Frozen water bottles beat bagged ice.

Yes, if you want to keep things cold for a long road trip without hauling a bag of ice that melts in twelve hours, pre-freeze your own drinks and use them as ice blocks.

Bagged ice is mostly water and air. It melts fast, takes up space, and is expensive per pound of cooling. The trick is to use frozen water bottles (or juice boxes, or soda cans) as your ice source. They thaw slowly because they’re solid, and when they do, you have cold drinks. No waste.

Also: pre-chill your cooler and everything you put in it. A warm cooler filled with room-temperature food will melt ice in hours. Stick the cooler in the fridge overnight if you can. Fill every gap with frozen bottles or cold packs—air is your enemy. Pack the dense stuff (meat, dairy) at the bottom, drinks on top. And open it as little as humanly possible.

A cooler is a thermos, not a fridge. Treat it like one and you’ll still have ice on day three.