airline question

[widehunters3]

Okay I have a silly question, but where else to ask. I know this group will be honest.

 

Has anyone ever taken frozen food meals with them. Due to the high cost in Alaska, I'm wanting to prepared a couple of dishes to help supplement our food expense. Such as a meatloaf, grilled turkey breast, lasagna. I can prepare and freeze in foodsaver bags and put in our suitecases, but is this allowed or will the airlines just take this away from us.

 

Thanks for everyones input.

Kim

[Big Kielbasa]

I guess one silly question becomes another, if your going on a cruise why would you be concerned about bringing frozen food in your suitcase. I'm assuming your worried about the cost of food post cruise or pre but theres a McDonald's with a dollar menu in every town I've ever been in.

[Chenega]

Alaska's high costs are legendary but we also have McDonalds and Denny's and Applebees plus some great grocery stores in the urban areas. Even at high-priced Denali National Park, there's a place for a Subway sandwich.

 

I often pay more for food when I visit family in Southern California than I can get a meal up here.

[widehunters3]

There will be six of us and we will be doing our own 6 day land tour before our cruise. We have booked several excursion and just trying to try to find a few ways of saving a couple of pennies.

[dwp381]

Where are you flying in from? Wouldn't it be thawed out in that time? I don't think you could have dry ice in your checked bags..... Like someone

else said-find a grocery store and buy food.

[LindaJ+]

Maybe you want to check out some freeze-dried package meals like you can find in a camping store ... just add water and heat.

[baron45]

Maybe you want to check out some freeze-dried package meals like you can find in a camping store ... just add water and heat.

 

 

I actually saw some people eating instant noodles on board the Diamond Princess, so that's another cheap option.

[mytime53]

You have several issues here.

#1...the airlines won't take it away. We often travel with frozen food. But we are generally taking something unavailable or only available at expensive prices (salmon, moose, caribou) as a gift to someone, or like last year on our second trip to the Bahamas, when we knew we couldn't last 10 days on the typical fried food and we had a kitchen to cook our own food.

#2...you aren't giving your itinerary...are you traveling around Alaska before getting on your cruise? If not, why bring food? Are you on a cruisetour? If so, how will you keep your food frozen until use? You will end up paying more for cooler, ice, excess luggage, etc., than you will for food.

#3...one reason that travelers find the price of food so high is that they eat in higher end restaurants when traveling than at home, or they order higher priced meals than at home. I know because we do the same thing...we spend just as much or more when traveling as we do at home to eat out. It's just that you're doing it every day instead of infrequently.

#4...for those who want to stay in a budget, (maybe I've had too much wine, beer, and now scotch to finish this thread...today was the last day of a week's visit of some people we met while traveling, and they showed their appreciation of the great time we showed them, including an overnight fishing trip, by supplying refreshments:D ...I've had to correct a typo in almost every word...anyway, I don't think you're ahead of the game bringing frozen meals (and I'm still thinking better than I'm typing, or I wouldn't know to correct my typos...would I?).

[krogerlady]

I would be more concerned about snacks, granola bars, fruit strips, etc, as 6 people will not all get hungry at the same time, and a snack might hold off hunger until everyone can decide on something that is not too pricey. Impulsive decisions to eat NOW often result in more expensive meals, and not everyone was hungry to begin with. Many of the land tours offer a snack, drink, snack bar, something along those lines, so no one is going to starve. I have gotten things to eat in airport terminals just because I had to wait/bored, and spent too much, and wondered why i got it to begin with. Old habits die hard.

[Fishbait17]

I haven't had time to look through all of the answers given here, but we have OFTEN flown with suitcases FULL of frozen foods. (Can you tell I have kids and their friends in college who miss my cooking? :D ) Mostly, it will depend on the length of the flights, whether you have a nonstop, and where you are flying to/from. We have packed as many as 6 trays of frozen mac-n-cheese, plus frozen meats, other casseroles, etc for flights along the East Coast, even during hot months to and from Florida. Non-stop is usually about 4 hours for us from checking the bag until picking it up. We have flown with less food on cross country non-stops. Never had an issue.

 

Robin

[NancyIL]

With airlines now charging for 2nd checked bags and some charging for first checked bags - I can't see doing it. Since you are doing the land trip first, I assume you will have a rental car. Go to the grocery store when you arrive and stock-up on food then.

[qiangf2]

I would suggest you do a grocery shopping while in Anchorage to buy up all the frozen foods you need for 6 days trip so the food will stay cold longer and you don't have to worry about airlines (I don't think frozen food in check-in luggage is contraband, by the way:) )

[kenish]

Maybe I'm not understanding the frozen food idea but how do you plan to defrost and cook the food?

[msmoger]

I actually saw some people eating instant noodles on board the Diamond Princess, so that's another cheap option.

 

 

Prepaid Cruise, seemingly endless (already paid for food options).....why would anybody do this?? :eek: Am I missing something?

[NancyIL]

Prepaid Cruise, seemingly endless (already paid for food options).....why would anybody do this?? :eek: Am I missing something?

 

Those must've been the passengers in steerage. ;)

[wrp96]

I would NOT trust frozen food, in your checked luggage for the length of time it takes to travel from Florida to Alaska by air.

 

I too have taken frozen food in checked luggage but only when my travels lasted no more than 6 hours. After a certain point of time out of the freezer, the food could become unsafe.

 

You would be better off just going to a grocery store in Anchorage (plus any savings you have from buying food in Florida will most likely be offset by extra baggage charges).

