Pre-chill your cooler and the ice will last twice as long.

The easiest way to keep ice from melting at the beach is to pre-chill the cooler the night before. Throw a bag of ice in it, close the lid, and let it sit overnight. Dump the melted water in the morning and pack your stuff. The cooler walls are now cold, so they’re not stealing energy from your fresh ice.

Use block ice if you can, not cubes. Big blocks melt slower because there’s less surface area. If you don’t have blocks, freeze bottles of water or juice — they act as ice packs, then become cold drinks later. Freeze everything you can, honestly. Even the drinks you’re packing should be cold from the fridge before they go in, because warm drinks are ice-killers.

Once you’re on the sand, the enemy is heat and sunlight. Put the cooler in the shade, throw a wet towel or blanket over it, and stop opening it every hour. Every time you open the lid, all that cold air