On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:39:18 -0700 (PDT), Kalmia
> wrote:

>On Jun 27, 9:06*am, Dave Smith > wrote:
>> On 26/06/2011 10:19 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
>>
>> > I was going to get some roast beef at the deli. *The girl said....just
>> > so you know, our power has been out for an hour and a half. *I thanked
>> > her and skipped the deli meat.
>>
>> > It was very nice for her to warn me, but they were not throwing the
>> > stuff out. *I didn't say anything, but I am wondering if they plan on
>> > selling it to the next guy?
>>
>> And the problem is.......?
>> The case would stay reasonably cool for a few hours. *If you bought
>> sliced meats and walked around the store with the package before
>> checking out the meat would get a lot warmer before you left the store
>> than if the power was out all day. Then there is the ride home in a hot
>> car.
>
>I hit the meat, dairy, frozen cases last - have a cooler in my car and
>never stop for another errand.

With meat and dairy a cooler chest will be fine so long as it contains
ice, it's just as good as your home fridge, but with frozen food you
need to get home stat. My ice chest can keep cold on a charge of ice
for more than 24 hours so unless I have frozen food I don't rush home.
If I know I will be out all day I put in a chunk of block ice, a half
gallon milk container filled with water is in my freezer at all times,
perfect for a day's worth of cooling. When I go out and don't plan to
shop and then change my mind a 5 pound bag of ice for a dollar does
the trick. Of course this is only during warm weather, where I live
winters are like the deep freeze, I can even bring home ice cream with
no cooler, I've already bungee corded a space bag of frozen food to my
roof rack.