Quezi

Photo by epSos.de (CC-BY)

It’s generally unwise to re-freeze frozen food that has thawed. If it’s hot where you live, how do you stop frozen food from thawing on the way home from the store?

Each of these tips helps to keep the food cold for a little longer. Taken together, they may be enough to get the food home while it’s still frozen.

• Buy the frozen food as the last item on your shopping trip. Once you’ve selected your frozen goods, don’t go shopping for other things.
• If you are going to take a long time to choose (because you’re comparing prices or checking ingredients, for example), take your time to make your choices but don’t take the items yet. After you’ve finished choosing, make a quick circuit of the frozen food section and pick up all the items at once.
• Keep the frozen items together in your shopping basket or trolley. Keep them away from the metal parts, because they conduct heat faster.
• At the cashier, present the frozen items first.
• Bag the frozen items together. Close the top of the bag (by tying handles of a plastic bag, or rolling over the top of a paper bag) to reduce the circulation of warm air.
• If you have a padded or insulated bag, that’s even better. Or pack the items into a padded backpack.
• If packing other items with the frozen goods, choose chilled items (such as dairy products), or choose items that insulate well. Good insulators are generally dry airy things such as packets of breakfast cereal, boxes of tissues, and packets of rice or pasta.
• Know the coolest part of your car. It’s unlikely to be at the front due to the large glass area of the front windscreen. In my car the coolest part is on one of the back seats.
• Know the shadiest side of the car for your journey home. If you’re heading south, it’s shadiest on the right in the morning and the left in the afternoon. Heading north, it’s shadiest on the left before noon and on the right afterwards. Heading east, it’s shadiest on the left in the northern hemisphere and right in the southern. Heading west it’s shadiest on the right in the northern hemisphere and left in the southern.
• Throw an insulator (such as a coat or blanket) over the bags of frozen food.
• If you need to stop at traffic lights, stop in the shade of a building or tree whenever possible.
• At home, put the frozen food into the freezer before you think about unpacking anything else.

If your journey is too long or too hot for these tips to be sufficient, fill some old water bottles 80% full with water and freeze them. Take them with you whenever you buy frozen food. Put these ice bricks next to the frozen items when you pack them.

PS: And own a white car! It stays coolest in the sun.