Bringing a cooler of food as part of checked luggage?

I was wondering about bringing a cooler with food in it for my room. I'm not a big eater and eating a ham sandwich some fruit or cereal and a muffin in my room before I head out holds me till dinner time. I love eating out for dinner and have some nice places I'll be hitting this trip. Has anyone brought a cooler full of "room food" to the airport as part of their checked luggage? Or would it just be easier to get a delivery from Vonn's sent to the hotel?

 

I've seen how baggage handlers chuck suitcases into the plane's hold, so I'd hate to trust them with food and a fragile cooler.

Just stock up when you're in town. Small polystyrene coolers are only a couple of bucks in Walgreens. Aso, I suspect you'd have to spend more on tape and bubblewrap to protect a cooler you bought from home than you would pay extra for convenience store groceries over discounted home town supermarket supplies.

 

More than anything, I would worry about food temperature safety, especially if you wanted something like the ham you referred to in your post. While you could take efforts to regulate the temperature with ice packs and such, the risk vs. the reward would be too high for me to chance ruining my vacation with food poisoning. I agree with everyone else, Walgreens!

If you didn't want to purchase or don't believe in styrofoam, I would think you could get one of the soft-sided coolers to fold up small enough into a suitcase. I'm not sure how they do with keeping stuff cold for a long time, though.

 

I bring a soft sided, folding cooler with me almost everywhere. It's great for drinks. I wouldn't use it for things that can make you sick if the temp isn't ideal the whole time. My husband used to use it for yogurt but he won't do that anymore. He no longer has a cast iron stomach.

I do see your point that you're not a big eater. I can't put away the food like I used to either.

I would say get yourself a good soft sided folding cooler that folds flat into your checked bag. Stop by the grocery store or have the delivery like you're talking about and get things that won't hurt you if the temp isn't perfect. Fruit, granola or cereal-granola bars, baked goods, that kind of thing.

Or skip the cooler and grocery idea and grab a fresh sandwich or baked item downstairs. Most hotels have some kind of coffee stand with baked goods and sandwiches if not a fast food type place. The coffee shop or room service will have sandwiches but it would be huge with fries and whatever, you want something smaller than that.

 

I would suggest bringing a soft sided cooler or picking up a styrofoam one in Vegas. I have packed snack crackers, poptarts, granola bars for years in my checked luggage. Many of the gift shops at the hotels carry milk, dry cereal bowls, fruit. Breakfast is always something we just do lightly in the room. Past few years we have been near a McDs and the dh likes to go for an early morning walk. He stops and brings us back yogurt parfaits for breakfast. The ones at the coffee stands downstairs can run you $10. I also keep plastic silverware in my bathroom bag in case we need a spoon, knife or fork for something we pick up at a convenience store. One big meal a day is all we eat. No room for more than that plus we are not high class diners.

 

We bring cereal bars, and snacks in our checked luggage, and this was the first time we all flew so that was harder. We just grad Mc Donalds or Krispy Kreme and call it breakfast.\

 

Another vote for picking up a Styrofoam cooler. We stay at TheD and love Walgreen's being so close. Water and Heinekens on ice. We too bring disposable utensils. I have also used the room air conditioner to keep leftovers cold. (I keep the room as cold as possible.) I leave the cooler in the room when we leave and I suppose housekeeping disposes of it. (Not very green I know) I wonder if I asked our maid if she has one stashed away?

 

Some of the hotels have a mini-fridge right in the room ... so you might not even need to buy a foam cooler.
Go to the grocery store, and pick up what you were originally planning on, and put it in the fridge ... if the room has one.

 

The overwhelming majority of Vegas hotels do not come with a fridge as a standard amenity (now, Buddha's MSS does!) but you can ask to have one brought to your room for medicinal purposes. I don't believe they can charge you when you tell them that.

 

Can depend on the hotel too. I always call housekeeping for a fridge if there isn't one in the room. Some times we're charged (TheHotel), sometimes not (PHo/Aladdin). There is no law that says a fridge must be provided for free, even if it's medically required.

 

PS On topic, I have checked a cooler in as baggage on an airplane before. Well taped, normal plastic igloo cooler. Not for Vegas, but....Actually, we bought the cooler and used it on the trip, then packed it with dirty clothing to come home because we didn't have to pay to check bags so why not? I would only travel with food if I were going to the Caribbean and needed it (we're contemplating this for our sailboat charter this summer) or coming home from a fishing or hunting trip (eg Alaska) It can be done - people do it all the time - but for Vegas, I question the necessity or savings in doing it.....

 

Last year at Bill's we brought 2 small soft sided coolers and picked up a Styrofoam one at Vonns. We took a cab to Vonn's and back to get supplys ( I didn't know they do deliveries). Cost us over 50 dollars in cab fare. We used the same cab company and on the return trip, the dispatcher asked us why went went all the way to THAT Vonns. I told him...Hummm I don't know,why don't you ask your driver who dropped us off here So I was trying to find a way to save some money this time. Was not too sure about checking a cooler...I'm thinking no on that now. We are staying at the Flamingo in a Go Lux with strip view this year...it has a fridge,that will help. Does Flamingo put anything in the fridges? I'm thinking not. I will buy a cooler or 2 when I get there and just bring a few of my dry goods with me. Thanks for the advice! OH...when we left Bill's last year we took our coolers and left them on a table by the elevators with a "free" sign on them

 

We never take soft sided coolers to Las Vegas because we enjoy eating a late breakfast and an early dinner and grabbing maybe an apple for lunch. But everybody has his or her own habits and preferences.

When in Florida, I fish all day in the hot sun and always take my lunch in a small soft sided cooler. The blue freeze packs last longer than ice, but if you have no access to a freezer, ice from the hallway machines in a Ziploc bag will work. Get the smallest cooler possible and always pack it full of ice and food.

At the end of the day, I filet and bag my fish and place it into the same cooler to take home. You could do that with leftovers from dinner, and with a change of ice, eat them the next day.

 

Does the airline give you free baggage?

Defeats the purpose if you have to pay .You can buy the same minimal foodstuffs in LV so why drag it with you ?
Hey youre on vacation,buy a ham sandwich and a muffin,go crazy.

 

There's not exactly a shortage of food options in Las Vegas.

 

Well, I am driving to Vegas on my next trip and thinking about taking this puppy along with me for my 6 night trip. Is it just a little over the top? Think hotel would have problem with me dragging it in. It is actually quite small.

http://www.target.com/p/sakar-portable-12-can-mini-fridge-multiple-colors-available/-/A-14012121#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=portable+refrigerator

 

staying in an Aria panoramic corner a couple of years ago, I absent-mindedly left my insulin case sitting on the bed when we went down to the casino. I've been insulin-dependant since I was 2, and I've left cases in more places than you can imagine with no problems, but this time the sun through all the windows baked the hell out of it, rendering it completely useless.

I always bring extra with me, so I didn't have a problem, but I certainly learned from that mistake.

(sorry to go off-topic)