Straight to the Point
Cooler Shock makes the best ice packs for coolers—they kept drinks cold for nearly 48 hours. We also liked the Yeti Ice as a durable pick.
Ice packs probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about essential kitchen gear. But if you use a cooler often, especially during the summer, you’ll want to rethink its spot on your must-have list. Trust me, the best ice packs for coolers can make a big difference.
Sure, grabbing a bag of ice is easy enough. But then you’re dealing with the inevitable: Ice melts, and suddenly everything inside is swimming in cold, liquid chaos. If you’re headed to the beach or on a camping trip with sandwich fixings in tow, you’ll be dealing with soaked bread before you know it.
Cooler ice packs keep food and drinks cold for longer without the mess. And they’re reusable, which saves you money in the long run. I recently tested eight ice packs for coolers and was genuinely impressed by the numerous options available. But four of the packs I tested stood out—they’re worth stashing in your freezer year-round.
The Tests
Size matters—at least when it comes it ice packs. These ones from Healthy Packers would be better in a lunch box.
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- Usability Test: I loaded one of our favorite coolers with the manufacturer’s recommended number of ice packs, along with enough food and drinks for an overnight camping trip. While adding the ice packs, I paid attention to how easily they fit and whether I had any trouble stuffing enough inside.
- Stay Cold Test: For each brand of ice pack, I loaded three into the Yeti Roadie 48 cooler. Then I closed it up and set it outside in the sun. Every 12 hours, I opened the cooler and checked the temperature with an infrared thermometer.
- Beverage Test: I loaded the Yeti Roadie 48 with three ice packs, totaling about six pounds, then nestled in five cans of room-temperature seltzer. I closed it up and set it outside in the sun. Every 12 hours, I opened the cooler, grabbed a can, poured it into a cup, and checked the temperature with an infrared thermometer. I repeated this with the remaining cans to see how long the cooler could keep the drinks cold.
What We Learned
What’s the Difference Between a Hard and a Soft Ice Pack?
Ice packs use reusable cooling agents that can be frozen again and again.
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Hard ice packs, like the Yeti Ice, Igloo MaxCold Ice Block, and Arctic Ice Alaskan Series, are usually made with tough plastic with a liquid center. They’re durable and can handle being dropped, poked, or jostled around in a cooler without a problem. However, depending on their thickness, you may have trouble fitting them into the narrow crevices of a full cooler.
Then there are soft ice packs, like the Igloo Ice Blocks, which have a liquid center and a flexible outer shell. These are more flexible, so they’re great for squeezing into tight spaces—but because of their construction, they can be damaged more easily than hard ice packs if handled roughly.
Frozen Gel-Based Ice Packs Remained the Coldest
The gel-based cooling agent in the Cooler Shock stayed frozen for a full day.
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In my tests, gel-based ice packs, like the Cooler Shock Reusable Ice Packs, outperformed in the cold retention experiments. After 48 hours, this soft ice pack was still clocking 40˚F temperatures and stayed completely frozen for over 24 hours. If you’re heading out on an overnight camping trip and need something that’ll keep your food and drinks cold the longest, this style is your best bet.
Blanket Ice Packs Weren’t Durable
Blanket-style coolers look like bubble wrap… and pop just as easily.
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Blanket ice packs have a quilted design made up of individual plastic-wrapped cells filled with a liquid that freezes. That’s a handy feature, but they don’t last long. During my tests, most of the ice packs proved to be durable. If I accidentally dropped them or crammed them into the freezer next to pointy boxes of frozen pizza, they held up just fine. The only exception was the Igloo Ice Blocks—they got punctured multiple times during my tests and started leaking once they thawed in the cooler. I ended up having to toss them.
How to Make the Most Out of Your Cooler Ice Pack
Distribute your ice packs evenly throughout the cooler for the longest-lasting cold.
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Make sure to read the instructions, as not all ice packs function the same way. For most, like the Yeti Ice, Igloo MaxCold Ice Block, and Arctic Ice Alaskan Series, you can just pop them straight into the freezer.
To gauge if they’re ready to use, soft ice packs will be rock solid and cold when done freezing, while hard ones will feel cold to the touch. But others, like the Cooler Shock Reusable Ice Packs, need more prep—you have to fill them with water, give them a good shake, and let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the gel to form before freezing.
When it’s time to pack your cooler, how you layer the ice packs matters. Start by placing a few at the bottom, then alternate with layers of food and drinks, putting the most delicate items on top, with more ice packs in between. This helps spread the cold evenly throughout the cooler, keeping everything chilled for a longer period.
The Criteria: What to Look for in Ice Packs for Coolers
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First, consider the size of your cooler. Is it spacious enough for large ice packs, or would smaller ones be a better fit? If you’ve got a few items to keep separate in your cooler, using multiple small ice packs can help keep everything chilled. Regardless of size, opt for hard ice packs or those made from durable materials like high-density polyethylene or nylon—they’ll last for years without popping or leaking. I found that gel-based ice packs stay frozen the longest, making them ideal for weekend trips. Once you’ve got your ice packs, layer them strategically in your cooler to keep food and drinks chilled as long as possible.
Our Favorite Ice Packs for Coolers
Credit: Amazon
What we liked: These reusable ice packs from Cooler Shock are easy to use. Before your first use, simply fill them with water and let them sit for 30 minutes before putting them in the freezer to chill. As they sit, the gel inside the packs will absorb the water, which, when frozen, creates a flexible, incredibly cold semi-solid that can be thawed and refrozen again and again. They come in a few different sizes, making them a smart option if your cooler is on the smaller side. They’re also pretty thin—only about an inch thick—so I had no problem fitting a few in the cooler along with food and drinks. In my cold retention test, they stayed frozen for 48 hours, and during the beverage test, my seltzer waters remained chilled for a full 24 hours.
