Portable Refrigerator / Cooler size preferences - what do you carry to eat and drink!

I am researching portable refrigerator units (not dorm style AC refrig) for my son (swift driver OTR). I apologize for not being a trucker so my questions may seem ignorant for some topics here. My son wants to carry food instead of eating at the truck stops and he decided road kill is just too organic -. Sorry for the war and peace novel but I have lots of questions and the other forums did not address them well.

I would like some feedback about driver preferences for taking food and drink with you in the tractor. If you have a built in refrigerator I would be interested in advice about what food you carry, however a built-in refrigerator is not an option here. I am mostly interested in thoughts on portable units which any driver could contribute ideas.

What are some considerations:
1. Cooler are just that - they only drop the temp inside a fixed amount relative to the cooler ambient outside temp - most only drop 40 degrees. So on a 90 degree environment it will only cool to 50 degrees - not enough to prevent spoilage - this is great for sealed products with a shelf life (soft drinks, etc.), but not so good for other perishable foods. they don't stay cold long without power. Thoughts?
2. Physical Size - there is cab space constraints - what are they? do you access the drinks/food while driving if next to you, is there room by the seat? access to DC power source, etc.
3. Food - what do most truckers carry when you take your own perishable food and how much? What do you typical take (fruit, milk, juice, sandwich meat, veggies like grandma said to eat?)
4. Downtime - when the truck is not running the refrig unit must stay on or be connected to AC - is that usually reasonably available?
5. Quality - I have found most forums talk about buying walmart/coleman, low end consumer units with failure rates pretty high and often only good for soft drink cooling. Better quality units like Dometic/Waeco ac/dc units and others are quite expensive but last for years - $350-$650 (refrig controlled temp units, not a cooler like coleman) - these units have 1-1.5 CuFt capacity (24-40 soft drink cans is example). They are also VERY low amp units with one to two moving parts(part of the high cost; 0.5-3.0amp). Is is worth the cost to know it will keep temps cold enough to prevent spoilage and for the small capacity?
6. What do you guy/gals use?
7. What else should one consider for a portable refrigerator unit and types of food?

see examples for different size units (there are many other sites to find units) - http://www.americanrvcompany.com/Dometic-Portable-Refrigerators_c_1671.html

Thanks.

 

I personally use a small dorm size fridge from Walmart but my truck has a large inverter and tripak apu to keep it going when I'm sitting for any length of time. Works great for me. Only had it in the truck for six months so far but no problems yet.

 

When I first started I had a cheap Coleman cooler from wal-mart and it died within a month. I got another one and same story. As far as keeping cool, they actually did really well, I could keep a half gallon of milk in mine and it would not spoil.
I kept mine belted in to the passenger seat and that worked pretty well and saved floor space.
Now the company I'm with allows me to take out a cabinet in the bunk to be able to install a real fridge. I have a black and decker fridge/freezer combo with a microwave strapped on top. Fits perfectly behind the drivers seat.

(Sorry pic is sideways)
for food it's pretty much whatever I feel like for the week when I do my grocery shopping. Variety is important, it will make you a lot more likely to eat in the truck than go blow 15 bucks at a restaurant. Not to mention the health benefits.
As long as the batteries are good on the truck he should have no problem leaving the cooler plugged in. I leave my fridge running while on 34 hour restarts and it draws very little juice.
If it was me I would go for the pricier unit that you know will hold up. The Coleman ones burn out quick enough that the more expensive option would pay for itself fairly quickly.

 

I run the Coleman cooler. It only lowers the temp by 40 but most times you're running the ac in the truck and the cab temp is not 90. You can also run some ducting to the cooler so the ac blows directly to it.

I pack premade food ie breakfast sandwiches and leftover dinners. I never eat anything over 3 days old even at home so my food never spoils.


The real trick is during winter. I unplug the cooler at night so my food doesn't freeze

 

I realized the reason those Coleman type coolers die is because they are not for continuous daily use like they appear to be advertised at truck stops. They are just for the four wheeler who wants to go camping for the weekend and keep stuff cool for a few days. If you really want quality you have to spend $$$ on those overpriced Engel fridges or get a dorm type AC fridge. I don't have a fridge since even though I have a ton of things in my truck none of them sacrifice a lot of space so I can still maneuver around and see out the windows without any blockage.

 

I had one of the colemans but after replacing the fan a couple of times I bought a Koolatron. It seems to cool a little better and so far has been more reliable.

The koolatron also warms if you want it to by reversing the connection. Plugged it in the wrong way one time and I can tell you the warmer does a pretty good job also. And of course I'd just stocked up when I did that so I didn't ruin just a little bit of food.

 

I've tried them all and found that the coolers made by a Canadian company called "Koolatron" works best. The Colman coolers are a complete waste of money. Every Colman I've tried has craped out within 2 months. The only issue I have had with the Koolatrons is over cooling. They will freeze your drinks if left in too long but I would rather deal with an occational frozen drink over spoiled milk. Ive been using the 12v compact upright model for about 7 months now and its still cools like it did the first day I got it. Heres a link for Koolatron

 

A motor for them is 13.95 + Freight. Coleman is better than nothing. Leave it on, for 8 hours, my truck would not start. My soda was cold though.

 

Get him a Coleman 40 quart cooler. It plugs right into the 12 volt system. That way he can carry sandwich making stuff and also keep his soft drinks cool.

 

I have the koolatron and it will freeze the stuff closest the power unit. Depending how full the cooler is. I use it every day. The food won't spoil. If anything it will freeze.. Less than 100 bucks . You won't go wrong for a starter unit