9 Mistakes EVERY new camper makes with their COOLER

Get more out of your cooler on your next camping adventure! In this video, we're sharing the 9 mistakes that every new camper makes regarding ice retention, packing, and cooler insulation. No more soggy food and warm drinks. We'll be sharing why so many people select the wrong size cooler for their needs. And we will be tackling every mistake that leads to poor ice retention. You will be shocked how long your ice will last in the field with these tips. Join us as we share clever tricks to extend ice life and maintain the chill in your cooler.

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[stanleydenning]

Longtime camper here. Cover your cooler with a heavy blanket. An old tattered comforter is good. When you get into the cooler, please don't remove the blanket. Instead, open the lid under it, and get out what you want. This lets in less hot air into the cooler. another thing that you can do is get the blanket wet. " Evaporative cooling.". Happy camping.

[OneKindWord]

40 years ago, in our river running days in the hot American Southwest, we could do a 7 day river trip and arrive at takeout the last day with a bit of ice left!
We did everything you talked about plus a few more.
Precooled cooler with crushed ice. Precooled all food.
Our own ice blocks in 2 Tupperware containers. No loose ice.
Frozen food as much as possible. Precooked some food.
Only opened cooler twice for lunch: food out, food in.
Visualized food we were getting out before opening cooler.
Always kept cooler out of sun except when on river.
For breakfast and dinner kept cooler opening to a minimum.
Only one person accessed cooler; the cooler captain!
Wrapped cooler w/2 insulate pads, then covered w/space blanket & bungee cord.
Reusable ice pouches on top. I liked your tip of wet towel.

[soonerfrac]

I learned a tip from Randy Newberg. When doing your pre-chill at home use old milk jugs or soda bottles cleaned out and filled with water as your block ice. It’s reusable, has a lot of mass, if you used gallon water jugs it’s drinking water as well.

[scooterkidz]

We tent camp regularly for a week at a time, we’ve been doing this for over 30 years and have learned a few things that work well for us… The main thing is that we have a large family with a lot of kids, so we use two coolers. The first cooler is used as a “deep freezer” of sorts, and is for foods that absolutely need to stay completely frozen as long as possible, for safety reasons like keeping all our meat items frozen long term, for some of the perishable lunch & breakfast food things that are planned for eating later towards the last half of the trip so they also need to stay frozen long term, and a lot of extra frozen water bottles (instead of ice). This cooler is “stop sign red” lol, it’s kept in the coolest shade possible with blankets under/over it, and everyone knows that nobody is allowed to touch it except mom or dad. We do our best to only open this one rarely, if it’s absolutely needed, and we check in with others to see if anything else is going to be needed from it for the rest of the day so that we only open it once for all… we try to plan what we are taking out before we even open it (so we can be quick about it), and usually the goal is to take out things that will refill the “regular” cooler. The regular cooler is more like a fridge than a freezer, and this is one that everyone can access as needed—but we do ask them to make sure of 3 things: clean hands only, be quick about it, and make sure you close the lid all the way (little kids think this rule is amusing, but it works: “always sit on it to double check” 😆). This fridge cooler has frozen water bottles at the bottom, then I layer stacking shelf organizer bins to keep things easy to move around in bulk (you can pick up two bins to reach the bin at the bottom, pick up one bin to reach the bin in the middle, etc). We try to combine matching items in bins, for example sliced sandwich options all in the same bin, with deli meats in one gallon ziplock and cheeses in another gallon ziplock, mayo, mustard, sliced pickles all in the same bin. I also try to separate produce from meats as far as possible so if I have the deli meats etc on the left side, the produce bins will be on the right side, and the dairy/other things will be in the middle. I pre-bag individual servings of snacks like grapes, carrot sticks paired with individual serving of ranch, etc. so the kids can just easily grab a snack bag and go. I also pay attention to the layers in the sense of, things that need to stay coldest and can be wet (without getting soggy) should be closest to the frozen water bottles at the bottom. Things that need to try to stay dry and don’t necessarily need to be “cold” can be towards the top of the cooler, like breads. We don’t bring anything that has a paper carton type package because it will just fall apart in the shuffle of the wet cooler and get soggy bits of paper all over everything. I add a bunch of frozen as well as just pre-refrigerated juice pouches all around the sides, middle, and top, for some added coldness. When we notice this one is starting to not feel quite as cold as we like (usually around end of day 2 or beginning of day 3), we move some more frozen things over from the deep freezer cooler…. and then we keep doing that as needed for the duration of the trip. We usually somehow end up bringing home things that are still very frozen lol. 🙌🏻

[returningtoearthtv]

RIver outfitters often use reflectix as an inner cover over the top of food and ice inside the cooler so it is the first thing you see upon opening. This holds the cold air in when opening the cooler and also can be used as a sunshade when opening during the day. Never let the sun shine inside your cooler. Also, wet burlap over the outside of the cooler will assist in evaporative cooling and works wonders. And covering the cooler during the day with sleeping mats will help to insulate it. And then there is the idea of freezing bottles of water and using those as your ice. I use gallon and 1/2 gallon bottles for this and they melt slowly and keep the cooler dry.

[lucasdog]

The most important thing I've learned; heat rises, cold sinks down.
Dont set your cooler on a hot surface, like concrete or asphalt. The heat goes up into the bottom of the cooler.
I bring a 1 1/2 inch thick piece of rigid foam insulation, foil faced, to set the cooler on. Doesnt take much room and really extends ice melt time.

