Tips for flying with cooler of food to Haborside?

We have done this for years, 32 to be exact. Never any problem with customs. We use a large Rubbermaid or any brand tub to transport food and everything else. I even put a 5 liter box of wine in there. The tub is light weight and holds a lot. We use a 66 qt. size. We tape it shut and US always opens it, but will retape it nicely.This size will hold 50 lbs. if you pack well. Frozen food is fine. We take prepared dinners and only have to thaw and cook. You can even get large tub with wheels now. They are so light weight you are not paying for suitcase weight. We usually leave the $7.00 tub there so we don't have to pay to bring it back. Maids love the tubs.

Hi - I know your message is from two years ago - BUT - I am going in 3 weeks - and I wonder how you cooked your burgers and hot dogs? I heard there are no outdoor grills at Harborside? Is that true? I also heard that there is only a convection oven inside the microwave and that it is difficult to operate? Is that true? Thank you for help!

cathy mcn1026@aol.com

tricia28 wrote:

From my Harborside review on TripAdvisor: Detailed Food Info: We checked two suitcases and took a rolling cooler on board the plane. The rolling cooler (bought from Wal-Mart) had all our frozen items (bacon, ham steaks, turkey burgers, chicken sausages, sliced swiss cheese butter and cream cheese - note-cream cheese did not thaw well so don't bother!) In the two suitcases (about 50lbs each) we took a scrubber sponge, 2 rolls paper towels, ziploc bags (gallon and quart) dish soap, dishwasher soap, laundry soap, softener sheets, 2 jars of peanut butter and 2 jars of jelly, salt and pepper, Mrs, Dash, mustard, spray can of Pam, powdered coffee creamer, sugar, 1 can of ground coffee, coffee filters, powdered lemonade, tea bags, hot cocoa mix, cheezits, instant oatmeal (we ate it every morning as a quick breakfast so we could leave for the pools/beach by 9am) instant mashed potatoes, tuna in the foil pouches, 3 boxes of Ghiradelli dark chocolate brownie mix and 3 disposable foil 9x9 baking pans, individual packages of cookies and some protein bars. I put a box inside one of the suitcases with our frozen bread so it wouldn't get mashed as it thawed (2 loaves of bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns and bagels)

Once we got to the Bahamas we bought the following at the City Market: milk, orange juice, fruit and veggies for side dishes based on what was on sale or cheap, tomato for burgers, eggs, cooking oil (to make brownies, i'm a chocolate fiend), 2 cases of water and glass cleaner (the units have a glass table and I am a clean freak so I used it for all the cleanup that week-floors, counters ect.). Don't go to the market without a plan or you will buy too much food or be overwhelmed by choices. I saw so many people in the store from the Harborside shuttle buying so much stuff and panicking over fitting it on the shuttle!

We spent about $110.00 at the City Market and ate one meal out at Mosaic which was about $240.00 for 3 adults and 2 kids. The meal at Mosaic was outstanding and so was the service. I did buy the occasional latte at Starbucks, and several drinks at the pools, but didn't care because I saved so much on meals. Drinks were strong and really good throughout the resort. The rest of the meals we ate in and took lunch to the pool each day in our rolling cooler (frozen pb & j's, cheeze-its, cookies and frozen bottled water) Everything thawed by lunch and was cool and refreshing on the hot days :) I baked brownies three of the nights and found the convection oven worked well.

If you use the convection oven setting on your home microwave, you can use this one. I do not use teh microwave for this at home, so we failed miserably at trying to "bake" in the microwave at Harborside. You do have cooktops, you know? That is the way we would make burgers (on pan/skillet) and hot dogs (boil in water in pot). We also usually bring skillet meals, frozen meatballs, chicken breast dishes, at the like. I suggest you think about using the cooktops as your primary cooking source. You do have a toaster as well for breakfast Eggos and toast/bagels.

Thank you! Our home micro does not have a convection setting - in fact I never heard of it before :-)

The convection oven just cooks things a little quicker. We didn't do well either with it. Didn't seem to save any time. So as the other poster said, best bet is to just use the cooktop. Enjoy.

When did you go to Harborside? Was it recent?

jerryk12 wrote:

We have done this for years, 32 to be exact. Never any problem with customs. We use a large Rubbermaid or any brand tub to transport food and everything else. I even put a 5 liter box of wine in there. The tub is light weight and holds a lot. We use a 66 qt. size. We tape it shut and US always opens it, but will retape it nicely.This size will hold 50 lbs. if you pack well. Frozen food is fine. We take prepared dinners and only have to thaw and cook. You can even get large tub with wheels now. They are so light weight you are not paying for suitcase weight. We usually leave the $7.00 tub there so we don't have to pay to bring it back. Maids love the tubs.

Where can I buy the $7 tub that you described? I need the tub with wheel for caryy-on. I'm going to pack frozen food for my Atlantis trip next week. Thanks for your tip.

I know this is an old post but just order groceries for delivery. Save on the bin, airline fees and hassle at customs! That's how we do it! Works like a charm.

I agree with last message. we traveled to harborside sept. 21-28and ordered most of our food from foodstoretogo.com.when we got to our timeshare in building #2 the delivery guy was waiting at the door with our groceries and he even put them in the fridge or on the counter for us.

My husband and I always rent a car in the Bahamas. It is a lot of fun (if you can drive on the opposite side of the road). This allows us to eat for very cheap at the "Fish Fry" ( the local joint where people are very friendly and respect the tourists) which is less than 10 min car ride form the Atlantis. Good portion meals for $10 a person. We buy the alcohol from a warehouse located near by the airport on the way to the Atlantis. It is called Bristol. We got married at the Atlantis almost 3 years ago, and yes thing are a bit pricy, but the quality and experience of world famous chefs is well worth it! Don’t forget it is an island and they have to bring everything from the mainland. We do pack a very small cooler to bring drinks to the beach with us. We pack that in the big suitcases. Going on vacation and bringing 90 % of the food is just too much. In that case we would stay home and save ourselves the hassle of travelling. Either way just Relax and Have Fun! Remember life is one long weekend....in the Bahamas!

Did anyone use cold packs with the frozen foods in carry-on taken on the plane? Ive always understood that to be considered a liquid and put them in my checked luggage.

Our last Atlantis trip I took a small cooler of frozen food and put it in our checked luggage and it was still frozen when we arrived but I would LOVE to take more in a carry on like discussed here.

I called the airline about customs and they said you could not take meat .. Is that not true?s