Cheap coolers that make ice last!

rossgoldie

rossgoldie

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I am in the market for a good cheap cooler ($100 or less) that can make ice last a good 5 days. At the moment I cannot afford a Yeti but I would like one someday. Anyone have suggestions on cheaper coolers that perform? My current cooler makes ice last about 2 days and is POS.
 
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I honestly can't think of a single cooler under $100 that will make ice last 5 days. Unless, you add ice to it each day.
 
The key to keeping ice in cheap coolers, is to stay out of the cooler as often as possible. I actually had ice cold beer 7 days after a party once because I didn't realize there was still beer in it until I went to finally dump the water. Surprisingly I still had a couple pieces of ice floating in there too.

What you can try to do is use two smaller coolers and space out your food and drinks between the two so you're staying out of one completely until the last 2 1/2 days. Freezing food can help make things last longer too or even chunks of Dry Ice instead of water ice. Freeze half gal jugs of water. The bigger the block of ice, the longer it keeps and the jug keeps the water isolated instead of soaking your food. Make sure everything is as cold as possible before putting it into the ice chest. Warm beer for instance will speed up the melting process because the bottles are above freezing.
 
I believe it's brute or Brutus that makes a knock off yeti that works pretty good. Still not under a $100 but way cheaper than a yeti.
 
Drunner97 said:
The key to keeping ice in cheap coolers, is to stay out of the cooler as often as possible. I actually had ice cold beer 7 days after a party once because I didn't realize there was still beer in it until I went to finally dump the water. Surprisingly I still had a couple pieces of ice floating in there too.



What you can try to do is use two smaller coolers and space out your food and drinks between the two so you're staying out of one completely until the last 2 1/2 days. Freezing food can help make things last longer too or even chunks of Dry Ice instead of water ice. Freeze half gal jugs of water. The bigger the block of ice, the longer it keeps and the jug keeps the water isolated instead of soaking your food. Make sure everything is as cold as possible before putting it into the ice chest. Warm beer for instance will speed up the melting process because the bottles are above freezing.
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Thanks for the tips!
 
Place dry ice in bottom of cooler, cover with normal ice. The normal ice insulates whatever is on top from being deep frozen by the dry ice and the dry ice lasts a long time, even in a cheap coleman.

Most grocery stores around here sell dry ice, you just have to ask for it, YMMV.
 
I have an old igloo 5-day cooler that will keep ice for a while if you pre-cool it and ambient temps are not to high. For pre-cool I fill it with ice a day or two before I leave. Just before leaving, I dump that ice/water and use new ice and pack. I may even help it with some dry ice. Like someone else posted, try to stay out of the cooler and use blocks instead of cubes. I like the idea of using milk jugs as well. Nothing is worse than getting your food soggy.
 
Jeremy556 said:
Place dry ice in bottom of cooler, cover with normal ice. The normal ice insulates whatever is on top from being deep frozen by the dry ice and the dry ice lasts a long time, even in a cheap coleman.

Most grocery stores around here sell dry ice, you just have to ask for it, YMMV.
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I really like this idea, but does this means the dry ice has to be broken up into cubes instead a big block to save space huh?
 
Look at Sam's, someone makes a Yeti knock off that is a lot less...

As far as ice chest go, the best I have ever owned was a Gott, purchased in 1982, held ice for days. Just trashed it a few years ago.

Like someone above said, secret is to minimize the opening. After Katrina we were without power for 34 days, I had a small generator running, but no AC in the house. I had a three ice chest system running in my foyer.

One that was just for ice, opened only when ice was needed, the other two were for daily use, one primarily for water.

I have a Coleman Extreme now that works good, will not keep ice for 5 days though. I am considering a Yeti in the future.

77
 
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The coleman xtreme is a great little cooler. Walmart sells them cheap, and in the summer Costco has the marine version (white with stainless hinges) for just a couple bucks more. May be able to get it on their site outside of summer, I don't know.

When shopping, you can all but disregard ice retaining claims. To get those numbers they pre-chill the coolers and then fill the cooler to the brim with ice, and leave it in a room, not outside, not in a car. Unless you're using the cooler to transport ice, those numbers don't matter to you.

The biggest learning point for my coolering (sick verb, bro) experience is that air in your cooler is the enemy of holding ice. You want that thing PACKED, and you do NOT want to drain the water. Even if the water is warmer than the ice, it's cooler than the air in the cooler.

