In both cold and heat: how a thermal bag will keep your food fresh

You can independently choose and buy a thermal bag in the appropriate catalog at the link provided. And below we will talk about what is important to pay attention to when choosing.

A low-cost option

Thermal bags are easy to carry and accessible to everyone, although they are inferior to portable refrigerators in cooling products

Thermal bags are the most common and cheapest accessory for storing food and drinks on the go. In them, the temperature is maintained at the same level for several hours. This applies to both cold and hot products. Yes, in such a bag, the courier brings you a hot pizza ordered an hour ago. Without it, you would hardly be able to fully enjoy its taste, because a slightly warm pizza is not at all the same. And in everyday life, people use them to store food on the road, at a picnic and the beach, you can go to the market for meat or fish, etc. You can take chilled drinks, sandwiches and more in a thermal bag. And at the same time, do not worry about their freshness even in 30-degree heat (only you can’t keep it in the open sun).

The design of all thermal bags is generally the same, and different models may differ in the presence of compartments and sizes. But at the same time they always consist of several layers. The upper is a durable and waterproof fabric. The appearance of the thermal bag also depends on it, which is also important for many people. For example, the Time Eco TE-320S and Gio'Style Fiesta 25+6 models do not look different from ordinary bags.

The middle layer (one or more) is a thermal insulating material. This is usually foamed polyethylene, but there may be another similar insulator. It is on the middle layers that the main task lies to keep cold or heat inside, preventing air from entering from the outside and heating / cooling of the inner walls. The inner layer of the thermal bag is a lining. It is often also made of a retaining material and the inside of the bag is covered with a foil cloth, which also has a small effect on keeping the temperature. In advanced models, there may be air chambers between the layers and other tricks to keep the temperature inside. This approach allows you to keep the temperature of the products up to 3-4 hours. Although, it all depends on the conditions. Put such a bag in the summer in the sun — and, no matter what, after an hour and a half, the temperature inside will equalize with the environment.

When it comes to keeping cold, the presence of cold accumulators plays an important role. These are containers made of plastic or polyethylene filled with a special solution. Before use, they are placed in the freezer for several hours, where the liquid is cooled to sub-zero temperatures without freezing. Then these containers are placed in a thermal bag, where they will cool the products for a long time. With such batteries inside, food can be stored cold for almost a day. But here, again, it all depends on the conditions — the amount of coolant, the volume of the products themselves and the bag, and, of course, the external temperature.

Golden mean

Thermal boxes combine the qualities of bags and refrigerators

The closest relatives of thermal bags are thermal boxes. Their working principle is similar. These are plastic containers that have several layers of thermal insulation material. You can also put cold accumulators in them. Unlike thermal bags, layers of thermal insulation materials and air pockets are located closer to each other and can be used in large quantities. This has a positive effect on the stability of maintaining the temperature inside the food chamber.

Thermal boxes differ from thermal bags in large dimensions and are less convenient during transportation. Such bags usually have a small volume and are intended for individual use. And in thermoboxes you can load much more food and drinks. Usually their capacity is 20-30 liters, although there are also small models like MEGA 3.5L and Campingaz Isotherm Extreme 10. Also, thermoboxes usually do not have convenient carrying straps, but are intended for transportation in car boots.

Best result

Car owners should take a closer look at special refrigerators for cars — they will provide reliable storage of food and drinks on the road

The best indicators for maintaining temperature and operating time for automobile refrigerators. In addition, their volume reaches 40-50 liters, which allows you to collect food for a picnic for a large company. They can be both built-in and in the form of containers like thermal boxes (and sometimes they are also found in the form of bags, like X-Digital CB-901/30L). The principle of their operation is the same as that of conventional refrigerators (compressor car refrigerators) or others, but the result of the work is approximately the same.

The main feature of these devices is that they receive power from the car battery and due to this they can maintain the set temperature for a very long time. At the same time, many models are able to both cool products and heat them, maintaining the temperature up to 50-60 degrees. This can come in handy for warming up meals at a picnic.

However they have car refrigerators and their drawbacks. These include "binding" to the car and an additional load on the car's battery. Some models (especially in the low-cost segment) can only work when the car is driving. When the car is in the parking lot, such a refrigerator turns into an ordinary thermal box. Nevertheless, the advantages of these devices “cross out” their disadvantages, so this is a fairly common accessory among motorists.

Summary

The range of various thermal bags, thermoboxes and car refrigerators is large. You can verify this in our catalog. They are different — miniature bags for baby food and bulky boxes in which beer is cooled for a large company. They have a different design (from utilitarian to stylish), often have all sorts of features such as additional compartments, pockets, handles, several operating modes for car refrigerators. So you can easily pick up something to your liking, you just need to determine the most suitable type of bag, its volume, type and features. And this thing is useful, it will come in handy in the household. Moreover, the summer promises to be hot.