Here’s the absolute best way to keep food cold in your cooler
Do you buy a bag of ice every time you pack your cooler for a road trip, a camping trip or a family picnic?
Does that ice tend to melt sooner than it should, leaving you with a bunch of soggy food and lukewarm drinks?
Well, I’m going to suggest an awesome and dirt-cheap alternative...
Instead of paying $3 for a bag of ice, fill a few empty plastic water or soda bottles about 3/4 of the way with tap water and stick them in your freezer.
Allow the water to freeze solid, then remove the bottles from the freezer and lay them in the bottom of your cooler.
Finally, place your food or drink items on top of the layer of frozen water bottles and everything will stay nice and cold until you arrive at your destination!
Frozen water bottles have four huge advantages over bagged ice:
1 – They’re virtually free, saving you approximately $3 every time you use your cooler.
2 – The ice in the bottles will stay frozen longer than loose ice that’s spread out in your cooler.
3 – As the ice melts the water remains inside the bottle, preventing your food items from getting wet and soggy from the melted water.
4 – Assuming that the water inside the bottles is potable, you’ll have several nice, cold bottles of water on hand in case you get thirsty and need something to drink.
I recommend keeping about a dozen empty water bottles stacked inside your pantry at all times.
When you know you’ll be using your cooler the next day you can simply fill the bottles with water and stick them in your freezer.
Voilà – virtually free ice that lasts longer than bagged ice, won’t ruin your food by getting it all soggy…and it’s drinkable!
To finish up, here’s a short video offering 25 fantastic camping hacks that can help make your next camping trip truly awesome.
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If your filling small water bottles- how many times can you ( safely ) freeze/thaw, a water bottle? Those bottles are thin. Crinkly. I'd imagine there's degradation of the plastic water bottle.
Great idea ! My baddies do it ( marker on cap .." X " ..essentially meaning it's the ice bottle).