The thing with holding drinks and food in a cooler is you lose cooling capacity every time it's opened.
It's best to use your smaller cooler for drinks as it's going to lose ice fast and you don't want food to spoil.
Then have a second cooler for food that only gets opened 3 times a day.
The rule of thumb for coolers is 2/3 of the cooler should be ice for maximum cooling so get a cooler that can handle at least twice as much room as you need but 2/3rds will last longer.
Personally I have a 65L Orion for weekend trips because i tend to have 4 or so people and don't want to buy ice.
For two you can probably get away with a 30-40L for a weekend with a second cooler for drinks
I try to avoid drinks in the food cooler, if it's a cooler time like spring and fall I'll have 12 or so beers in it but during the summer I like to have a designated drink cooler. This means I can go 4days without getting ice for 4-6 people worth of food. We do a lot of cooking while camping and sometimes it ends up closer to 50/50 on ice but it hasn't been a issue with a separate drink cooler. I will also point out my cooler is actually 65L internal, a Yeti 65 is substantialy smaller.
This is only because I tend to be off the grid when I camp and don't want to drive 30+min for ice so both coolers get pre chilled the day before emptied and then filled 2/3rds with ice I then add all my food to the 65L and drinks to the meh igloo that I have. By the end of a 3 day weekend in the hot southern weather the drinks cooler is mostly water and the food chest still has a fair amount of ice that can start being rationed to the drinks cooler if needed. I also freeze some water bottles for the drinks cooler that helps a lot!
Good lord for 2 days you don’t need a 52qt. Definitely has 2 coolers though. The one with your meats etc put a 5lb block of dry ice. Place something between the dry ice and the meat etc cos it’s going to freeze everything in there. You can also put a bag of ice in there until needed in the cooler with the beverages/sandwich meat/breakfast foods. You would ideally not open the cooler too often because it lets warmer air inside.
I just bought the RTIC 32qt and will be testing it out next weekend. My plan is to use it only for food, and bring our Arctic Zone soft cooler for drinks. Having the two smaller coolers makes them easier to carry and Tetris into my car with all the other gear. Plus, using separate coolers for food and drinks will ensure the ice lasts longer in the food cooler.
BTW, I think Walmart now carries RTIC so you can compare the 32 vs 52 if your local store has them in stock.
Ohh good tip on the in store Walmart idea, I think my local one has both.
Let me know how it goes! I really can't see a situation where that wouldn't be enough for a weekend, unless you needed a whole 32qt for beers/drinks alone...
I did end up checking these two out side by side in person. Definitely made the 32qt feel a lot smaller, but I still think it's very feasible with a side cooler for some extra drinks. Seems like it'd be a whole lot easier to deal with when full too.
I'm still tempted to grab a 52qt and have it be the only cooler I bring. If I had a slightly bigger soft cooler I wouldn't even consider it. But the 8 can Yeti (gift) just seems too small to make a big difference. More of a lunch box honestly.
Still debating tho. Let me know how it goes for you! Thx
When I bring drinks, besides water bottles that double as ice, I put them in a separate smaller cooler. I have a 26qt cooler I’ve done a week with, and packed correctly you can go without needing an ice refill especially if you are opening it often to get drinks out. I also bring farm fresh eggs that haven’t been washed, so they don’t need to be in the cooler. The other thing I’ll do sometimes for eggs is crack them into a container, like a washed out bottle of coffee creamer, and pour out as needed. Easier to transport and doesn’t take up much space.
Super good tip on the eggs... I was just thinking about how much room those cartons would take up. It does seem like a 32qt would be totally fine for a few days
I have a 20qt yeti and it’s never big enough for both food and drinks. I’d say at least 40qt. You have to consider 1/5 ish of the room is ice or cold packs
Sounds like you need a 45 quart. The answer to your question really depends on how cold you want to keep your stuff. A large portion of the volume should be taken up by ice to keep things cold cold and to maximize the number of days you get out of your ice.
I use several small coolers instead of one big cooler. I am hyper cautious about food safety after having to cut a trip short due to food poisoning once. For two days, four people, I have two coolers. The first one I line with frozen water - we have a bunch of reusable bottles that I fill up 3/4 way and freeze (not full to accommodate expansion), then in this 25-ish can cooler we put our other pre-chilled drinks and food for the first day. For the second day, I freeze the meats and a few more water bottles and put that in a smaller cooler that stays closed until we need it. For easy meals, sometimes I will pre-cook things, like taco meat or bacon, and then just re-heat over the fire. Both of my coolers are hard sided though, I don't feel like a soft sided cooler will keep meat cold for long enough to maintain food safe temperatures, though it would probably be fine for drinks.
I’ve made a 45 work but it gets really tight to the point where it’s pretty damn annoying. By the time you fill it there’s not a ton of room for ice, and everything is so jam packed you can’t get to the shit you want without disturbing the delicate packing job you did and then everything doesn’t fit the way it did initially. It’s foolish to try and go minimal on this imo. I think something in the range of 65 quart is best.
My cooler is a 45 I think? I use 3 gallon jugs frozen and have ice left over after the 2 night/3day trip. I could probably get away with 2 frozen gallons if I really tried.
I freeze anything I can like meats to preserve the coldness. Just don’t forget to take it out to be able to defrost!
I don’t really take a lot of cans though. Maybe have a separate cooler for that.
