack up a big ice chest with ice, add in a couple pounds of dry ice, and duct tape the whole thing shut. Five days into the week we would open it up, and the ice would be about 98% frozen still. The paper that wrapped the dry ice was empty, and the chest opened with a little pop when we removed the tape. You should be fine for a couple days.

Make sure you freeze everything before you put it in the ice chest.

I was going to post that same thought last week. I think it was the 'bee-keeper' thread....I can scroll through the titles and pick his threads out with 100% accuracy. :)

wait until i ask about; who's the hottest celeb lesbian. :)
thanks everyone.

HAHAHA!!! I was just thinking that yesterday...on the 1st page I guessed 3 of Cliff's threads right!