Keep Coolers Cold Longer With This Type Of Ice

When planning what to drink during your summertime barbecue, knowing how to keep things cold is an absolute must. While adding ice to your batch drinks is a simple cocktail technique to keep guests happy, those bottled and canned drinks in your cooler need the right kind of ice to stay cool for the duration of your event. While any type of ice works well enough, using big blocks of ice will keep your drinks cold for much longer, leading to happy guests and a stellar cookout.

We received this insight from Bryan Quoc Le, the founder and principal food consultant at Mendocino Food Consulting, who laid out a few reasons why block ice is the best option for keeping your drinks frosty in your cooler. "Block ice is ideal for keeping a cooler cold for a long time because it melts more slowly than smaller ice forms, helping to maintain a low temperature for extended periods," the food scientist explained. "Its large, solid mass means it takes longer to melt, making it effective for food preservation." Of course, finding a large block of ice that fits inside your cooler is one of the keys to expertly packing a cooler.

While throwing in an ice block or two should get the job done just fine inside your cooler, there are always more ways to maintain those ideal, chilly temperatures. For starters, complementing the large ice blocks with smaller cubes, placed in between your cooler items, helps reduce air flow which keeps the ice from melting, for even longer.

Alternatively, if you want to try an even colder option, dry ice does a remarkable job of lowering the temps continuously, for an extended period of time. However, using dry ice in your cooler is a bit more complicated than most other cooling methods and should be used with care. "Dry ice is another excellent option for long-term cooling because it is much colder than regular ice and sublimates directly from solid to gas without leaving liquid water," Bryan Quoc Le noted. "However, it must be used with caution due to its extreme cold, risk of burns, and the need for proper ventilation since the gas it releases can displace oxygen." While dry ice may be the best option for long-term cooling, its need for ventilation and inability to be handled with bare hands mean it might not be worth the trouble for cookouts and day trips.