Get a 65-quart cooler for a family of four camping.

That’s the sweet spot. Big enough for three days of food and drinks for four people, not so big you can’t lift it when full.

Here’s the thing: per person, you need about 10–15 quarts per day for a weekend. That’s 80–120 quarts for four people over two days. But nobody packs that perfectly, and a cooler that big is a nightmare to move. 65 quarts gives you room for ice, meat, dairy, veggies, drinks, and some leftovers. You can almost always fit a 65-quart in the back of a standard SUV or truck bed.

If you drink a lot of soda or beer, grab a separate cheap 30-quart for drinks. That way you aren’t opening the food cooler ten times a day.

You don’t need a 150-quart monster unless you’re feeding a small army. And you don’t want to lift that thing full of ice anyway.