Cooler/Ice chest options ?

[01Ekim]

So I have been struggling with the volume of ice we are purchasing to keep food and drinks cold. The small camper fridge only holds so much and our current coolers melt 4 bags of ice a day in the shade.

Does anyone have experience with the different options available?

We only camp at full hook up sites so electric coolers are an option if they work.

[Tunce the traveler]

What is your average stay at a campground and do you usually stay more than 5 days? The reason I ask is because I see a fair number of " Yeti" coolers out there being used for extended cold.

[RogerR]

We have a Coleman 5 day rated cooler for the car. Tired of finding our drinks and snacks warm before the end of the day. The new 5 day model holds cold much longer. For $49 at Menards it is rated 50 quart. A little larger than we need while camping but nice for car road trips and taking groceries home on hot days.

5 days is theoretical. Everything must be pre chilled, only get into it very few times. But based on our old standard cooler it should last twice as long or longer per ice load.

PS Yetis are way overpriced and the owner is anti second amendment.

I agree with EvlDoer below, one way to take water or coolaid type drinks is to fill a gallon bottle a quarter full, let if freeze and repeat till full. When thawed, you have nice cold drinks. Have done it before like he does it.

[EvilDoer]

Try "bigger" coolers and "bigger" ice. Get more cooler than you need, and start with a couple blocks of ice rather cubes. After the cooler is loaded, top it off with cubes.
Whether using the cheap Coleman cooler, or the expensive Yeti cooler, it can't be packed full of food and beverage and a few ice cubes and stay cold.
I keep a couple gallon jugs and a couple half gallon jugs in my freezer. Those go in the cooler first, followed by refrigerated or frozen food and beverage (nothing warm goes in the cooler), then I dump on whatever ice cubes are left in the ice maker from the kitchen fridge. Easily keeps ice through a long weekend in my cheap Coleman cooler.

[TCNashville]

I've had this one https://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-Ice...ooler/24413781 for about 5 years now and it's been good. I did have to replace the power cord a couple of years ago. These things must have skyrocketed in price because I only paid $89 for mine.

[Rustynuts]

It makes a huge difference is you pre-chill the cooler itself 24-48 hours before you even put anything in it. We have frozen gallon jugs in the freezer and a day or two before we are going to use the cooler, put the jugs in to cool the cooler down. We have no problem camping on out Pontoon boat in 100° weather for 3-4 days if the cooler is kept in the shade by doing this with just a plain old Coleman cooler. We also freeze bottles of water and as they thaw just drink them.

[Magnolia Tom]

I use RTIC brand coolers. Half price of yeti with equal performance

[Vasquez Kid]

Very good advice here.

Yeah it baffles me why folks will overspend - by a country mile - for a cooler so they can be politically aligned!

[01Ekim]

So far we've only camped 2 and 3 day weekends. We do have a 5 day trip planned and need to prepare.

[bankr63]

There is a really good showdown of high end coolers on YouTube, I'll see if I can find the link.

We have one of the old Coleman X-Treme cooler which has walls about 2" thick. (Got it a garage/tag sale for $20) Using ice blocks, it will last about 4-5 days in summer heat. We tended to use this cooler for meat though, and only opened it once a day. New TT has a much larger fridge, so we don't use coolers much at all anymore. Maybe one for beer and pop if we have a lot of people on the site.

ETA: Here is the link to the one I watched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu-V0ZqfYHg

While looking this up I came across several others that do the same thing.

[Pfflyer]

No one so far has suggested an electric option yet since you only camp at full hook up.
ARB chest cooler worked for me when I had the camper van for use 12v or 120v. If you want to go a cheaper 120v only option what about a dorm type refrigerator. Depending how far you travel the dorm fridge would most likely keep the food safe if you load it and cool it the night before. Could also add extra insulation on the exterior.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...=3KZ7WVU4L5VFR

Good luck.

[Bookemdanno]

I bought a Pelican brand cooler many years ago for our old TT. I haven't had to use it with our new 5er, but 3 bags of ice would last us 6/7 days in that cooler. Just throwing out another brand and my experience.

[WVDusty]

Originally Posted by Bookemdanno

I bought a Pelican brand cooler many years ago for our old TT. I haven't had to use it with our new 5er, but 3 bags of ice would last us 6/7 days in that cooler. Just throwing out another brand and my experience.

I also have a pelican cooler and love it.

[Les7h]

We have a 45 qt Pelican and pre cool it for a few hours and all food and drinks are cold & frozen water bottles to drink later with very little ice and it will stay cold for more than 5 days - lifetime warranty - pricey but we have saved enough on ice to pay for it multiple times Les

[SloPoke]

After going thru 10# of ice a day, we upgraded our Coleman cooler to this: https://www.engelcoolers.com/eng45-cooler-white.html

It was loaded with 60 pre-chilled Silver Bullets and 10# of ice on top on Sunday. It is stored in the side compartment of our Seneca, out of the sun and it gets opened many times a day for beverage dispensing duties. Today, we arrived home and the cooler has about 20 can's left swimming around in the ice / cold water that is left.

It has been over 100F every day this week (2 days were 104F), I have put 2-8# bags of ice in it since we left 6 days ago.

[jimp]

Might look into a dorm sized fridge to take along since you have electricity at CG's. Keep kids out of coolers by putting all of their "items" in one cooler. The more you open a cooler, the more the ice melts.

[jbrnigan]

If you are camping where fresh water is available at your campsite, you might consider a portable, counter top, ice maker......ours makes 10 - 15 lbs of ice a day.. for about a 100 bucks (Amazon) it makes more than we can use each day. A whole lot less than some new coolers. Just a thought.

[Bookemdanno]

Originally Posted by jbrnigan

If you are camping where fresh water is available at your campsite, you might consider a portable, counter top, ice maker......ours makes 10 - 15 lbs of ice a day.. for about a 100 bucks (Amazon) it makes more that we can use each day. A whole lot less than some new coolers. Just a thought.

That’s a great idea! We have one of those ice makers too and they are great!

[REWahoo]

All those high-dollar coolers have spawned some competition from very good lower priced options. The best I've seen by far is from Lifetime, who has a well-built 55 qt cooler, sold at Walmart for $100.

[Crabman]

Originally Posted by Magnolia Tom

I use RTIC brand coolers. Half price of yeti with equal performance

I bought two of them, 45 and a 20 during a big sale just before the Yeti lawsuit and got really good deal on them. I use the 20 six days a week in my boat, it keeps ice better then anything I ever had before, but not long as advertised. Of course it sits in direct sun and we are in and out of it often. I'm happy with the performance and construction. Since the lawsuit they made minor changes and put up prices some but still much cheaper then others.