“How hard can it be? Just put your food in the cooler and throw ice on it, right?”
This is how we used to think about packing our cooler for a trip. But after many trips trialling different packing methods, we managed to improve the ice retention significantly
After doing a bunch of research and trying out a couple of techniques, we’ve compiled some best practices for packing a cooler and ways to make your ice last longer.
By the end of this post, you’ll know how to pack your cooler like a pro!
#1 Properly Sizing Your Cooler
Properly sizing your cooler is perhaps the most important factor when it comes to cooler performance. For optimal performance, your cooler should have an ice-to-content ratio of at least 2:1.
If you want a premium brand cooler, but due to price points decide to opt for a smaller model, you will inevitably find yourself shortchanging the ice—and in doing so, ruin any performance advantage you might have gained.
We recommend getting a cooler slightly larger than you think (you can always fill the extra space with ice). But you don’t want to have to cut back on food to keep the ice ratio.
#2 Cooler Prep
The day before your camping trip, there are a few things you can do to prepare your cooler for success. This is how we prepare our cooler before a big trip.
Bring Your Cooler Inside
If you store your cooler in a hot shed, garage or room, bring it inside at least a day before your trip. You don’t want to start with a hot cooler.
Pre-Chill
This step is optional, but if you’re really trying to maximise performance, consider pre-chilling your cooler with sacrificial ice a few hours prior to your trip. Dump this ice/water mixture right before you’re ready to start packing the cooler and then reload with fresh ice. This step will chill the interior of your cooler, so it starts off freezing cold and will help to maximise the ice retention for your trip.
Prep Food
To save space, you will want to prepare as much of your food at home. Pre-chop your veggies and make marinades ahead of time. Portion out condiments into smaller containers if you don’t need the whole bottle. The less space the food takes up in the cooler, the more room there is for ice.
Remove Excess Packaging
Store packaging takes up a lot of extra space and usually isn’t watertight— so remove what you can and place into watertight containers. There’s no need to bring a whole carton of eggs if you only need six. Likewise, you don’t need the cardboard box that comes with a six-pack of beer. It’s just going to get soggy and need to be thrown out at camp. Assume everything in your cooler will get wet because it will.
Freeze What You Can
For longer trips, you will want to freeze as much of your food as possible. Obviously, don’t freeze food you’ll need to eat on the first night (or food that shouldn’t be frozen like eggs, dairy products, mayo, etc)
But any meat that isn’t going to be used on the first day can—and should—be frozen. (FYI, this frozen meat counts as ice when you’re doing your 2:1 ice ratio calculations.)
Everything else that is not being frozen should be refrigerated before being packed. This is including canned drinks.
#3 Ice Prep
With a little forethought, you can save a bunch of money by making your own ice ahead of time. Even if you still need to supplement with store-bought ice, it’s still worth it to make as much of your own ice as you can. Particularly block ice…
Block Ice
Quite literally a block of solid ice, block ice has less surface area than crushed or cubed ice, which means it will last much much longer. While block ice is hard to find for sale, it’s very easy to make at home.
Just fill up any loaf pan, casserole dish, or large reusable container with water and freeze it. Depending on the size of water you’re trying to freeze, this process can take some time, so start a day or two before your trip.
Cubed Or Crushed Ice
If your refrigerator has an ice maker, crank it up to Party Mode and start hoarding as much as you can. Or use the old-fashioned trays. Cubed or crushed ice is great for filling in the air gaps between food containers and drinks.
Block Ice On Bottom
Begin with a layer of casserole dish depth block ice on the bottom (or frozen food items), then back in food items in the reverse order that you plan on using them. Starting with the last day’s food on the bottom, work your way up so the first day’s food is sitting on top.
Fill It Up With Ice
Air is the enemy. Large pockets of air inside your cooler will accelerate ice melt. Fill up as much of that space as you can with ice cubes. Ideally, there should be no “extra” space in your cooler. It should be completely filled with food, drinks, and ice.
Keep It Shaded
At the campsite, place your cooler under a picnic table or somewhere else shaded. The sun is a heat source and you’ll want to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. Inside a tent, car or trailer are not ideal places to store your cooler, as the limited to no air flow in these areas will cause the temperatures to rise and speed up the melting of your ice.
Keep It Closed
One of the single biggest factors in how long the ice in your cooler will last is how often it is opened and exposed to outside air temperatures. Keeping it closed keeps it cold.
Conclusions
So much of your cooler’s performance comes down to how to use it. While owning a high-quality well-constructed cooler will certainly help, there is a lot you can do to improve the performance of whatever cooler you own!