Travelling with a fridge

[albatross710]

For my trip to ZRH next year I'm thinking of taking my Swiss friends a good feed of Australian produce which I would like to include some decent cuts of Australian beef.

To do this I am thinking about how I can package the meat to last my trip from door-to-door. I'll probably leave my house in Brisbane 1pm on Sunday and arrive at their house 7pm Monday night (Bris time) giving a transport time of ~29 hours.

I'm thinking I could pack a sealed Esky with frozen meat and dry ice. I guess that might need approval. Not sure how this would go for the 3 hours in transit in SIN.

The other alternative I was thinking was packing it into one of those small 12volt peltier camping fridges, similar to one of these WAECO mobile solutions. If I took it on as carry on I'd be hoping to plug it into the in-seat power. The construction is mostly plastic with a peltier heat exchanger. Question over getting this through security as they may want to open it and I lose some stored energy. Even if not powered in flight this option also means I can plug the unit for a few hours in SIN & FRA during transit.

Wonder if anyone has any experiences with

(i) dry ice, or
(ii) non standard appliances being powered onboard
(iii) travelling internationally with a fridge in carry-on.


Your thoughts are appreciated.

Alby

 

[markis10]

They used to sell Australian meat and frozen seafood at the airport packed in dry ice at SYD and CNS,I suspect that would be the way to go. QF have firm rules on this in terms of dangerous goods:

"Carbon dioxide, solid (dry ice), in quantities not exceeding 2.5 kg (5lb) per passenger when used to pack perishables not subject to these Regulations in checked or carry-on baggage, provided the baggage (package) permits the release of carbon dioxide gas. Each item of checked baggage must be marked "dry ice" or "carbon dioxide, solid" and with the net weight of dry ice or an indication that there is 2.5kg or less dry ice."

 

[JetLagged]

Also need to check on import restrictions at the other end. Might be required to have them professionally cryo-packed, not just in fling film, etc.

 

[albatross710]

Thanks for those good points markis10 and JetLagged. The Swiss have usually been very good to me on previous visits regardingn quarantine. I'm also thinking of taking some fresh vegies or in season mangoes to land in ZRH in the tail end of European winter might be a nice surprise.

I'll put a call into SQ when I've thought more about the mini-fridge idea.

Alby

 

[mhen]

I have never purchased from them but see that Airport Fine Foods pack meat etc for travel.

High density containers and gel-ice packs are used to guarantee 30 hours travelling time before requiring refrigeration.​

 

[TanyaGordon]

This post made me think of a book I read a few years back:
Tony Hawks
Tony Hawks - Round Ireland with a Fridge

 

[NM]

Note that the small powered fridge devices usually only quote cooling to about 20 degrees below ambient temp, and often struggle to get to that quoted "maximum". So if ambient temp is say 24 degrees, don't expect to maintain a temp much below say 10 degrees for the duration.

Also note that in-seat power is limited to 75 watts. I don't know what the mini fridge devices draw, but would need to check it out first. Qantas generally say the in-seat power is laptop devices, so they may not be too happy powering something other than a laptop though I don't see that it could be a problem so long as power requirement is less than 75 watts.

If you really want to take perishables, then either the mentioned gel packs or properly packages dry ice is probably the best way to go.

 

[DTM1]

I can't offer any view on the quarantine issue, but I can say that I frequently (at least once a mth) bring meat and cheese from AUS to SIN. I do not bother with dry ice, as QF and SQ have some issues with it. I use an esky and throw in a couple of freeze blocks with the meat. I usually pack frozen meat, and it is always still frozen when I get back to SIN and unpack. That said, not sure about whether it would thaw out while you are in transit in SIN. perhaps best option for you is to get the meat vacuum sealed in Oz and then put in an esky. would have thought it would be ok.

 

[medhead]

I've got some gel packs that are free to a good home. 4 packs about 2 kg in total weight, not sure if that is important for thermal mass calculations. Marked with softboxsystems.com if that helps.

 

[albatross710]

Thanks for the tips. I checked the small fridge and it is probably gong to exceed the 75w and by the looks of it not really provide much benefit.

I'll just go for an esky style of carry on which will keep it cooler during the three hour evening transit in SIN.

The gel packs are a good idea and I'll be able to collect some from the warehouse guys at work whom collect them from one of our suppliers. Brother-in-law is a butcher so I'll hit him up for the meat and cryovac.

Thanks for clarifying my thoughts on this.

Alby