Travel Guides Beach Vacations
Jenna Busch
When you’re heading off to the beach, you’re probably bringing a cooler filled with drinks and snacks with you. It’s important to stay hydrated, especially in the heat. Plus, all of that swimming and running in the sand is going to make you pretty hungry. Keeping things cool until you actually want to enjoy them becomes a problem if you plan on staying for the entire day, though. You can take precautions like making sure there is nothing with dairy products in it, which don’t hold up well in the heat, but that ice-cold sports drink sounds much better than that kind of lukewarm sports drink that sort of tastes like old syrup now. A cooler can help, but it can only do so much if you’re there for the long haul.
Luckily, there is a great hack that can keep what’s in your cooler … well, cooler, longer and that can solve that problem. The best part is that it doesn’t require anything you wouldn’t normally pack for the beach.
How the hack works
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If you want to keep those snacks and drinks at a comfy temp, try using a beach shovel and burying your cooler in the sand. Keeping it surrounded by what the beach has plenty of is going to keep the ice insulated for longer, meaning the chilly goodness of your summer treats will be less likely to be compromised. When you hit the shore, just dig yourself a big hole to cover up to the edge of the cooler and put the lid back on. If you put some wet towels on the top, that can also help to keep the hot sun off of it. One really great idea to enhance the cooling is to put rock salt over the ice. You may remember using rock salt to make homemade ice cream as a kid, and this works the same way.
A couple of other things to keep in mind: Curbly recommends getting a cooler with a light color so it doesn’t absorb heat as fast. They also say that you shouldn’t drain the water as the ice begins to melt. As the earlier explanation says, the melting ice lowers the temperature in your cooler. There are a few other things you can do to keep your snacks chilly as well.
Other things you can do to keep food cold
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Why not try freezing your drinks before you put them in the cooler? You can even keep some of the food, like hot dogs, frozen if you’re going to be there for a while. Keep in mind that fizzy drinks don’t actually freeze well in their own can. Those can explode when the liquid and bubbles expand, and that’s never pretty. That said, Freeze It does have a method for freezing carbonated drinks. They say you should put the drink into another container with a cover, like a glass mug with a screw-on top, before popping it in the freezer. Keep in mind that some of the bubbles will be gone when it unfreezes. You can also get a two-sided cooler, with one side for beverages and the other for food. The drink one usually gets opened more often, so your food won’t get warm while you grab a bunch of sodas.
Finally, while you’re digging a hole for your cooler, give your pup a treat as well. Dig a hole (or have your kids do it) behind your beach chair, then drape a wet towel from the back of the chair over the hole. Instant cooling dog spot!
