Half a bag of ice is enough for a day trip

Yes, half a standard 10-pound bag of ice will do fine for a day in a 50-quart cooler.

For a single day, you don’t need to fill the thing like you’re packing for a week in the Yukon. The goal is just to keep drinks and food cold until dinner, not to preserve them through a heat wave. A 50-quart cooler is pretty big, but half a bag (about 5 pounds) mixed with some frozen water bottles or cold packs works great.

Don’t overdo it. If you fill the whole cooler with ice, you’re just hauling extra weight and wasting money. For a day trip, what you