Get a hard-sided cooler, then put towels under it

A hard-sided cooler is the simplest way to keep beach-day sandwiches from getting smashed by towels — and the towels go underneath it, not inside it.

Soft lunch bags are the problem. You stuff a towel on top to keep things cold, someone sits on the bag, and your sandwich becomes a quesadilla. A hard cooler like a Yeti, a Coleman, or even a cheap plastic Igloo gives you a shell that shrugs off bags and butts. The sandwich itself stays in a normal hard container inside, like a Rubbermaid or LocknLock, placed on top of the ice pack. That’s enough.

For towels, treat them as cargo, not cushioning. Roll them up and stick them under the cooler or on the side of your tote. If you insist on a soft lunch bag, stick a stiff cutting board inside to create a crush-proof shelf — but honestly, a hard-sided lunchbox like the ones from PackIt or a cheap hard bento box does the same thing more cleanly.

Your sandwich is not a tortilla. Protect it.