Reddit reviews Coleman 24 Can Party Stacker Cooler, Red

I've done the exterior attachment trick with small spring clamps, but I've had a problem with the rivet that holds the pieces together rusting. I don't want to get rust marks on the inside of my new cooler... have your binder clips experienced any rusting while submerged?

It's rated for 15-19 quarts, but you can stretch it a bit by using a better container. I think your 40 quart is probably a bit too big, especially since it's cheap and won't have super good thermal insulation.

I'm not sure how well your brick idea will work. I think you'd probably have to deal with huge preheating times as the anova slowly brings the bricks up to temp. You should probably be fine once it's up to temp though.

Coleman makes a 25 quart "party stacker" cooler that lots of people tend to like. The lid is fully removable so you can make the same modifications as you had planned with your big cooler.

There's also some smaller rubbermaid plastic tubs that people like to use. You can cover it with plastic wrap to stop evaporation if you want.

I have this one: Coleman 24-Can Party Stacker. Fits in the Model 3 frunk well and under $20.

Edit: Found the youtube video that convinced me to buy it.

i figured since i did some research on this a while back that maybe this could help with your food issues.
if you get a cooler like this one

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Can-Party-Stacker-Cooler/dp/B0030BGA0U/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538939638&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Coleman+25-Quart+Cooler

or any smaller cooler that can typically hold 20-30 quarts of liquid and pack it with ice you can keep things that normally would be refrigerated for anywhere from 3-5 days as long as you top up the ice 1-2x a week.

if you consider the added benefit of food choices and costs a $20 upfront cost and $1-2 a week afterwards a week isnt so bad and could save you money in the long run.

2nd thing to tackle food wise is what to do with dishware and cleaning it.
having access to metal glass or hard plastic plates will help cut down immensely in costs as in order to clean them you simply need a little bit of water from a water bottle and a dishtowel wiping the plates down before applying any soap or water can reduce the total amount of time and supplies needed to clean them as well
any goodwill you can find yourself several varieties of plates and bowls for dirt cheap if you are needing them

if you can afford it you can also use papertowels over the plates for non liquid foods to help reduce cleanup as well.

next lack of a way to heat your food. if all you are doing is simply heating up precooked food you can easily use the heat of the car and or your engine with some alluminum foil to keep things hot that has been opened. think having lunch and dinner same meal could mean opening in the morning leaving in the car wrapped in alluminium it'll be hot by lunch and put 2nd half back in to keep warm for dinner.

alternatively you could possibly find a convenience store that might let you use their microwave a few times a week or more

thats all i can think of for now other than keep dirty laundry in the trunk so it doesnt stink up the car?

also unless its a significant drive to find one i would suggest cutting starbucks out and looking for a bookstore/library/any other air conditioned place you can sit down and it doesnt cost you anything to be out of the heat for a few hours

For almost the same price as that lid, you can get a Coleman Party Stacker that Anova recommends for container modification in this guide that they published a while back. I made one, and it's awesome, albeit more water than your current setup. I use it any time I'm cooking longer than a quick half-hour dip for shrimp. If that seems like more effort than it's worth, the setup you have now with an added dish towel and/or saran wrap would likely work nearly as well.

Looks like a Coleman Party Stacker.

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Can-Party-Stacker-Cooler/dp/B0030BGA0U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484588750&sr=8-1&keywords=Coleman+Party+Stacker

I just built one using the 33 QT today. Here is the result;

http://imgur.com/a/JLO9w

With my set up I need to fill it about half way, then with the lid rotated off like in the picture the water level is just at the minimum line on the Anova.

My tap water came out at about 130F and it took about 10 minutes to get it to 160F. I then turned it off and left it and it dropped about 6F in an hour. Most of the heat is being lost out of the lid so I am thinking about spraying some foam into the lid or some silicon to get some more insulation. Long story short the Anova is easily going to be able to keep the thing at temperature full.

Easy to do, I followed this guide https://anovaculinary.com/sous-vide-cooler-guide/

Only change I made was I used a 2 1/2" hole saw vs the 2 3/8" they say in the article. That means I have some wiggle room in mine, but it is still smaller then the wide part where the chrome meets the black plastic.

I think this actually works out better because the lid is actually made of two pieces and there is a gap in between. I used some electrical tape to seal this up. There is a lot of moisture in the cooler and I think if you don't seal this well then you will have mold issues.

The other suggestion I have is to run the hole saw in reverse. A carpenter in another thread recommended this. It prevents the saw from catching and tearing. It takes a little longer but gives a nicer hole. Definitely cut in from the under side.

If you watch the 33 QT on Amazon it gets down to $15; https://camelcamelcamel.com/Coleman-Can-Party-Stacker-Cooler/product/B002BMEFHE

The 25 QT doesn't get cheaper (if it is even available); https://camelcamelcamel.com/Coleman-Can-Party-Stacker-Cooler/product/B0030BGA0U

I live in Canada and Amazon.ca doesn't have as nice deals. I picked mine up at Canadian Tire. The 25 QT and 33 QT were the same price so I just went with the larger one.