bringing frozen bread on a plane

December 8, 2015 7:21 PM

i'm trying to bring 3 frozen loaves of bread on a plane from california to ireland on sunday, and i would like them to stay frozen until i get there. does anyone have experience bringing something frozen on a plane? can you recommend a leakproof soft cooler that would fit inside a (checked) suitcase? i am planning to put some of those blue ice packs in with the bread. is there a better option?
posted by désoeuvrée to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

I used to travel with frozen breast milk and used to check it in a freezer pack. It typically arrived still frozen (~5 hour flights).
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:26 PM on December 8, 2015

A cooler with dry ice would definitely stay frozen. Check with your airline for guidelines. Here's a sample from Delta: http://www.delta.com/content/dam/delta-www/pdfs/baggage/dry_ice.pdf
posted by doctord at 7:29 PM on December 8, 2015

My aunt brings frozen everything food to her daughter's house every time she flies there (seriously, it's ridiculous...she brings pot pies and mashed potatoes and such). It's about an 8-hour flight from coast to coast, and she just puts it in her checked luggage with ice packs in those reflective cooling bags you get at the grocery store. The TSA just LOVES her, but she's batty and talks about the meals she's bringing, and they let her through.
posted by xingcat at 7:34 PM on December 8, 2015

This is the one I used with frozen food on a 24 hour flight. It worked great. I used gel freezer packs. And the tote is really nice for taking food to the beach! Amazon link
posted by k8t at 9:44 PM on December 8, 2015

My husband did this recently with frozen fish. He put the fish in plastic bags and then in a soft cooler bag (like from the grocery store) with some regular ice (scooped into their own plastic baggies) and then put it in a carry on! He's done this twice now, they were 5-6 hour flights plus time getting to the airport early and everything. He hasn't had any problems with stuff defrosting and no problems with TSA.
posted by FireFountain at 11:30 PM on December 8, 2015

does anyone have experience bringing something frozen on a plane? can you recommend a leakproof soft cooler that would fit inside a (checked) suitcase? i am planning to put some of those blue ice packs in with the bread. is there a better option?

I live in a small town in Alaska which one of the T-shirts sold locally describes as "A quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem," while the most popular T-shirt simply says "Spawn 'Til You Die." I've never been aboard a departing flight where someone wasn't traveling with a box of salmon to take to their destination (and depending on season it can actually be half the passenger list or more that's traveling with frozen fish.)

Over the years I've shipped my fair share and what I've learned is: first, call the airline (or check their web site) to see if they have packaging guidelines. For obvious reasons I usually fly Alaska Airlines -- they typically don't want any frozen liquid ice but dry ice is allowed. Your airline might have different policies but they will have a policy. Second, if you call around to local fish markets and/or packing stores you should be able to find fish boxes in a variety of sizes -- the ones I use are styrofoam inner boxes inside an outer cardboard box and they work quite well. If you get a small one you should be able to fit it inside a large suitcase and still have room for your other items. Since your frozen food consists of bread there's not much risk to other items you pack with it, especially if you use dry ice as your refrigeration. Don't seal too tight if using dry ice.
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:09 AM on December 9, 2015

Ice-packs will not go through carry on, they are a liquid and you will be made remove them. Buy a soft-sided cooler bag of a decent brand, I use Thermos. Buy good packs too. Pack icepack-loaf-icepack-loaf as efficiently as possible with the ice packs on top of the bread, so maybe:
I
L
II
LL
And then wrap it all in newspaper (one right layer the rest loose) so you fill out the space in the cooler. Put it in your checked bag.
posted by Iteki at 4:06 AM on December 9, 2015

When you say ice packs, are you referring to just packages of ice, or are you referring to the "blue" self-contained ice packs? Because I'm the husband who flew frozen fish from coast to coast twice via carry-on, and none of my ice had a problem going through carry-on security. My understanding is that the rule is no liquids. Obviously your mileage may vary, but TSA absolutely permits the blue self-contained ice packs. If you drain the water out of bags of ice, they should theoretically have no problem with that, either - they didn't care at all when I tried it.

The key here is no liquids through security.

Also, if your object is frozen solid, it should hold for ~8 hours assuming it's not sweltering hot out. At least, my salmon gave me no trouble for 8 hours. Checked bags should be even easier since they're in colder storage than the actual passenger section of the plane.
posted by Strudel at 7:11 AM on December 9, 2015

I've brought frozen bread dough on a flight, and while the TSA definitely wanted to open it up and look at it, they were fine letting it through. If memory serves, they were also fine with frozen ice packs, but you have to bring them frozen. No room temperature ones, as they are liquid at that point.

In terms of coolers, buy anything that's the size you need. I happened to have a lunch pale one which worked for me. To deal with leaks, I would recommend leakproofing the contents of the cooler (that is, putting them in ziplocks). I'm pretty sure we've used a tote like this in the past.
posted by Phredward at 8:03 AM on December 9, 2015