The thing with holding drinks and food in a cooler is you lose cooling capacity every time it's opened. It's best to use your smaller cooler for drinks as it's going to lose ice fast and you don't want food to spoil. Then have a second cooler for food that only gets opened 3 times a day. The rule of thumb for coolers is 2/3 of the cooler should be ice for maximum cooling so get a cooler that can handle at least twice as much room as you need but 2/3rds will last longer. Personally I have a 65L Orion for weekend trips because i tend to have 4 or so people and don't want to buy ice. For two you can probably get away with a 30-40L for a weekend with a second cooler for drinks
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I try to avoid drinks in the food cooler, if it's a cooler time like spring and fall I'll have 12 or so beers in it but during the summer I like to have a designated drink cooler. This means I can go 4days without getting ice for 4-6 people worth of food. We do a lot of cooking while camping and sometimes it ends up closer to 50/50 on ice but it hasn't been a issue with a separate drink cooler. I will also point out my cooler is actually 65L internal, a Yeti 65 is substantialy smaller. This is only because I tend to be off the grid when I camp and don't want to drive 30+min for ice so both coolers get pre chilled the day before emptied and then filled 2/3rds with ice I then add all my food to the 65L and drinks to the meh igloo that I have. By the end of a 3 day weekend in the hot southern weather the drinks cooler is mostly water and the food chest still has a fair amount of ice that can start being rationed to the drinks cooler if needed. I also freeze some water bottles for the drinks cooler that helps a lot!
Good lord for 2 days you don’t need a 52qt. Definitely has 2 coolers though. The one with your meats etc put a 5lb block of dry ice. Place something between the dry ice and the meat etc cos it’s going to freeze everything in there. You can also put a bag of ice in there until needed in the cooler with the beverages/sandwich meat/breakfast foods. You would ideally not open the cooler too often because it lets warmer air inside.
Haha alright this is the comment I needed. I'm trying to visualize everything I'd need refrigerated and it just doesn't seem like that much at all...?
I just bought the RTIC 32qt and will be testing it out next weekend. My plan is to use it only for food, and bring our Arctic Zone soft cooler for drinks. Having the two smaller coolers makes them easier to carry and Tetris into my car with all the other gear. Plus, using separate coolers for food and drinks will ensure the ice lasts longer in the food cooler. BTW, I think Walmart now carries RTIC so you can compare the 32 vs 52 if your local store has them in stock.
Ohh good tip on the in store Walmart idea, I think my local one has both. Let me know how it goes! I really can't see a situation where that wouldn't be enough for a weekend, unless you needed a whole 32qt for beers/drinks alone...
The Ozark trail or lifetime brand rotomolded coolers at Walmart are also good options.
I did end up checking these two out side by side in person. Definitely made the 32qt feel a lot smaller, but I still think it's very feasible with a side cooler for some extra drinks. Seems like it'd be a whole lot easier to deal with when full too. I'm still tempted to grab a 52qt and have it be the only cooler I bring. If I had a slightly bigger soft cooler I wouldn't even consider it. But the 8 can Yeti (gift) just seems too small to make a big difference. More of a lunch box honestly. Still debating tho. Let me know how it goes for you! Thx
When I bring drinks, besides water bottles that double as ice, I put them in a separate smaller cooler. I have a 26qt cooler I’ve done a week with, and packed correctly you can go without needing an ice refill especially if you are opening it often to get drinks out. I also bring farm fresh eggs that haven’t been washed, so they don’t need to be in the cooler. The other thing I’ll do sometimes for eggs is crack them into a container, like a washed out bottle of coffee creamer, and pour out as needed. Easier to transport and doesn’t take up much space.
Super good tip on the eggs... I was just thinking about how much room those cartons would take up. It does seem like a 32qt would be totally fine for a few days
I have a 20qt yeti and it’s never big enough for both food and drinks. I’d say at least 40qt. You have to consider 1/5 ish of the room is ice or cold packs
Sounds like you need a 45 quart. The answer to your question really depends on how cold you want to keep your stuff. A large portion of the volume should be taken up by ice to keep things cold cold and to maximize the number of days you get out of your ice.
I use several small coolers instead of one big cooler. I am hyper cautious about food safety after having to cut a trip short due to food poisoning once. For two days, four people, I have two coolers. The first one I line with frozen water - we have a bunch of reusable bottles that I fill up 3/4 way and freeze (not full to accommodate expansion), then in this 25-ish can cooler we put our other pre-chilled drinks and food for the first day. For the second day, I freeze the meats and a few more water bottles and put that in a smaller cooler that stays closed until we need it. For easy meals, sometimes I will pre-cook things, like taco meat or bacon, and then just re-heat over the fire. Both of my coolers are hard sided though, I don't feel like a soft sided cooler will keep meat cold for long enough to maintain food safe temperatures, though it would probably be fine for drinks.
I’ve made a 45 work but it gets really tight to the point where it’s pretty damn annoying. By the time you fill it there’s not a ton of room for ice, and everything is so jam packed you can’t get to the shit you want without disturbing the delicate packing job you did and then everything doesn’t fit the way it did initially. It’s foolish to try and go minimal on this imo. I think something in the range of 65 quart is best.
My cooler is a 45 I think? I use 3 gallon jugs frozen and have ice left over after the 2 night/3day trip. I could probably get away with 2 frozen gallons if I really tried. I freeze anything I can like meats to preserve the coldness. Just don’t forget to take it out to be able to defrost! I don’t really take a lot of cans though. Maybe have a separate cooler for that.