Not sure if this is the right area so please feel free to move

I have to inject methylcobalamin daily and I want to go camping but the medication needs to be kept in a fridge. Any suggestions on how I can keep it cool for 3 days. I have a small fridge but I can only use it when the car is on. Does anyone know of any extra long lasting ice packs or some other genius thing I could use???

The medication has to be above freezing but not above 10 degress centigrade.

Take freezer blocks with you and ask to have them refrozen at the camping shop, (and explain why). IF this can be done, just keep them in a plastic box with the blocks close to, but not against. Replen twice a day if you can. Failing this, wrap item in a damp cloth and leave somewhere shaded and slightly breezy, keep cloth damp.

Looking for a campsite now that hires fridges or ice blocks. It would be good to find a solution that doesn't involve me relying on a campsite. Good suggestions so far

Salena - what about getting electric hook up on site and an adapter for your fridge? We have 12V dc fridge that I got an adapter from Maplins for.
You need to be very aware of the ambient temperature though as those sort of fridges can only chill down to about 20C below ambient though. If its 32 outside no 12V fridge will keep your stuff cold enough and the cheaper/older ones might not even get that low. The only thing that might work is a proper fridge - either hired or you can get gas powered ones but they cost a lot of money. Also bear in mind that the temperature in the car will probably be higher than that outside as it might be in and around the tent. Butter tends to be pretty runny in my fridge even when its on.

Have had a quick - very quick - scan of the internet and there is a sublingual form of B12 that you can take as well. Is it worth talking to your specialist about using that instead for a short period or alternatively whether it would matter if you missed a day or two of your injections while you go away. Obviously I don't know why you are having the injections so its difficult to know where else to point you.

It might be worth posting on campsite.co.uk for advice - there are many people who camp that need to take injectable medication such as insulin away with them and there will be a wealth of info on there for you.

Hi,

I recently had a similar conversation with a friend regarding keeping his insulin cool in a warm office. Not sure how effective it would but he's thinking of trying a USB fridge, can't be any worse than his office.

You may also fancy trying techni-ice. I bought some from Lakeland years ago and used it this weekend to keep cheese and drinks cool all weekend. Personally recommended. Just noticed on their web site that it can also be used with a 12V fridge to reduce power consumption.

btw, mine was frozen in the fridge ice box so maybe better results could be achieved in a better freezer.

Floyster

Should have added that I was thinking you could use a 12V-USB adapter and 12v 7Ah battery to power the fridge.

Floydster

Oh, of course, if you go electric ...

I've a cool box that runs on 12 V car adapter and also 240V plugs. Adequate fridge it is.

The heat exchanger is in the lid, so occasionally you have to upend the cool box and tip out the condensation but it's ok ( if you remember not to put cardboard wrapped things in the very bottom.)

That makes it easy (compared to something which must be kept below 0 C)

You use ice. The amount of heat absorbed by water going through its phase transition a lot more than those freezer packs. If you needed below 0C would have to use saline but for this, pure water will work.

Water expands when freezing, keep that in mind. Find some 2 liter or so plastic juice bottles (reuse before recycle). Fill part way with water and squeeze while putting on the lid (so later can expand) and put into the frezer. Shift every few hours. When that's frozen take out and take off the lid (run hot water on it to unfreeze if stuck; also to get passage to the interior if necessary) and fill about half of the remaining space, refreeze. Repeat for most of the rest of the way but remember to leave space each time. Finish freezing. Why this way? The bulk of the water froze (increasing in volume 10%) when the container not full. The final water added also ex[pands, but there wasn't that much of it. Why plastic bottles? They are a little stretchy unlike glass and worst comes to worst you were going to recycle them anyway.

OK -- now you want a better box than a picnic cooler but you can improvise (a good "five day" box is expensive). You don't need much volume for just some medicine and a couple of these ice bottles. At a rummage, etc. get a flex picnic cooler bag just big enough. Then a rigid box (picnic cooler) big enough for that smaller one to fit inside. Or a small rigid type inside a larger flex cooler and you can go to third layer too. Or wrap cooler on a comforter.

Will certainly work for 3 days.

PS -- Why ice bottles rather than ice you can buy in bags? (ice cubes) Volume. Notice how much bigger a 10# bag of ice is than a gallon jug. You want to fit the most weight of ice you can into your cooler. If you plan to go camping a lot you will have ice bottles that fit efficiently and might even opt for a new "collaspable". You might want to go that way in any case (less work). You get a collapsable (or collapsables) that will fit both the feezer and the cooler. These you can fill with water "squooshed" about 15% in volume -- if uncertain you can measure how much water putting in compared to what would hold really full.

PSS -- It's what we do when we go to the cabin. Freeze 15-20 1.5 liter bottles (have saved by rectangular ones all the same size/shape) and bring in a good cooler that stays at the car. Every day or two bring a still frozen (by the end of the week partly frozen) bottles to the cabin for the little cooler there. In this case we are doing "frozen" too (berries for the pancakes). Those are inside a small foam cooler inside the big one with the ice bottles and one little freezer pack can keep those frozen berries frozen (the outside of that small cooler can't go above 0C until the ice bottles in the large cooler have all thawed)

youd have to do the maths but could your existing fridge that you use in the car or one of the small plug in cold boxes be connected too an additional leisure battery or a power pack we have an RAC one for emergency car starting which also has a socket to power anything you would plug into a car lighter socket -I dont know what the amps etc work out like we use it to charge phones etc and it easilly lasts a week for that.

When camping i have a small cool bag and some ice packs once they melt i stand stuff in a washing up bowl of cold water and keep moving it into the shade or topping with cold water if it starts to get warm -if camping near a stream then i suspend it in the water. never an exact science i know but it seems to keep food for quite a while.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I went camping, just for 2 nights last weekend and the lovely lady at the campsite give me access to her freezer in one of the out buildings on the farm so I used the fridge when the car was on and then filled it with fresh ice packs. Going to look into your suggestions for longer trips

Hi Salena

Not sure if this will help but I was chatting to a man in the post office recently who was sending live fish through the post! I couldnt help but ask him about it and how he kept the cargo cool enough to survive. Aww poor fishies
He had a small polystyrene box which looked light and easy to carry. Inside it had some cool packs which he said when used with the insulated box would keep the water inside cool enough for 3 days.

I cant remember where he said he got the box etc from though. I think I was too shocked/bemused
Maybe a Google search on 'posting fish' or 'polystyrene postable boxes' or a better search term may help.
Also searching Diabetes forums may help, as we have to keep our insulin cool too. I dont camp because of this, but maybe I would if I could find something similar that I didnt have to rig up to the car etc.
Best wishes
IMx