Kmart Anko 25 Litre Cooler

Everything in life IS a compromise – OK - with coolers in some respects - you get what you pay for. There are coolers that once chilled will keep ice in them for up to 10 days. But they have a great deal of insulation and they cost a HUGE amount - and they are good if your staying in a remote place for a week or so. But my reasons for a cooler are to keep perishable food cold such as meat and frozen vegetables, with some extra ice - on long hot slow trips home at 60 Kmh through kangaroo infested territory in the late afternoon or early to mid night.

The trips usually take 2 or 4 hours - depending up the short sleeps needed on the way home and some times I need to rest when I get home and then unpack in the small hours of the night in hot weather or the next morning in the cold weather.

So coolers have to be chosen on the basis of thermal transfer rates (how long it takes the internals to heat up from the externals - sun wind etc), the internal volume or capacity, how good they are in terms of transport - in the back of a ute / car and manual carrying / moving of them - and the last consideration is cost.

Under the circumstances such as these and for shoppers who will need to keep perishables cool to cold for up to 12 hours in the heat of summer with some ice etc.. these are an ideal size and shape and volume that make for a rather good cooler box.

The handle is nice, thick and wide, the handle over "locking lid", is excellent, and when they are reasonably full, they are not that heavy..... meaning you can fit a fair bit into them, but they are also easy to carry, without being too small.

I went and bought ONE of them just to try out and I came to the conclusion that these are really good, AND so in the process of eliminating the long distance fortnightly shopping trips, to monthly shopping trips, I went back and bought 3 more.

I figured that with a bit of wheeling and dealing and 4 more of them I could extend my shopping trips to once every 6 weeks +

All in all I reckon these are an excellent range of compromises, and they are very suitable for others in similar positions.

As for the picnicers and the day trippers / week enders who prefer a pick up at Aldi and the DIY mega salad sandwiches in the flat bread and a BBQ or two, one of two or even four of of them for a family, well these coolers are a good deal - especially if they are on special.

They are even better then.

There is a technique I use for ice, I either get it at the shops - a long way away for the return trip home., or I take it with me from home for short trips.

Ice keeping is basically a ratio of out side temperature (energy) ==> transferring by radation and convection to the inside (area of low energy) and this is based upon TIME.

So you can decrease the amount of internal energy by cooling down the inside of the cooler with cold ingredients and ice and you can slow the rate of energy transfer into the cooler with extra insulation.

Get preferably square / rectangular washed out juice bottles and as water expands to ~10% when having turned to ice, if it was a 1000ml (1 liter) container, fill it to around 800ml and squeeze out much of the excess air, and then freeze it - and this gives you a supply of ICE and a supply of good clean drinking water.

So when heading out for a day or two, load up your coolers with about 2 or 4 or 6 liters of ice in drink bottles, in each cooler with your fresh cold food, and your right to go for a couple of days.

Also in as much as UNUSED bedding and clothing have good insulating properties when in use, they can also be wrapped around cooler boxes to slow down the heat transfer rate into the boxes, when not in use.

You can sort of double your ice keeping time, with a dooner, blankets, sheets, or sleeping bags, as well as your casual clothing....wrapped over, around and underneath them.

Also in more remote locations, keep them out of the heat and the sun, and even convert them into a Coolgardie safe. This means that say it's 40*C outside and it's dry and hot, compared to the inside of the cooler which is cold.

The greater the temperature difference between the outside and the inside of the cooler affects the heat (energy) transfer rate into the cooler. For instance if it was 10*C outside, your 4 Kg of ice might last for 3 days, where as at 40*C it might last a day.

IF you cool the exterior of the cooler down with a cotton covering and a bucket / pan of water and a wick to keep water feeding slowly onto the cotton shroud, over the cooler then the coolers external temperature might be 15 *C, instead of 40*C.... By doing this over an ALL PLASTIC cooler, your basically doubling the ice keeping time....

Or you could just bury the coolers under a heap of blankets and that will work as well.

You only need blankets at night in the desert, and you can use them on the coolers during the day - you can also bury them up to their lids in the sand... and put blankets over the lids, and keep them in the shade.....

So all in all I am rather fond of these coolers... Under some circumstances, for some people - these are really good.