Freeze all beverages you wish to take on your trip the night before. This will allow your beverages to stay icy cold for a longer duration inside your cooler.
Place your frozen beverages in your empty cooler. Keeping the beverages close together to maintain cold temperature inside your cooler. A tight space will limit warm air from thawing the beverages as a result of insufficient air flow.
Fill your cooler with ice cubes. Placing your beverages on the bottom of the cooler will allow the cold air from the added ice cubes to travel downward and keep all beverages chilled.
Keep the cooler lid shut whenever possible to avoid beverages from warming.
Load your backpack with non-perishable foods for easy access and mess-free snacks such as chips, crackers, nuts, dried fruits, etc. Pre-packaged snacks are better suited for storing inside your backpack and help to avoid opening and closing your cooler regularly.
Freeze all ice packs one to two days prior to traveling. Your ice packs will preserve your perishable foods' temperature to avoid spoiling.
Place all perishable foods inside a separate storage container to maintain freshness. Perishable foods such as cheese, lunchmeats, bread, oatmeal, etc., contain certain salts and proteins that produce bacteria when exposed to certain temperatures.
Fill your cooler with your storage containers containing your perishable foods. Keep a clear slot in between the storage containers for your ice packs. Place storage containers on the bottom of the cooler, and stack in a row--one on top of the other--if needed.
Wedge your ice packs inside the open slots created. Three to four ice packs are recommended if you are traveling 100 miles or more.
Add ice cubes to your food cooler to keep it cool longer. This option is not required, but highly recommended.
Keep the lid on your food cooler closed whenever possible to prevent food decay.
