How to keep insulin from freezing?

Watching the suffering in Texas due to the weather has me wondering: if it came to it how would we prevent our insulin from freezing? My only experience with an extended power outage was nearly a week many years ago during the summer. We managed to keep my insulin cold somehow but keeping it warm presents its own challenges. Assuming you’re on your own without a generator what do you do about storage? Are there containers of packs the week keep the warmth without overheating?
Would love to hear from people who live in super cold climates about your backup plan. It’s good to have one, however unlikely it may be.

Hi @wadawabbit any “cooler” normally used to keep food cool using cold gel or ice, can be used to keep things warm. I would assume that the building is liveable, that is its warm enough not to kill you and so your insulin won’t freeze in that environment in the first place. Also. If some extraordinary thing happened I’d put 5 vials in a pocket and leave.

Your house gets destroyed pretty fast if it freezes. Pipes, pipe traps will freeze and break so letting a house get that cold and you usually have to go to a shelter.

My generator runs my heat in the winter and keeps my refrigerator on. If the gas company stopped supplying natural gas I would have to evacuate in the winter.

Dori @wadawabbit , why not just continue to keep insulin in a refrigerator? Other than in the extreme conditions, the refrigerator remains a good place.

A refrigerator will keep insulin at a safe temperature during the hot summer months even through a Florida hurricane five-day power outage [like I had in 2017], so why wouldn’t it keep insulin warm enough in COLD weather. Insulation works both ways.

Kind of like @joe said: If your environment (home, work, whatever) is cold enough for your insulin to freeze, you’ve got bigger problems.

That said, I was cautioned once against putting insulin in checked baggage when flying because it might freeze in the cargo hold. I was told to always put it in my carry-on, even if flying with several months worth.

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I miss travel. Always always always carry all your meds and critical supplies. My “personal item” is a backpack and my diabetes kit and backup are right there. Cargo areas can freeze but I do it because “you never know”. :grinning:

Short term, definitely! I don’t want any of my stuff out of my sight! It was harder when I studied abroad in college, though. I was bringing 6 months of supplies with me and couldn’t fit it all in my own carry-on. My family wound up coming with me for a couple weeks and making a vacation out of it. We each took 2 carry-ons, a backpack for a our personal stuff and a suitcase for my medical supplies. My mom made the mistake of trying to cram hers into one of those measurement things and it was just the tiniest smidge too big and of course someone saw. They made her check that one and my dad and I were SO MAD! Luckily hers was mostly stuffed with syringes, so no need to worry about freezing, and it didn’t get lost. When my grandparents came to visit over winter break they brought another 6 months worth with them. All so I wouldn’t have to navigate a foreign healthcare system in a foreign language. Knowing what I know now about European vs American healthcare, I’m thinking I should have given it a try.

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