Usually when we go to Norfolk a cool bag is one of the ever presents that I pack in the car. Sometimes it comes home empty, but mostly not as quite often I’ve made a stop at either the Fish Shed, the Cley Smokehouse or the farm shop at Norfolk Lavender, or if I’m lucky all three and more. Mum’s got used to keeping some shelf space free in her fridge, and a spot in the freezer too for the ice blocks.

This time though I took my new Packit lunch bag, which is a cool bag with a difference. It needs no ice blocks, which I always resent for taking up valuable space. I know they have a use, but when I was offered the opportunity to try out a new-style cool bag without ice blocks, I was definitely in.

And it looks great too doesn’t it? But does it work?

Colourful and a sideview of this sturdy cool bag

It folds flat so it fits easily into the freezer, and yes, no ice blocks so you freeze the whole bag. The walls of the bag are gel-filled and keep the contents cool and fresh. You only need to freeze it overnight, and as you can see on the website it says it will also ‘chill items that are at room temperature’, which I know would be handy at times too.

There’s also plenty of room inside, definitely enough for a hearty lunch. While I didn’t have a hearty lunch to pack, or not one meals worth anyway, I did manage to put it through its paces, and it was still cold when we got home some three hours later.

It's well made, doesn't need ice blocks and has plenty of room for lunch

I was impressed with how much the Packit holds

This visit to Norfolk was one of those fruitful ones food-wise, and from what I managed to include in it here, I’m confident that it will easily hold lunch for one, and possibly even two so will be useful for those picnics I plan this summer in Greenwich Park.

Arriving home from this trip, I unpacked:

some locally grown purple sprouting broccoli
Baron Bigod, cheese made in Suffolk
A tupperware tub of Gurney Gold, made in Norfolk
Binham Blue, another Norfolk cheese
two ‘spare’ gin-in-a-tins and
the leftovers from our roast haunch of venison (which has since been demolished stroganoff style)

Which all adds up to more than a hearty lunch I’d say, not even I could eat that much cheese for lunch. Clearly, I’d give it a good go…

The colourful design is perfect for me, but there are other options available whether you’re into stripes, checks, plains or even unicorns - something for everyone I’m sure. They also have larger tote-size and backpacks which could be useful to hold your whole picnic.

What do you think, are you ready to ditch the ice blocks? I am!

* I was provided this lunch cool bag for the purposes of this review, however all views and opinions are, as usual, my own.

Remember that family of vinegar-y delights that arrived from Sarson's last week? Well I've been looking at their recipes and have been surprised at just how you can use vinegar in cooking. My usual uses are for malt vinegar on my chips and using white vinegar when cooking red cabbage. So for this I thought I should be more adventurous.

Being a bread fan, I'm keen to give the "proper beer and malt vinegar rye bread" a try, but I need to set aside some time for that. This weekend was a busy one, so instead I'm sharing my mum's Pink Salad.

It's simple to do, and will be a great addition to our lunchboxes this week.

Ingredients

1/2 red onion, finely diced
3 sticks of celery, diced
1/2 large cooked beetroot, diced
3 tbsp Sarson's white vinegar

Serves 4 as a side dish

Method

1. Finely dice the red onion.

ingredients for mum's pink salad with Sarson's

2. Dice the celery - I remove the stringiest bits with a potato peeler first.

3. Dice the beetroot.

4. Combine the diced ingredients in a storage container.

Add the chopped ingredients to a storage container

5. Add 3 tbsp of Sarson's white vinegar and stir.

Mix, cover and leave in the fridge overnight

5. Leave in the fridge overnight to allow the flavours to combine.

And it really is as easy as that. In the morning I'll add some of Mum's Pink Salad to the rest of my lunchbox, along with some tomatoes from the allotment.

And in case you're wondering the rest of my lunch is (clockwise): carrot batons, a slice of ham, a cornichon, mixed leaves, pumpkin seeds, salad dressing, cucumber from the garden and Deliciously Ella's Miso rice.

Do you use vinegar in your salads? Or any good recipes with vinegar I should try? Leave a comment and let me know.

* This is a collaborative post with Sarson's who provided the vinegar-y family of delights I've referred to in this post, but all views are my own.