How To Pack Your Cooler Properly

Here are the steps you need to take to pack your cooler properly when going car camping.

1) Make sure your cooler is full. Any empty space is air that warms up much faster than liquid or solids. A cooler that is not full is just begging for many ice replacements and purchases and will seem like a shitty cooler that doesn't keep your food and drinks cold for days.

2) Seal everything as tight as possible. We use a vacuum sealer or double-up Ziplocs. You do not want the juices from raw chicken swimming around in your cooler - that has the potential for a camping nightmare!

3) Prepare your food into portions and ready to use packages. Cut up as much as you can before you pack. Marinate or season your meat before you seal it. The less time your cooler is open, the longer ice will last and the longer your food will stay fresh. You don't want to deal with this shit when you are in the wilderness or partying with your friends.

4) Remove all original packaging and re-pack into plastic and steel. Try to avoid glass for safety reasons. As mentioned in #2 and #3 above, you want your food portioned out and sealed. Nothing is worse than cardboard packaging getting all soggy, tearing and floating in your cooler as well as what was inside it. So pack food and drinks in individual containers (we like to use old Gatorade bottles because of the openings at the top that will fit ice cubes and have great tight lids).

5) Dry ice (if you use it) and blocks of ice go at the bottom, all other ice (cubed) goes on top. Cold air sinks so any cubed ice should be above the food you are keeping cool. You don't want to deal with moving dry ice a lot for safety reasons and the big blocks of ice, although they last a long time, are a pain to lift out every time you need something.

6) Separate the sensitive stuff into a tray or container on top of the ice. You don't want your tomatoes or fruit squshed and soggy. You don't want your eggs broken. You don't want your sour cream or sauces leaking everywhere. So, that kind of stuff goes on top, above the ice and the other heavy stuff in your cooler.

7) Separate some of your drinks. We like to bring 2 coolers - one for most of our food and a couple of drinks or stuff like milk, and one for those one-off drinks like orange juice, water or beer. You don't want to be opening your food cooler just to grab a drink or a sip. Use a smaller cooler or cooler bag for your drinks.

8) Empty the water from your cooler - but only when you add more ice. The water in your cooler takes up space and stays cold longer than air, so don't drain it until you are willing to fill up the space with more ice. Remember #1 above - you always want your cooler full. Solids stay cold the longest, followed by liquids and then air. It is all science!

9) Keep your cooler out of the sun. It isn't a packing tip more than it is a preserving tip. If your cooler heats up on the outside, eventually it heats up on the inside no matter how thick the insulation. So find a tree to park your cooler(s) under or leave them in the car with a blanket or some clothes on top....although your car can heat up too if left in the sun. But, if you leave your cooler outside it better be an expensive one with durable latches as bears and even raccoons can find ways to open it.

10) Pack in the order that you will eat or use items. You want to have a game plan of what you will use and when...then pack in reverse order. It makes things so much easier to just grab the next thing in the cooler for your next meal, rather than dig and hunt for stuff in the night or freezing your hands or heating up your cooler. Bottom line - always think and plan ahead.