With that little tidbit of knowledge I went from a very disappointed Pelican ProGear 65qt cooler owner to a very satisfied owner.

I now pack the bottom w/ canned/bottled beverages (standing, not just thrown in there), then pour a bag of ice over those. I have two of these pan things that fit perfectly in my cooler and take up about half of the top of it. Inside of them I'll put anything I don't want to get wet. The other half of the top I'll put the big stuff... Gallon of water (lol, jk, gallon of vodka and juice) and the like, then I'll pour a bit more ice on that side. With all of that packed I am left with about 1-2" of air under the trays, and I can live with that. If I want (need) beer, I can simply pick the tray up and grab one (two).

Here's a picture from Amazon of how that tray fits in the Pelican 65qt...
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Here's my cooler... I upgraded after a long weekend of buying 5-10lbs of ice each day for my Coleman in 100+ degree heat. Even [MENTION=82154]GSPRunner[/MENTION]'s Yeti 110 was struggling to hold ice in the sauna that was the Northwest Overland Rally.

DSC_0093 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr
 
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We've had this conversation several times. Search and you'll find lots of relevant threads. The short version is, pre-chill your cooler the day before you leave, freeze your prepped foods, put a brick of dry ice in the bottom of the cooler, and leave it shut except at mealtime. I get 4-5 days out of my ice this way in a $50 Coleman Extreme.
 
Coleman Xtreme is probably the best option. They have 5-day rated ones, and I think they have a 6-day one with more insulation and a higher price.

Ice only lasted a couple days in mine in 105 degree weather in the desert this summer, but using block ice should help. You could also paint it white and fill the cupholders with insulation to help it last longer.
 
Thanks for all the advice! Gonna go with a Coleman extreme! I'll start doing the prechill before camping and packing the chest tighter also.
 
GSPRunner said:
I honestly can't think of a single cooler under $100 that will make ice last 5 days. Unless, you add ice to it each day.
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For that price DIY it, just get a cheap one from 7-11, the all styrofoam one, then put an inner one inside it. Fill the space in between with more ice packs. That should last a couple of days. I do agree with opening it less often too. Or get an inverter and a cheap used mini fridge some college student is getting rid of. $40 for the used mini fridge.
 
runnyeggsham said:
For that price DIY it, just get a cheap one from 7-11, the all styrofoam one, then put an inner one inside it. Fill the space in between with more ice packs. That should last a couple of days. I do agree with opening it less often too. Or get an inverter and a cheap used mini fridge some college student is getting rid of. $40 for the used mini fridge.
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A cheap mini fridge might not work well. My roommates went through a few in college. One used TECs, and it did not cool anything well even when it was new. It eventually almost completely stopped working. It nearly electrocuted me when I was trying to troubleshoot it because the power supply inside was very poorly designed. Another one used a compressor, but it had a warning not to plug it in for 24 hours after moving it because the coolant could get shaken up. Sure enough it wouldn't work if it had been moved recently. Trying to run it that way a lot could burn it out. I guess if you can get one cheap enough it might not matter.

Also, TEC fridges are very inefficient, and running one on an inverter is even less efficient because they are low voltage devices, and you are going from 12V to 120V to a low-ish voltage again. And modified sine power from an inverter will waste energy in the transformer inside the fridge. You're probably looking at around 5% efficiency with that kind of setup. Don't expect it to work at any hotter than room temperature because it has to throw away so much heat, and it can only handle a certain temperature difference, usually enough to barely work at room temperature.

There's a reason good automotive fridges are so expensive.
 
There are a couple of things you can do as well.

Frozen water bottles work great, they won't make a soggy mess in your cooler and you can drink the water after they thaw.

A separate cooler for meats and cheeses is a good idea too, put that one in the center of your vehicle (farthest from the windows) and only access it when you have to, preferably after it cools down in the evening. Have separate cooler for drinks (which you will be accessing much more frequently.)

I finally got tired of playing games with ice and bought a fridge but even that is more expensive than a Yeti (my Truckfridge 41qt was $550.) We've been using that fridge for camping for the last 2 years and it's worked out great. Love having milk, cheese, sliced meat for sandwiches, etc, when we camp.

But a fridge isn't for everyone. Besides being expensive, you have to make sure your vehicle has retained accessory power so it will stay powered even when the engine is not running. And of course you need a good battery.
 
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