[andymicka]

I just spent 5 days in the desert. I was not camping in one single place. After loading my coolers in the back of my pickup I used my chair as a way to create an air space and used a heavy canvas tarp to cover the entire coolers and chairs. I had my ice last the entire trip. I used containers like milk jugs for my ice in my food cooler and the loose ice and block ice in my drink cooler. Really appreciate the tips for future trips.

[texasnurse]

The best thing we did was to precook and freeze most of our meals. My dad always froze gallon milk jugs and used them as his block ice. He was a master ice chest packer!

[MichaelEhling]

Just returned from a 2 week trip where we violated all these rules. Soggy food. Lots of ice runs. Now we know. Thank you!

[kellyf]

ProTip: Instead of a towel as a barrier between ice and food, cut an old yoga mat and use that instead. It doesn't absorb as much water, it provides better insulation, and it's easier in general to move around. Can also place another yoga mat on top of the food for extra insulation.

[groomporter]

For weekend outings we'll bring frozen boil-in-bag meals made with a Seal-a-Meal in individual servings since it helps keep the cooler cold, and we eat them directly out of the bags (supported by a bowl) so there's no clean-up except for spoons or forks. And we use the left over hot water from boiling them for washing the spoons/forks. We'll seal favorite leftovers, like chili, or stew, or if we don't have things in stock we'll repackage frozen meals from Stouffers.

[inezyv]

This is a GREAT video. I live in Texas and just throw stuff randomly in a cooler. I've learned a lot and thought I knew everything there was to know. I was WRONG.

[cathy]

Have been living in a shelter for over five years (senior on pension; apartments very expensive). Not allowed food in our rooms - bugs, etc..
I'm not very good at following rules, even if they make sense. I keep all my imperishables in air tight containers and keep those containers in a plastic tote. As for the perishables, all I have is a very small square igloo cooler. We have access (two hour time limit daily) to a kitchenette with a full size fridge/freezer combo, microwave, and large sink with hot and cold water. The kitchenette is glorious!
I purchase various juices in 1.89 L bottles. I saved four, cleaned them well, filled them with water, and froze them. They fit perfectly in the cooler. I buy a bag of ice and decant the ice into an air tight container and put that container into the cooler to pre-cool it. Then put the frozen containers, my cereal milk and any other perishables into the cooler. Once half or so of the water has thawed I start drinking it and it is so cold and refreshing! I then freeze extra containers and keep the cold recycling.
It most certainly isn't an exact science but, under the circumstances, it's better than nothing!

P.S. I keep making my cooling system better all the time.

[dhawthorne]

My number one tip is salt. While having some air as insulation for veggies to prevent freezing is preferred; meats, drinks and frozen foods will benefit more from a really cold brine. Liquid water can fill in all of the gaps and takes up less space than frozen water. At the same time, a brine solution is much denser and resists changes in temperature even better than fresh water. Finally, a brine can reach temperatures much lower than fresh water as well, allowing you to keep frozen foods frozen much longer.

Personally, I also add a bit of distilled vinegar to the mix as well. The acidity along with the salt helps fight the growth of bacteria and slime mold. While this isn't a problem if you clean your cooler and let it dry out completely for a week or so between use, I have a cooler that is used nearly 24/7. Every day I add 1T vinegar, 2T salt and about a pint of fresh ice and once a week I siphon off about a gallon of brine and use it as weed control around my firewood stacks, deck and firepit.

[andrewjones-productions]

Living in very hot, humid Japan and having typically 4 to 5 hour drives to a campsite, I ditched my cooler-box for a dometic three-way fridge (looks like a cooler) years ago. Nevertheless, the same essential tips apply even to that fridge. I always pre-cool it on AC before packing it. Even though in the car I can use a DC connection, that only serves to maintain the achieved temperature. I also put those plastic re-useable ice blocks in and on top. At the campsite, if there is an electrical connection available, then I use the AC, otherwise I use the gas function (It uses one of those easily found gas canisters) and that does a fantastic job of not only maintaining the temperature but cooling the fridge and even ice forms too around the cooling element!

[gregoryaparker]

I just bought a 12v camping refrigerator and hooked it up to my 400w solar panels and power station. It can freeze or refrigerate in the field for as long as necessary. I like this video though. It brough back memories :)

[helamorningsun]

5:33 made me giggle... Cows weren't effing around, they hauled beef to shelter. Really great info in this video but never forget kosher salt.

[marleneruehr]

Hey Drew I love your Channel. I have an additional tip for you when cooling down your cooler. I use reusable gel packs that I got from a meal prep company. I freeze them very flat and I can line the inside of my cooler with a base on the bottom. I also put a small Rack in my cooler to put the real cold stuff underneath the rack cover it with another ice pack and then put my fruits and vegetables on the top of the rack. That way I can lift the whole rack out to get what is below the rack without digging

[MrMice...]

Wow. Patting myself on the back. I practice/implement all these tips/suggestions. Pre-cooling would be my #1. My Kong 70 went from 3-5 day retentention during summer camping to 5-7 days with pre-cool.

[atoiler]

If you have access to a chest type deep freezer (maybe in your basement or garage - perhaps even over at you parents or in-laws place) I suggest putting your cooler right inside the deep freeze at least overnight before you leave on your trip. If the deep freezer is a bit too full, take the frozen foods out and place them directly into your cooler, then place that now full cooler back into your deep freeze. This also saves on what might otherwise have been wasted ice.