• Try and bring two coolers, one for your food and one for your beverages/alcohol. Only do this if you have a lot of people going and enough space to spare between cars. What usually happens is blood from your meats (steak, ground beef, chicken) can drain into the ice water. If your beer is kept in that, it can potentially make you ill.
• Keep foods in watertight containers or ziplock bags. If possible, freeze whatever meats you won’t be eating right away. The day before you leave, take out your meats, wash them, place them inside a ziplock bag along with a marinade and freeze it. It’ll keep the cooler cold and won’t waste space that ice would have taken up. Plan when you’re going to eat a certain meat and take it out several hours beforehand to thaw it out.
• If you have the space, freeze gallon jugs of water and place them in your cooler. It’ll save you a few bucks that you’d be spending at the gas station for ice.
• Keep the cooler below 40 Degrees F (if it contains perishable items). Place a thermometer inside if you’re not sure.
• Keep your cooler in the shade.