This Simple Cooler Hack Is A Cheap Way To Keep Food Cold Longer While Camping

Say goodbye to wasting your hard-earned money on endless bags of ice for your next camping trip or cottage getaway. Thanks to a clever TikTok hack, there's a cheaper, more cost effective way to keep your food cooler for longer, without watching your money melt away. 

Tips to make tent camping a lot less intimidating, or hacks that transform your basic campsite, are just as important to master as knowing how to keep your food fresh and ready to eat. TikTok has become a goldmine for easy, cost effective camping and outdoor hacks, as well as providing practical tips to make cooking while camping easier. This tip helps keep things cool without breaking the bank, regardless of your weekend destination. Whether it be deep into the woods, heading to a festival, or just chilling dockside at a cottage, this simple yet effective method of ensuring that your food and drinks stay cool and fresh is a must-know for outdoor enthusiasts.

This simple and cheap cooler hack posted by TikTok users @livingonlife101 and @jesstakeahike shows viewers just how easy it is to use an aluminum tray, typically seen around office potlucks filled with your co-worker's famous potato casserole, to make large flat ice cube sheets that easily fit at the bottom of a cooler.

In the videos posted by @livingonlife101 and @jesstakeahike, which have amassed 1.6 million and 1.1 million views respectively, the Tiktok creators show just how easy it is to create a large ice cube sheet, which will save you from continuously buying bags of ice for your cooler.

@jesstakeahike states in her video that she grabs one of the aluminum trays from the dollar store, fills it with water, and freezes it, before placing it in her cooler. She's heard in the video praising how it's cheaper than buying the bags of ice, lasts longer, and lays flat at the bottom of the cooler. TikTok users have mixed feelings when it comes to the aluminum tray ice sheet hack. A user by the name of @krystinazworld stated, "This is brilliant ! I need to do this my next camp trip," while another user, @ohdrzaius, said, "Takes up too much room in freezer." User @mpletz1 shared a similar opinion by saying, "Who has room in their freezer to do this?!"

In @livingonlife101's TikTok video, she shows a different hack with the same aluminum tray, minus the cooler. The video shows the aluminum tray being filled one-third of the way with water, placed in the freezer, then shows another tray filled with cut up veggies placed on top of the ice. This method is to keep the veggies cool and crisp while chilling outdoors. TikTok users quickly jumped to the comments to offer their thoughts. @six2brotha mentioned that they "tried it, lasted all of maybe 30mins." Another user, @lizwitski, thankfully said, "Literally the best tip I've seen on the app," while @lynnyy17 offered a helpful tip by recommending, "Add a layer of salt to the ice and it will stay cold all day until the next morning. We do it for all our parties."

There are many other ways to keep your cooler cool without having to purchase bags of ice from your local gas station. If you want to keep things chilled without the mess of melted ice water, here are some alternative and useful methods to ensure your food doesn't spoil and your drinks stay cold.

Reusable ice packs can stay cold for up to 48 hours, are mess free, and are a great base layer for your cooler, as most of them can lie flat on the bottom. Another helpful method is to chill or freeze your food beforehand. Not only will this keep food fresh, the frozen or chilled food will act as a cooling mechanism for the cooler as well. Freezing water bottles with drinking water is also a very good way to chill the contents of your cooler, and when the water begins to thaw, you'll have ice-cold drinking water on hand to keep you nice and hydrated during hot summer days.

As tempting as it may be to keep opening your cooler, try to do so less often, since the more exposure to the warm outdoor air your cooler interior gets, the faster the cold air will escape. Make sure to pack your cooler as tightly as possible as well, since coolers tend to stay colder with less air circulation within the interior.