The thick, heavy-duty nylon exterior is highly durable and escaped our toss tests and beatings with minor scuffs. Reflective window blinds can be used on hot days to reflect sunshine and heat, keeping your automobile cooler. These slim ice packs freeze at 18 degrees F, and in our testing, they took about 12 hours to freeze.

If you add ice blocks straight from the freezer, they’ll help keep things at their best for even longer. Electric cool bags and boxes with a cigarette-lighter charging cable are ideal if you’re heading on a long car journey. So, depending on how long you’re planning to be out for, a larger capacity cool bag that you can fill with more ice will keep contents cold for longer.There’s a front zippered organization pocket, two stretchy mesh side pockets, and two front slip pockets, making it felt more like a regular everyday backpack that just happens to have a cooler compartment than a cooler backpack.

The Verdict: The Skipper held ice really well for over 24 hours, and the ice melted just before the 36 hour mark. Measuring the food and ice packs by weight and adding them to the cooler according to the 2:1 ratio is a surefire way to keep everything perfectly chilled. This insulated lunch bag provides the perfect portable sandwich solution, allowing you to take your favourite culinary creations with you wherever you go. Increasingly popular and with good reason, thermoelectric cool boxes allow cooling without the use of ice packs. We admittedly prefer using reusable ice packs in coolers but ended up being pleasantly surprised at the ice retention of this bag during testing.The trunk tends to be hotter since it's away from the air conditioning, and that's not the last thing you want for your frozen items. Igloo's MaxCold Ice Extra-Large Freeze Block is the bulkiest of all the ice packs our tester tried out, but despite its heft (it weighs about 5 pounds), our tester would trust it to keep the items in a larger-sized cooler cold for 12 or more hours, even on a hot day. However, storing the packs in the freezer will keep you from having to think about the chilling process, and most packs on the market are designed for freezer storage. It can be powered both to heat and cool, either in the car or with a mains plug, giving it versatility.

With this in mind, the following guide on how to keep a cooler bag cold, is designed to give you all the best tips and tricks to help keep your favourite refreshments cold for as long as possible. Choose a cooler with shoulder straps for easy carrying to the festival field and bring screw-topped bottles that can be packed lying down.Our tester's 2-pound Yeti Ice took about five to seven hours to freeze fully—close to the six to eight hours advertised by the brand. Remember to factor ice or ice packs into your capacity needs (capacity is often advertised without ice included).

It’s even got a small stash pocket in the front, which we found perfect for hiding trash or holding keys. It’s heavy though and weighs in at almost 6kg when empty, so despite having a sturdy, comfortable handle, you won’t want to carry it too far, making it best suited to road trips, camping, or boat trips. Make sure to read the product description on ice packs to ensure they will work for your requirements. I let the sheets sit out on my counter for a few more hours just to see how long they would last, and after about eight hours out of the freezer, many of the ice sheets had melted but were still cool," said our tester. While we haven't gotten a chance to test these yet, the rave reviews and unique design caught our eye.

A cool bag will help lunches taste better, keeping sandwiches, fruit and treats chilled until lunchtime. Keep an eye out for coolers that are designed to use with specific ice packs or have room inside to fit an ice pack. The thick-lined insulated interior is also leakproof (but the backpack itself isn't) and can keep ice for up to 16 hours.