solid CO2

aka, dry ice it's a miracle substance Here's how I used it this summer, to great advantage and delight: I purchased 80 pounds cut into three 20 and two 10 pound blocks, each block packaged in heavy brown paper. (I shopped around and found the least expensive source in town. I paid about $.57 per pound, about half of what it was going for at some of the vendors in Nashville. As always, it pays to shop around, but I was still surprised at the discrepancy in the prices.) My scheme for Bonnaroo was to put a block in front of a small battery-powered fan, creating a bit of 'air conditioning' in my tent. When I presented the plan to the dry ice guys, they laughed and cautioned that I might not wake up as it is pure carbon dioxide and would require a lot of ventilation. Scratch that idea. But I did get some very helpful instructions on how to stretch the cooling effects for at least four days. First I purchased some special cotton gloves with plastic dots on the palms, for handling purposes, for a couple of bucks from the vendor. I had an Igloo Max Cold cooler I had purchased half price at the end of last summer which was the perfect container for segregating the main stash. You don't want to keep the dry ice in a cooler that will be opened frequently, and you certainly don't need more than a 20 pound block in another cooler. I had two cases of bottled water pre-frozen for a week. This turned out to be an excellent idea because it melts very slowly and is a great substitute for bagged ice. When I needed crushed ice, I used a hammer to smash a water bottle or two, and my knife to open it up for use in cups. I had two regular coolers to use as my 'refrigerators' and I used the Max cooler as my 'freezer'. I layered the regular coolers like this: Somewhere at the bottom, a 20# block of dry ice, kept in its paper wrapper and insulated on all sides by cardboard boxes, ripped apart. The second layer was some of the frozen water bottles. The final layers were my foodstuffs, with the most delicate at the top (fruit, greens). Rotate, repeat. At some point Jean figured out that she could wrap a ten pound block of dry ice with a towel and sleep under it. I wish I had a picture of her reclined in her chair, a frozen water bottle on each side of her neck, and a block of dry ice perched on her chest, sound asleep. After her nap she handed the pack to me and I got my nap in with the ice on top of me, on top of my pallet, under our sunshade. It was heaven. On Monday morning, after four days in 95 degree heat, we still had half our water bottles left, still frozen and several pints of frozen milk. I had given Anne a 20# block for the freezer in her R.V., and she reported that her steaks never thawed and had to be grilled frozen! The interior of my car was cool all weekend, too as I had left all coolers in the car, windows up. So any aerosol cans and first aid supplies were all fine in the car, securely locked up.