The Easy Hack To Keep The Temperature Down In Your Cooler

Let us paint you a tragic tale: It's a perfect sunny afternoon; you and your friends are having a beach day, and you reach inside the cooler. But instead of finding a refreshing drink, there are only lukewarm cans floating in water. In super hot conditions, even the best coolers can sometimes fail to keep your food and beverages cold for a long period of time, which can lead to disappointment and spoiled snacks.

To avoid this mishap and ensure your drinks and popsicles stay cold, give your cooler a head start before your next outing by pre-chilling it. This will significantly extend its ability to keep your stuff cold. First, make sure the cooler isn't being kept in a hot room like the garage. Then, all you have to do is load up your cooler with ice or ice packs the day before you need to use it. Then, before you head out on your adventure, empty out any melted ice before refilling the cooler with a fresh batch and all your food and beverages. If you have a small enough cooler, you could even put it in the refrigerator or freezer before your trip!

Coolers work through insulation. They are made with certain materials that can maintain the interior temperature for a long period of time, but that doesn't mean they can cool things off on their own. If a cooler is hot when you first load it up, it will heat up whatever's inside of it. Using a lot of ice can counteract this, but it's best to start with a frigid cooler. This way, the cooler doesn't have to work as hard to keep up a cold temperature. If you plan on sourcing your own ice for this, make sure you plan ahead and read up on how long it takes a tray of ice cubes to freeze.

This method works best for hard-sided coolers. In fact, some major cooler manufacturers actually recommend the pre-chilling method for the best results. In some cases, it can make ice last over 20 hours longer. Unfortunately, this is not usually applicable to soft coolers. The best you can do with a soft-sided cooler is load it up with food and keep it in the fridge overnight, then add ice before you leave.

As far as the cooler itself goes, the best way to make sure it stays cool for as long as possible is to keep it out of direct sunlight. Other than that, it all comes down to how you load it up with ice, food, and drinks. If you want to pack your cooler like a pro, use a combination of large and small pieces of ice. Use a big block to line the bottom of the cooler, then layer with drinks, then ice cubes, then more ice. Don't skimp on the cold stuff — once the cooler is loaded, it should be ⅔ ice.

For crispy cool bevs, load up your pre-chilled cooler with pre-chilled drinks! Put any soft items, like the components of this three-ingredient sandwich, at the top of the cooler so they don't get smushed. It may seem counterintuitive, but a full cooler is actually better at keeping everything cold since the various soda cans and cold snacks insulate each other. Fill up any gaps with more ice. Once the cooler is actually in use, make sure no one opens it more than they need to. Each time the cooler opens, it's filled with hot air that warms everything up. When initially loading up your cooler, make sure you organize it so that the snacks you want will be easily accessible.