Life is too short to tolerate warm food and drinks when you’re out on the boat! That’s why packing your cooler correctly is essential. Whether you’re fishing or hanging out at the sandbar, a cooler filled with cold beverages is necessary. If you want to perfect the art of packing your cooler, keep reading.
1. Choose your cooler.
Coolers have drastically improved over the last few years. YETI, RTIC, Pelican, Engle, and Mammoth have some amazing products for sale. It may be wise to invest in two coolers: one for food, and one for drinks. The drink cooler will inevitably be opened more frequently, which means the contents will warm faster. It’s also a pain to dig around under food to retrieve the coldest drinks. Two coolers will ensure your food stays colder for longer and remains safe to eat.
2. Prepare your cooler.
Before you pack your cooler, make sure it’s clean. Pre-chill your cooler with a bag of ice the night before you embark on your adventure. And make sure your drinks are chilled in the fridge
3. Pack your cooler.
Arrange cans and bottles evenly across the bottom. Then, add a thin layer of ice. Repeat this process until the cooler is sufficiently full. As for your food cooler, make sure all of your food is in leak-proof tupperware so it doesn’t get soggy. If you need to use one cooler for both food and drinks, place food on top of the drinks.
4. Use the correct ice.
Make sure you use enough ice. One third of your cooler should consist of food and drinks, and two thirds should consist of ice. Solid ice takes a lot longer to met than ice cubes, but they take up a lot of space. A good method is to freeze an almost-full water bottle and use it as an ice pack. As it melts, you’ll have water to drink! Add some ice cubes to fill in the cracks. If the ice begins to melt, keep it in the cooler. The cold water will help insulate the remaining ice.