Tips to Keep Your Food and Drinks Cold While Traveling

The Summer isn’t over just yet! There is still time to fit in some last-minute picnics, camping trips, and barbeques. Traveling to get there it can be difficult to keep your cooler and the items inside cold. We’ve given some tips and tricks to keep those coolers cold.

1. Use a good cooler. Preferably, one with good and thick insulation. The goal is to keep the contents inside at a nice and cool temperature for an extended period of time. A thicker insulated cooler will also allow the ice retention to extend far longer than the ones with thinner insulation.
2. Coldest items at the bottom. You want to think of this as you’re packing your refrigerator- the items you want to keep cooler usually go towards the back, right? The same idea is here when packing your cooler. Cold air sinks, so those colder items at the bottom will also work as an extra “ice pack,” too!
3. Pack your cooler tight. Packing a cooler is a lot like playing Tetris, similarly enough. The tighter you pack your items the longer they’ll stay cold. Strategically placing ice packs throughout the cooler while packing is a great idea to ensure all items stay cold. Keep the items you want to grab first up top, like drinks or snacks so you can avoid fishing for them at the bottom.
4. Choose the right ice packs. The cooler alone won’t be able to keep the items inside at the right temperature, so a little help from the right ice packs can make a huge difference. Since ice packs are gel-based, they can provide a better and longer cooling power than ice. Plus, there’s no mess! Need help finding the right ice packs for your trip? Visit our Gel Packs page.
5. Keep your cooler insulated. The cooler is already working as hard as it can to keep your inside contents cold, but wrapping the cooler in a towel or blanket can really help extend the cooler time by trapping that cold air in and from escaping.
6. Stay cool and have fun!