4 Reasons to Pre-Chill a Cooler Before Packing

Pre-chilling drops the cooler’s internal temperature so the first ice isn’t wasted warming up hot plastic. Fill it with ice or frozen packs at least 12 hours ahead, drain the melt water, then add fresh ice.

Even a few hours of pre-chilling helps. Dump in a bag of ice, close the lid, and drain the water before packing—cold water is better than warm air, but dry ice lasts longer.

Pre-chill your drinks and food in the fridge overnight. Warm cans thrown into a pre-chilled cooler will melt ice much faster than cold ones.

Your beer deserves the extra step. Cold food and drinks stay cold longer, and you’ll have ice for days instead of hours.