Ramble: Two smalls coolers are better than one for camping & beach trips

In all our years of camping, road trips, beach trips, and fishing trips, we have quite a few “tips and tricks” to share with our friends and readers. Cooler organization is one of those things that makes a trip so much easier!

One of my favorites is the idea that bringing along one medium cooler and one smaller cooler is better than one huge cooler. Here’s why:

Big and heavy coolers

The main reason is bulk and heft. It really is a big pain in the ass to haul a big heavy cooler, especially the roto-molded ones. Those sons of bitches are probably heavier on their own than any ice and drinks you put in them. While they do a fantastic job of keeping drinks cold, I find them better suited for backyard barbecues or multi-day camping trips at the same campsite.

Thus, having two smaller coolers is ideal. I usually have a medium size cooler that stays near the truck/campsite, and a smaller backpack cooler that we haul down to the lake, beach, or whatever recreational activity we’re doing. My favorite is this Triton backpack cooler that I picked up at Costco for around $40, but just about any lightweight soft cooler this style will do. These hold plenty of drinks to get through the day and if you need to restock — just walk back down to the main cooler at camp and filler up!

Sidenote: The Kammok Crosswing awning is awesome 🙂

This is much better than hauling one bigger cooler down to the beach. The size and heft gets old quick, especially on hills, dirt, and sand. I’d much rather thrown the backpack cooler on my back and have my hands freed up for chairs, fishing rods, etc.

Product Link: Triton Cooler Backpack on Amazon and Costco.com.

Separating food and drinks

Of course an actual camper fridge plays a factor in this. Usually we just keep the fridge stocked with food for meals and a cooler (or 2) for drinks. But when you don’t have a camper fridge, keeping food and drinks in separate coolers will go a long way in keeping your food cold and dry for days.

If you’re like me and have a fridge already, two drink coolers can be handy for separating beers from water/kids drinks. It’s not often we do this because our kids know the difference, but it’s sometimes helpful when camping with multiple families. All my food stays cold

Keeping them cold

Usually the ice packs you can buy on Amazon will stay cold all day. By the second or third day you’ll or new frozen packs. If you have a dual fridge/freezer combo always in your camper, keeping fresh ice packs in rotation would be the easiest way to go. For us, the big Igloo usually holds ice for a few days so I can always transfer some to my cooler backpack when the hard ice packs start. failing.

Lastly, I know space can be limited in a truck camper. A backpack cooler is nice because it easily fits in the cab of your truck and doesn’t take up precious camper space.

Stay tuned for a similar post about why one medium and one small power station is better than one huge one for camping! Happy camping everyone 🙂