One possibility is to get a big chunk of dry ice to put in your cooler, if there’s an ice company type place near you that sells it.
Dry ice hadn’t really even crossed my mind. What sort of a gas does it put off as it ‘thaws’? Is that safe in close quarters (our van)?
Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide, and really is overkill for a cooler on a road trip. You’re not trying to preserve organs for transplant, just keep some food items cool.
Coolers kept closed as much as possible, and drained of meltwater, work perfectly fine with regular ice.
Since you can always buy more ice, anything that will fit in the cooler and can be eaten uncooked should be OK.
Would salting the ice (lowering the melting temperature?) be a good idea?
Brian
Salting the ice is not really going to make a huge difference in this case, I don’t think. In any event, the OP says she plans to stop every day to shop anyway - getting more ice, if she finds she’s running low, is not going to be an issue.
For the record, I have kept, at one time or another:
milk
fruit juice
cold cuts
cheese
butter
fruit
veggies
raw chicken
raw steaks
cooked leftovers
in a cooler that had ice added it to it just once, at the start of the week. Everything stayed fresh and cool until I was ready to cook or reheat it (if needed), for as long as 4-5 days (at which point I switched to canned stuff). This was out in the hinterlands, in warm weather, with no convenient place to pick up new groceries or more ice.
If the OP plans to shop every day, then all she really needs to do is pack some munchies as if she were going on a day trip to the beach. It’s not that big a deal.
Why? You need someone to supply the Folger’s? 
Do any of you ever have problems with motion sickness? I’d recommend keeping something carbonated around for that, and maybe some arrowroot wafers or zweiback. Flavored sparkling waters/seltzers are a good no-calorie, no-sweetener option. (Check the labels, though - some varieties use Nutrasweet or Splenda, and IIRC you don’t like those. But basic lemon, lime, and orange seltzers are usually unsweetened.)
Not stated anywhere in this thread. She said she didn’t like candy.
One thing about dry ice is that you don’t want to put it into an air tight container, because as it sublimes and turns into gas, the pressure will build. It will either explode before you open it or spew all over you as you open it. You’ll hate it when that happens. Stick with water ice. xo C.
Nope, it wasn’t - but he knows me irl.
Dammit! I meant bughunter’s wife.
What is “irl”?
Pistachios. Cashews. Good protein and energy.
Y’know, that not-Net thing we call “In Real Life”? You remember that, don’t you? Don’t you?
Just a note to say thanks to everyone for their help. I’ll finish with the groceries tonight, and pack up in the morning.
Well, since you don’t need any more food suggestions, I’ll just add: have a safe and happy trip! Have fun visiting with your folks, and be careful not to get any of the pregnant on anyone on the way. Some people don’t appreciate it.
Har har. I’m always open to more suggestions! I don’t have to finalize packing the food until tomorrow morning - I’m going to take a run up to the grocery to get some cold cuts and cheese tomorrow so they’re as fresh as I can get.
Oh, alright then. One more suggestion. Since it seems you’ll be doing a lot of cereal for breakfast, consider buying those variety packs with little boxes of lots of different kinds of cereal. That way, you won’t get bored, plus they stay fresh. IIRC, there are a couple different variety packs, one geared towards more adult taste buds, one geared towards kids.
Better than those, IMO, are the newer-style cups of cereal, because they’re easier to eat, if you don’t have bowls handy. You can just add the milk directly to the package without mess, and you get more cereal than in the tiny boxes.
GingeroftheNorth - the reason that you can taste a diff with the Parmalat milk is because the milk you’re refering to is UHT (Ultra-High-Temperature) milk. They package it in the carton and then super-heat it (up to 110 centigrade, IIRC, but it may be higher). This way any microbes and what-not that get in during packaging are killed and since the carton is sealed, no others can get in. It basically tastes like boiled milk - that’s the difference.
Until you open it, this milk should last about 4 weeks out of the fridge.
Some people don’t like it. I don’t mind it at all, and on the Continent, it’s pretty much all you can buy…