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we usually buy as and when needed, only ever taken a coolbox.

why not freeze a carton of milk to use in the coolbox instead of the iceblocks? that way your milk will be fresh and unfrozen by the second day, and all other items in there would have been at cold temperature.

We take a 12v coolbox, with just milk plus frozen steaks etc to start, then replenish as we go. Plus refreezing the packs if the site has the facility, and plugging it in to the car when we're off for the day. Works well for us.

If we go EHU we'll get a 240 to 12v converter and run it all day. With it running it keeps the contents well cool, butter etc stays hard.

There's a joke there somewhere...but best leave it.

There is another thread which may help - I have left some advice on there on how to keep things frozen as long as possible:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=6&TopicID=189594&get=last#2839525

When funds are short it is often so much cheaper to buy things in bulk at your normal supermarket rather than rely on nearby campsite shops. If you are keen on BBQing then buy the packs of meat and repack them in 'meal' bundles so that you are not rifling through lots of packaging for each meal. The frozen things then remain cool and undisturbed.

freeze bottles of water instead of ice blocks (unless you buy the big chunky ones) as the cheap ones are so thin, they are pretty useless, as when they defrost you end up with more plastic(the outside of ice block) than ice which actually increases the temperature in your cool box! so if you cant afford decent ice packs use big bottles- less plastic!

smees idea of freezing the milk is good too- but take one just chilled too for the first day, incase the other hasnt defrosted intime

also i have found that simply tying food in 3 plastic bags- creating air around the item in layers keeps food just as cold as a cheap cool box/bag.

also remember cold air falls so put the coldest or frozen items at the top to keep the rest cold- not at the bottom as so many people do!

also try to keep your box/bag full as spaces warm it up, and dont add warm items to the box, only cold. Try to close it quickly when opening it!

i actually drink UHT all the time now but i only like it cold if not in a hot drink, get skimmed if you drink semi as its a lot thicker. (candia brand is the best- tastes most like fresh milk to me)

hope that helps

xx

Back in ye olden days to keep milk, beer, or any bottles cool stand in a stream or flowing water.  If no stream available bucket of cold water,, change water when it starts to warm up. 

Freeze what you can before you go hopefully your site  will have a ice pack refreezing service. if not bags of ice from the nearest supermarket,  Remember to take the coolbag to the supermarket or by the time you get back to the tent all you will have is a bag of water.

Just did 8 nights in france with only small coolbox. We rotated the icepacks, so one was in the campsite freezer and one in our box, then swapped them over every morning (our coolbox is only small so one big flat ice pack was fine). Some campsites are free to freeze your blocks some are not so worth checking. We bought milk every 2-3 days and ate cooked meat like ham and cheese in a couple of days. It was quite cool outside at night anyway so I was more concerned about keeping the temp down in the days hence putting the ice block in a morning, however you could swap them over every twelve hours and use a fresh one before bed too. Next time I would take more tinned stuff too like beans, tuna etc. really we only use the coolbox for butter, milk, cheese, yoghurt, sometimes some ham, and we cook fresh meat as we buy it.