【Cool Life】I took my cooler that I used for IKEA frozen foods camping and brought it home

I loaded my partner cooler, which had been unused during the rainy season, into the car and went to buy the longed-for IKEA frozen foods.

Loaded up a serious cooler box for camping and headed to IKEA

Until now, I had given up on IKEA's frozen foods because they would "melt before I could take them home..." Even if the roads are clear, it takes about 40 minutes to get to the closest IKEA from my house, so I just haven't bought them. IKEA's frozen foods come in large sizes, so they wouldn't fit in my usual cooler bag, plus they would melt anyway.

However, I thought that if I used the cooler box that I love for camping, they might not melt, so I loaded it into the car.

Just in case, I also brought along some ice packs. I froze Logos' "Subzero Pack" and Daiso's ice packs firmly and set them up. To ensure their cooling effect, I kept them in the freezer to the last minute before departure. With this, I'm all set.

Got the two frozen foods I was curious about

Drove to the closest IKEA. Along the way, I had lunch, and the outbound journey ended up taking about an hour, and finally, I entered the store.

The food section at IKEA has many attractive frozen foods. There are Nordic foods that you don’t see at nearby supermarkets, so just looking at them is exciting. However, the portions are large, and it seems challenging for just the two of us to finish them, so this time I narrowed it down to "Alemansretten" mashed potatoes and "Liffring" vegetable sausages.

After finishing my shopping and returning to the car, I opened the cooler box, and inside it was filled with cool air. I immediately stored the frozen food with ice packs in between. Will it be able to arrive home still frozen?

The return journey took over an hour due to traffic, what about the frozen condition?

In addition to shopping on the way back, the road was congested, and it took more than an hour after leaving IKEA. Carrying frozen foods is quite a challenge, but when I opened the cooler box at home, there was frost on the surface of the packaging. This looks promising.

The mashed potato product "Alemansretten" and the vegetable sausage "Refreng," especially Refreng which is plant-based sausage, had been on my mind for a while regarding what it might taste like. When I opened both...

Product name / Alemansretten
Price / 699 yen
Quantity / 0.6 kg

Product name / Refrelang
Price /
Contents / 0.46kg

When I took the contents out, they were frozen solid. This cooler box is definitely usable. I started cooking right after returning home, and it seems that frozen foods can be kept in the cooler box for about 2 to 3 hours.

Perfect compatibility with alcohol! Enjoying the Nordic flavors with the cooler box

For "Aremansretten", add water or milk and simmer in a pot, while "Refrelang" is to be grilled in a frying pan with oil. Both can be cooked easily, making them suitable menus for camping.

So, the two dishes from IKEA that I wanted to try were ready in no time.

Being plant-based, I thought there might be a "lack of satisfaction," but the vegetable sausage has spices that work perfectly, making it so juicy that you wouldn't believe it doesn't contain meat! The mashed potatoes are creamy and rich, with a smooth texture that exceeds expectations in quality. Both pair excellently with alcohol, making them a perfect taste for an adult evening.

I bought the cooler box and ice packs as camping gear, but they turned out to be more convenient than I thought when going to buy frozen foods. I realized that they will be quite useful for weekend shopping in the upcoming season.

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