[baron45]

Prepaid Cruise, seemingly endless (already paid for food options).....why would anybody do this?? :eek: Am I missing something?

 

 

They must really miss Chinese food.:)

[milleruszk]

Those must've been the passengers in steerage. ;)

 

Yeah I saw one guy with a chicken under his arm as he hung laundry on a line in the port side hallway. What's next! :eek:

[thinfool]

Due to the high cost in Alaska,

 

You may want to explore this a little further. We found prices in Alaska on a par with the lower 48 (last August). It may take a little effort to find them, but they are there.

 

Your food will be expensive if you eat at the hotel restaurants on your cruisetour, but if you leave the hotel and check around, you will find other places that are more affordable.

 

The one place that this may not happen is the McKinley Princess Lodge as there is nothing nearby. They do have a more modestly priced restaurant on the property. It is about a 5 minute walk from the main lodge.

[widehunters3]

I appreciate everyones responses to this question. I guess I will be labeled as "Cheap". That's okay, it could be worse.

 

We will be doing 6 days of land touring on our own. We have houses/cabins rented for all six nights with kitchens. There are six of us. My parents will be traveling with us and we have to growing college boys.

 

I got this idea from a friend that travels each year to Mexico. They travel with a group and each family brings a frozen homecook item (enough for everyone). This make for fast good meals. We have alot of activities planned and it would be nice to be able to retire at the cabin and have a nice hot meal with easy preparation.

 

We will be going grocery shopping to purchase breakfast items, lunchmeat and snacks. Sure I can purchase frozen dinner items at the local grocery store, but I have spoiled my family and they prefer Mom's cooking. I never get to do those easy premade frozen meals...that's unheard of in our house.

 

I still have time to decide if I want to try this or not.... Thanks again

[NancyIL]

I appreciate everyones responses to this question. I guess I will be labeled as "Cheap". That's okay, it could be worse.

 

 

 

I'm cheap, too! :D But I'm not fond of cooking when I'm at home, and I don't cook while on vacation. I expect the cost of food to be higher when on vacation than if I were at home, and it's part of the budget.

 

Packing for an Alaska cruise + land trip is hard enough without also trying to find space for food in your luggage. Think how much more your family will appreciate your cooking after having a few frozen grocery store meals! :)

[greatam]

Any possibility of combining the two sons clothes in one suitcase (with the overflow in everyone else's suitcases) and just take a GOOD hardside cooler with your food. Airlines flying to Alaska are VERY used to seeing coolers shipped (fish/game AND food for hunters going to the boonies). You wouldn't have to worry about the stuff defrosting so badly on your clothes and you would have a place to put additional cold food while traveling from place to place.

 

You can use the cooler to get all the souvenirs home. We always take a cooler packed with "stuff" (not food) on the way to Alaska. It is filled with fish coming home. IF you pack enough food (and take a LARGE cooler) it may even be cost effective to pay the additional luggage fee if you cannot consolidate. Not that this will save you any money, but you won't have to spend hours cooking. MAKE SURE you put lots of duct tape around the cooler if shipping. Gel ice packs are allowed.

 

Food prices are not much more in Alaska than in Phoenix (and cheaper than Northern Missouri). When I was there two weeks ago, I went shopping at Safeway in Homer. Hamburger was only $.37 more per pound than at Safeway in Phoenix (the cheap stuff-80/20)

[NancyIL]

 

You can use the cooler to get all the souvenirs home. We always take a cooler packed with "stuff" (not food) on the way to Alaska. It is filled with fish coming home. IF you pack enough food (and take a LARGE cooler) it may even be cost effective to pay the additional luggage fee if you cannot consolidate. Not that this will save you any money, but you won't have to spend hours cooking. MAKE SURE you put lots of duct tape around the cooler if shipping. Gel ice packs are allowed.

 

 

Knowing how easy it is to fill a suitcase with clothing and have it weigh 50 pounds - how much more would a cooler full of frozen food weigh?

[greatam]

Knowing how easy it is to fill a suitcase with clothing and have it weigh 50 pounds - how much more would a cooler full of frozen food weigh?

 

We usually get about 45 pounds of fish in every cooler which is vacuum packed and stackable in nice neat rows.

 

Putting frozen meat loafs, roasts, cooked turkeys or chickens plus the sides in a cooler will NOT pack as well as our fish. I think you would really have to try hard to get more than 40 pounds of assorted frozen food in a cooler (and our Igloos weigh about 4 pounds). It's beverages and fresh ice that make most coolers for picnics so heavy.

 

I took a cooler of frozen steaks (direct from small local locker plant) to one of my close friends in NYC in April. It was under the airline weight limit and filled to the brim. She paid me for the steaks and saved over $10.00 a pound buying from the grocery stores in NYC. NY strips/rib eyes/Porterhouse are over $16.00 a pound in the City. And that price is select grade (grocery store grade). She got choice (one grade below prime).

[mytime53]

We just had friends leave with 2 coolers of fish, so I know how large of a cooler hits 50 pounds when full...I seriously doubt you will get food for 6 for very many nights in that cooler. And you will need a cooler if you do this, so you might as well bring that from home...unlike food, it might actually be cheaper.

 

On a side note...your friends take food from home to Mexico? Gee, for us, one of the draws of traveling in Mexico is the awesome, inexpensive food. We always have a kitchen, but that's for breakfast, lunch, snacks, or the occasional fresh fish from going on a fishing charter. And even then, it's just as cheap to have a restaurant fix it as it is to buy all the fixin's.