cooler is not an option, neither is freezing: how to keep drinks cold?

[herzzreh]

We will be traveling from the States, so a cooler or freezing isn't an option for us. Suggestions on how to keep our drinks cold, or at least cool?

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

Buy them from a supermarket close to the festival, it'll be less luggage for you and you could also just buy a cooler bag and some ice cubes while you're there?

[strolling wanderer]

You can put your cans under your groundsheet and they will stay cool or if you have a waterproof stuff sac / canoe bag you can fill it with water and pop several cans in the water to cool down (if you do use this method just make sure that you prop your bag up to stop it tipping over and flooding your tent...).

[duggie20]

Don't worry about it just drink them warm especially if it's hot weather

[James Bolivar]

I'll second the idea of just buying a coolbag here. Unfortunately, British supermarkets don't sell blocks of dry-ice, unlike many I've seen in the US, so you will need to buy already chilled drinks and, perhaps, some ice.

That said, relative to the cost of flying over, the drinks at the festy aren't that expensive and one coolbag's worth of beer is only going to save you a few pounds; hardly worth the hassle of the detour and the extra weight. You could bring over some 90% Grain Alcohol (also not available here) and just mix it with chilled coke bought on site. Or buy some vodka while here.

An option you might use on site is petrol (gasoline) - just dig a hole, line it with something waterproof and pour in the petrol. Put drinks in the petrol filled hole and evaporation will do the rest. This will work, but is hugely dangerous.

[Bisque]

Put them under your ground sheet. If your coming from the States may I recommend K cider or Special Brew.

[mikeydude]

Wrap your drinks in a wet towel. As the water evaporates it'll cool the cans slightly.

Camp near to a tap. Most of the water from the taps comes out pretty cool and can be used to top up the towel, or simply to cool your drinks down to the temperature of the water. Problem with this is that you need to keep getting more cool water to top up.

Try to find a site next to one of the streams. Leave your cans in the stream and hope nobody pinches them. Big problem here though is that you don't know how clean the water is as a number of nasty people use the bushes/streams when they can't (be bothered to) reach the toilets

[Bisque]

Try to find a site next to one of the streams. Leave your cans in the stream and hope nobody pinches them. Big problem here though is that you don't know how clean the water is as a number of nasty people use the bushes/streams when they can't (be bothered to) reach the toilets

[hashcity]

An option you might use on site is petrol (gasoline) - just dig a hole, line it with something waterproof and pour in the petrol. Put drinks in the petrol filled hole and evaporation will do the rest. This will work, but is hugely dangerous.

[herzzreh]

I'll second the idea of just buying a coolbag here. Unfortunately, British supermarkets don't sell blocks of dry-ice, unlike many I've seen in the US, so you will need to buy already chilled drinks and, perhaps, some ice.

That said, relative to the cost of flying over, the drinks at the festy aren't that expensive and one coolbag's worth of beer is only going to save you a few pounds; hardly worth the hassle of the detour and the extra weight. You could bring over some 90% Grain Alcohol (also not available here) and just mix it with chilled coke bought on site. Or buy some vodka while here.

An option you might use on site is petrol (gasoline) - just dig a hole, line it with something waterproof and pour in the petrol. Put drinks in the petrol filled hole and evaporation will do the rest. This will work, but is hugely dangerous.

[bumpy_capers]

I think I will steer clear of the gasoline idea. Flight is actually going to be free (hence us flying into Mildenhall or Lakenheath) and we will be renting a car anyway, so not sure how big of a detour it will be - biggest hassle would be carrying everything from parking to the site...

Thanks for the ideas though!

Edited May 18, 2011 by bumpy_capers

[Styliko]

I was going to suggest keeping it in a bucket of cold water but you will have to keep replacing the water, perhaps putting a wet towel over the bucket as well.

Or I found this...

http://www.wikihow.com/Cool-Beers-Without-a-Fridge

[duggie20]

An option you might use on site is petrol (gasoline) - just dig a hole, line it with something waterproof and pour in the petrol. Put drinks in the petrol filled hole and evaporation will do the rest. This will work, but is hugely dangerous.

[duggie20]

Or I found this...

http://www.wikihow.com/Cool-Beers-Without-a-Fridge

[MamaJojo]

we took some frozen bottle of water, stuck them in a bucket of cold water and put a space blanket over the top. cold cans all weekend

[G1T]

Just keeping stuf under the groundsheet of the tent works a treat. A friend of mine has to take steroids everyday, which have to be kept refrigerated, and keeping them under the groundsheet, along with some beers, is spot on. A dr approved method to boot!

[Wildfire2]

Take a big bucket with you and fill it with cold water daily.

[ukslim]

An option you might use on site is petrol (gasoline) - just dig a hole, line it with something waterproof and pour in the petrol. Put drinks in the petrol filled hole and evaporation will do the rest. This will work, but is hugely dangerous.

[herzzreh]

If you're coming into one of the bases it's probably going to be more cost effective for you to buy everything on base, it'll probably be cheaper than off base.

For hassle free cool drinks buy on demand on site and finish off with a bottle of spirits at night.

When you weigh off the cost+aggro of cooler+beer+ice for someone flying in to the UK vs buying over the counter, tis really a no brainer.

As you already know, the petrol idea is stupid, dangerous and, well, very stupid

Have a great festival, don't catch on fire !

[bumpy_capers]

Hah... definitely won't catch on fire!

I'm not stationed in UK (and (unfortunately) the former colony doesn't count), so I can't buy acohol or cigs on base. I wouldn't worry about buying drinks, but knowing me... I know I'll consume a lot and Mrs consumes even more, so it can get expensive really quick.

[grumpyhack]

Put them in a washing up bowl fuilled with water and drape a wet tea towel over the top with a bit of it dangling in the bowl. The tea towel soaks up the water and the water then evaporates, causing cooling.