Ok, I see where you are coming from. I think most pharmacists won't be particularly knowledgeable about the effects of freezing on various medications, except for certain ones which are known have problems, like insulin. I say this because I think their training would more likely emphasize storing meds in whatever temperature range the manufacturer recommends, and therefore, the conventional thinking is that storing them outside this range is "not recommended" or "bad" with little additional information to offer.

As we mentioned earlier, there's been little little research on the topic it seems so little to teach pharmacists about it. And maybe that's because freezing doesn't particularly affect most meds, at least in the short term? <shrug>

Susan pointed out a DoD study we've mentioned in the past on ETS. That was high temp storage but the results did publicize the fact that meds can still be fine beyond their expiration and storage specs, just like you can drink milk beyond the date printed on the top.

I also made another comment in the past about this topic. I'll just link to that old post . I was discussing expiration dates in that post, but it can also apply to storage conditions. Basically it boils down to "proceed at your own risk" if you're exposing meds to conditions outside the manufacturer recommended range and you should do a personal risk-benefit calculation.

If some medication is critical, like some heart medication, then by all means take extra precautions about keeping it from freezing. Or even antiotic ointment if you'll be many days from civilization in case a wound gets infected. But if you're carrying something for headaches or minor aches and pains, then you can probably be less concerned about the effects of freezing. Anyway, my personal, non-pharmacist 2 cents of advice.

EDIT: I'm still interested in finding out what that appendix section of Wildnerness Medicine says about the stability of meds at extreme temperatures, if someone has that book. Maybe there are some surprises, however, I suspect that most of the meds that shouldn't be frozen are injectable and therefore not the kinds of meds that most of us would be carrying around.