keeping things cold - Buy a small chunk of dry ice - try 3 lbs to start. You may have to ask in the meat department. Be sure to wrap it well, It will keep things very cold - we set some cardboard over it as it will freeze everything if you aren't careful. BUT the positive is no melting ice, no need to pour off water and lasts a long time - 3 days for us.
My DH has an extremely high metabolism (wish I did) he eats six times a day (at least) so having attractive food is always a challenge am stealing some ideas from this thread