What we didn’t like: The first time you use the Cooler Shock packs, you need to set aside 30 minutes to prepare them before placing them in the freezer so the gel can form. But in the grand scheme of things, that’s not a lot of time—they need to chill for a few hours before use, anyway.
Key Specs
- Material: Polyethylene, nylon
- Dimension: 10 x 10 x 1 inches
- Weight: 0.75
- Care instructions: Hand-wash
Credit: Serious Eats
Credit: Serious Eats
Credit: Amazon
What we liked: These heavy-duty ice packs from Yeti can handle pretty much anything—seriously, I dropped a bunch of cans on them in the cooler and they didn’t get a single scratch. They come in one-pound, two-pound, and four-pound sizes. I tested the two-pound ice packs and had no trouble fitting a few in a cooler with room to spare. They stayed frozen and kept drinks cold for 24 hours.
What we didn’t like: They’re hard and measure about an inch and a half thick, so if you’re working with a smaller cooler, you might have to play Tetris.
Key Specs
- Material: Plastic
- Dimension: 8 x 2.6 x 1.5 inches
- Weight: 1 pound
- Care instructions: Hand-wash
Credit: Amazon
What we liked: For a heavy-duty, large ice pack, the ones from Arctic Ice are a great budget option. They’re nearly 10 inches long and eight inches wide, so just one or two can make a big difference in your cooler. Because they cover a large surface area, you can use less. In my test, they stayed frozen for 36 hours and kept cans cold for a full 24.
What we didn’t like: The Arctic Ice packs took longer to freeze compared to the other ice packs.
Key Specs
- Material: High-density polyethylene
- Dimension: 9.5 x 7.5 x 1.25 inches
- Weight: 0.75 pounds
- Care instructions: Hand-wash
Credit: Serious Eats
Credit: Serious Eats
Credit: Amazon
What we liked: If you have a petite cooler, these are the ice packs to buy. They’re half the size of my overall winner from Cooler Shock, and you can even stack a few for extra cooling power. I was able to fit a bunch in a cooler alongside food and drinks, with plenty of room left to spare.
What we didn’t like: Because they’re smaller, they melted quicker and only kept drinks cold for 12 hours.
Key Specs
- Material: Plastic, ultratherm gel
- Dimension: 5.25 x 4.25 x 1 inches
- Weight: 0.5 pound
- Care instructions: Hand-wash
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The Competition
- RTIC Reusable Ice Packs: I couldn’t name the RTIC ice pack a winner because the seltzers didn’t stay cold for nearly as long as with my top picks. Before the 12-hour mark, the drinks had already climbed to almost 60˚F.
- Healthy Packers Ice Packs: Ice packs that are thinner than an inch just aren’t worth it. They don’t cover enough surface area, so you end up needing a bunch of them just to keep things cool. The Healthy Packers melted faster and couldn’t keep seltzer chilled for very long.
- Cool Coolers Slim Ice Packs: The thin ice packs from Cool Coolers had similar issues to the Healthy Packers.
- Igloo Ice Blocks: This soft, blanket-style ice pack got punctured more than once during testing. So if you’re looking for something durable that’ll last you for the long haul, this isn’t it. On top of that, it melted faster than my top picks.
FAQs
How do ice packs work?
Reusable ice packs, whether soft or hard, are filled with water, thickeners (like cellulose), and a depressant that lowers the freezing point of water (like propylene glycol). This makes them technically colder than ice. (Somebody needs to tell André 3000 that “What’s cooler than being cool” is actually a reusable ice pack.) As the ice packs absorb ambient heat, they’re slower to warm up than regular ice, which is what helps them keep cold temperatures for longer.
How do you make your own ice packs?
A quick TikTok search for “DIY gel ice packs” yields tons of clips, with creators pouring water and rubbing alcohol into freezer-safe bags, or recommending that you soak a washcloth, seal it in a bag, and toss it in the freezer. And honestly, those hacks can work in a pinch. But if you’re using a cooler for food, you’re better off going with a food-grade ice pack that keeps temperatures steady for longer, like the top-performing ones in this review.
What are the longest lasting ice packs?
When I tested eight different ice packs for coolers, the one from Cooler Shock stood out. It stayed cold for over 48 hours in the cooler. Other picks like the Yeti Ice, Igloo MaxCold Ice Block, and Arctic Ice Alaskan Series also held their own, keeping drinks chilled for more than 24 hours.
How many ice packs do you need for a cooler?
Coolers come in all shapes and sizes, so the number of ice packs you’ll need really depends on how much surface area you have to cover. A good rule of thumb is to use about three medium to large ice packs for an average sized cooler, but for the best results, check the user manual that came with your cooler. It will give you a better idea of how many ice packs are necessary for keeping your food and drinks at the right temperature.
Why We’re the Experts
- Ashia Aubourg is a Serious Eats contributor with experience reviewing cooking gear and working in kitchens (and farms!). Her work with Serious Eats spans gift guides, educational pieces, and product reviews. She recently fried tons of eggs, seared several pork chops, and made pounds of pasta to find the best non-toxic cookware sets.
- For this review, Ashia tested eight ice packs by recording their capacity to fit in a cooler, how long they stay cold after freezing, and how well they keep drinks chilled.
