The Car Fridge: Keeping Beer Cold and Nuggets… Sort of Frozen

Every road trip has its essentials, and for us, one of those is our trusty car refrigerator, plugged into the back and crammed with the essentials we just can’t go without. First priority? Keeping that Loudoun County microbrewery beer nice and cold—no road trip tragedy worse than skunked craft brews! Next up is the half-open lactose-free milk, because finding a fresh carton at every stop is like a scavenger hunt we’re trying to avoid.

But, as always, we’re a little too optimistic about the fridge’s capacity. There we are, trying to fit a few extra packs of nuggets into the Tetris puzzle of the fridge, wedging in half-frozen chicken chunks wherever they fit, and somehow—every single time—there’s one lone frozen Uncrustable left hanging out, reserved as the emergency lunch option.

Every three to four days, when we shift locations, the routine is the same: dig out the Uncrustables, rearrange the beer, and try to shut the lid before another rogue nugget escapes. And there it sits, deep in the back of the car, humming away to keep our essential supplies (and our sanity) intact. Because on this journey, a chilled beer and some semi-frozen nuggets go a long way!