Bonnie: As Bryan and Eric can attest, I’ve always been a stickler about food safety — keeping my cold foods chilled and warm foods warm whether at home or on the go. Their school lunches were always packed with something to keep their meals chilled, either a cold pack or a frozen aseptic juice pack. And I schlepped (and still do) a cooler filled with ice packs whenever food shopping on warm days.

So when I was walking the booths at a recent housewares show, I stopped at the PackIt booth to learn more about their attractive coolers.

The Double Wine Cooler caught my eye. We at BOTB do like our wine, and we like to keep it at the right temperature as you may have noticed with our review of Ravi Go-Cool. With the Ravi, you’d be inclined to leave that inexpensive one-chill pack as a gift for your hostess along with your wine.

This new PackIt Double Wine Cooler, however, could be a gift in itself for you or your host. Like the Ravi, you prechill it in the freezer, but this one is always ready and waiting to carry two chilled bottles of white wine or bubbly to a friend’s home. Or it can keep your libations chilled for up to 10 hours in transit, or at a picnic or concert. Or your wine and some nibbles chilled to go along with them

PackIt also makes both smaller and larger cool-patterned, color versions to keep food chilled, from a small snack pack to a very large one. BOTB likes this two-wine-bottle one, that sports a mesh pocket to hold a corkscrew or two. They all fold for easy storage.

Bryan: PackIt claims that over a 30-year professional career, a person will save nearly $100,000 by packing lunch rather than eating out. I don’t know exactly how they have come to this particular figure, but they are spot on about a simple fact: You absolutely will save money by bringing your lunch with you rather than eating out or on the go. More importantly, you also will certainly eat healthier.

These bags are kinda revolutionary. At least there is certainly nothing else on the market quite like them. Freeze, pack, and go — pretty simple steps, right? It does seem much easier to leave this little folded bag in the freezer rather than a stack of ice packs. Who really likes ice packs anyway? I always find that they are more annoying than helpful in my lunch box, adding all that extra weight and getting everything inside soggy. PackIt’s bags are created with a patented eco-gel liner, completely eliminating the need for bulky ice packs or oozy separate gel packs. PackIt’s products also are lead-free, PVC-free, BPA-free, nontoxic, earth-safe and reusable. Beyond that, the bags keep your food and wine much cooler much longer than traditional methods. PackIt bags keep food cool for up to 10 hours!

With PackIt’s variety of cooler options, why limit yourself to just a well-refrigerated lunch? For that matter, why pay restaurant markups of 3.5 times retail price for a bottle of wine? If you aren’t aware, many restaurants allow diners to bring in their own bottles for dinner. Though there may be a small corkage fee ($5-$25), the savings are usually substantial; but the best part is that you have a bottle of wine that you know you’ll love with your meal.

PackIt’s Double Wine Cooler allows you to store two full wine bottles, with a removable divider to protect your precious cargo. An additional mesh pocket is the perfect place to store a corkscrew and cheese knife if you’re heading out for a picnic. PackIt makes a Mini Cooler (8” x 8” x 3”), a Personal Cooler (8” x 10” x 5”), a Social Cooler (12” x 13” x 5”), a Shop Cooler (12.5” x 14.5” x 7.5”), a Single Bottle Cooler (5.5″ x 13″ x 5″) and of course the Double Bottle Cooler (8″ x 13″ x 5″). Once over dinner, my uncle answered a question posed to him by my aunt: “Why do we need two bottles?” His answer: “Why not?”

Eric: In a society focused on convenience and instant gratification, it’s nice to know there are companies helping these causes; just in a practical way. When was the last time you packed a lunch to take to work? Packed a few bottles of wine to take with you to dinner? Packed a lunch bag for a summer hike or winter excursion? Simple, convenient and cost effective are all reasons to bring your own food and drink, and PackIt, a company focused on earth-safe, eco-friendly, reusable products, has redefined how anyone can do this.

The PackIt Double Wine Cooler is the focus of this week’s bite for the simple reason that the majority of the BOTB staff would choose wine over food any day. But PackIt also produces a variety of coolers in sizes ranging from the Mini Cooler (8″ x 8″ x 3″) to the Social Cooler (12″ x 13″ x 5″). The “take a step back and revel in this product’s glory” moment occurs when you realize that after freezing, the cooler has a 10-hour cooling lifespan. This product of shear engineering ingenuity now makes ice packs obsolete. Revel in your PackIt!