The Absolute Best Way To Keep Popsicles Frozen In Your Cooler

The perfect addition to a sunny day at the beach or a picnic in the park is an icy treat to help you cool down. Whether it's a box of your favorite store-bought popsicles or a batch of flavorful homemade ice pops, packing these sweetly refreshing goodies is essential. However, keeping them frozen can be a bit of a challenge in the absence of a freezer. Thankfully, the solution is really just a matter of rethinking how you pack your cooler.

Starting with the right kind of cooler is probably the best advice we could impart. That means ditching the single-use, styrofoam ice chests and investing in a high-quality cooler. The next step is ensuring that said cooler is nice and cold, which means lining the bottom with a large block of ice for better distribution of frostiness. At this point, you can begin layering in your items, of which popsicles should be first. Placed closest to the bottom, the popsicles will stay frozen for longer, especially when topped with another evenly distributed layer of ice.

First and foremost, because cold air sinks, the frostiest part of your cooler will be the bottom, rather than the upper portions of the cooler which will be only slightly chilled. Additionally, since coolers often face frequent opening and closing, any items placed closer to the top will be subject to increased heat exposure. As a result, popsicles placed in the top portion of an ice chest will melt at a faster rate than those nestled near the bottom. 

Although it's usually enough to add ice to the bottom of the cooler and directly over top of the popsicles, there's no such thing as taking extra precautions against melting. To keep frozen treats especially frigid, simply increase the amount of contact area between popsicle and ice. While this can be as simple as removing popsicles from the box before sticking them in the cooler, for true peace of mind, you can even wrap each individually packaged popsicle in aluminum foil, before adding it into plastic bags filled with ice. The aluminum will act as an insulator while reflecting any light, meanwhile, the bags of ice will help ensure that every part of the popsicle remains frozen. 

With the help of these cooler packing tricks, you can officially consider the days of melted popsicles a thing of the past.