Pre-chill your cooler the day before

Pre-chill your cooler for at least 12 hours, ideally 24, to get the most ice retention.

The goal isn’t to cool the ice. It’s to cool the cooler. The plastic walls and insulation hold a lot of heat, and if you don’t pull that heat out first, your ice will spend its first day just chilling the empty cooler instead of your drinks.

Here’s the simple play: the day before, toss a bag of ice (or a few frozen water bottles) inside, close the lid, and let it sit. If you can only do a few hours