Here’s how to pack a cooler for a tailgate

Pigskin season has arrived, a time when a cold drink in hand and a desperate, often misplaced hope that this year will be the year because your team is the order of the day.

That’s right: It’s tailgating time, and whether you’re going all out for the Bills Mafia at the stadium or just cooking dinner for a group of fans at home, chances are that hauling some suds and sustenance will be part of the plan . . Enter the cooler, invented by one Richard C. Laramy of Joliet, Illinois in 1951, who has been keeping brewskis (and other things) ice cold ever since.

And while we’re pretty sure this isn’t your first cooler rodeo, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give you a helpful primer on not only the best new cooler on the market, but also the food and drinks. you want to put in it (and how to do it most effectively).

So lunge forward and tailgate good – and don’t forget to raise a cold one for old Rick Laramy.

Step one: Purchase a cooler

You know those bright blue or bright red coolers that you can buy at the hardware store for $30 or something? The ones that crack within a few months and then become unusable and need to be replaced? Yes, you are better than them. There’s a whole new wave of high-quality coolers that are well worth the investment for any serious backyard lizard or dedicated party thrower. Our favorite right now is the Tundra Haul, YETI’s first ever hard-sided cooler equipped with wheels. You get the unbeatable insulation, durable construction, and overall good looks you expect from the Tundra line, with the added bonus of portability after packing up.

Step two: Buy some good stuff to fill it with

When it comes to filling your shiny new cooler, there are plenty of updated options in food and drink – below are a few of our favorites to up your game this season.

Energy in a can (from our partner): Whether your favorite game is KanJam, Cornhole or Ladder Toss, a powerful pre-game can bring it out of the best of us. And a can of one of them Monster Energy’s stable of tasty drinks (we favor the tasty, sugar-free Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red) will not only put some pep in your step, but also contains nutrients like riboflavin, B-6 and B-12, with half the caffeine of a cuppa joe. Best of all, it’s sugar-free and only 10 calories, so you get a long-lasting energy boost without sacrificing your waistline.

Beer: The foundation of any good tailgate cooler, and a great opportunity to experiment, recent brewing trends have produced a plethora of flavorful, low-quality foam options that make great alternatives to traditional light beer fare.

Other drink: Variety is the spice of the libation life, and it’s not just beer packaged for easy popping these days. California winery Dark Horse offers canned versions of a whole host of their varietals, from red to white to rosé, all of which (in your correspondent’s humble opinion) drinks just as well as the stuff from the bottle.

And for those looking for something with a little more kick to kick off, we’ve also entered the Golden Age of the Canned Craft Cocktail, with everything from straight rye cocktails to Moscow mules to boozy lemonade for your drinking pleasure.

The good meat (or meat alternative): For your grilling needs, we recently had the opportunity to sit down with celebrity chef Curtis Stone and sample his new line of grilling products sold through HSN: top-shelf Kobe-Style Wagyu beef burgers and one of the juiciest grass-fed beef ribeye steaks we’ve ever tasted, all of which arrive frozen straight to your door and can be quickly thawed for idiot-proof BBQ action.

Step Three: Pack it effectively

You’ve got the cooler, you’ve got the goods, now it’s time to fill it. Believe it or not, there is a right and a wrong way to do this. Some tips to achieve the first…

Pre-ice: A cold cooler retains ice longer, so to be most effective, your cooler should be warmed up before packing. Throw in the proverbial ‘sacrificial bag’ of ice cream and let it melt so you fill it with your own ice cream Real ice, it is not a waste to cool the cooler yourself.

The good ice cream: When packing the cooler, not all ice is created equal. A good rule of thumb is: “the larger and more frozen the cube, the better.” Block ice makes an excellent base, and for your filling (an ice-to-food ratio of 2:1 is ideal), look for the iciest bag in the store’s freezer. Nothing crushed, nothing melted.

Pack whatever you can freeze: This allows things like burgers and bottled water to essentially double as more ice, keeping everything colder for longer.

Pack in sections: The goal is to minimize the time you have the cooler open, and keeping your belongings organized will help you get in and out quickly.

Don’t trust food packaging: Long story short: it sucks and it will leak and you will be disappointed. An ounce of Tupperware saves a pound of soggy food. Especially when you know that…

Keep that water there: It’s almost as cold as the ice and unless you’re dragging the cooler to Timbuktu and back, it’s worth the weight.

Keep it in the shade: This is just common sense, but if a cover isn’t available, a reflective pad on top works wonders.

Step Four: Clean and Store

We really shouldn’t have to say this, but admittedly, at the end of the weekend, cleaning the cooler is often a step that is understandably easy to skip. But don’t do that: coolers trap odor, and a few minutes of rinsing/wiping yours will save you a lot of odoriferous hassle.

As for storage, a little life hack we picked up recently: For smaller coolers, consider putting it in the trunk of your car. Keeps it out of the way and gives you some extra time if you’re picking up frozen food at the store but have to make a few more stops on the way home.