Keeping beverages cold

[EFC1996]

What are your best tips for keeping your beverages cold throughout the weekend? 
 

I have a huge cooler bag which I put ice packs in, but I find by the second or third day the beverages aren’t very cold. I’m taking a sh*t load of premixed cans, boxes of wine and spirits.

Whats the best way to keep them all cold for as long as possible? 

[Field of Avalon]

Under the ground sheet of your tent works well. 

[Crazyfool01]

ice from coop , cans under groundsheet , freeze cider cans . freeze everything you can in the coolbox 

[she bangs the drums]

As stated above, freezing drinks, especially the ones towards the bottom helps, as does ice. In addition, i find a decent cooler box (i use Coleman's Xtreme) with some preparation of the box by putting cold frozen bottles of water in for 5 days prior to the festival works well for me. Usually have ice cold drinks on the final day. 

[EFC1996]

Can the pre mixed cocktail/vodka cans be frozen? 

[Metal Monkey]

Freeze 2l bottles of water, they stay frozen longer than ice packs.

[Crazyfool01]

utilise the walk in freezer at work 

[EFC1996]

4 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

utilise the walk in freezer at work 

We just about have a fridge mate

[4AssedMonkey]

I got a decent cool box (Igloo) about 10 years ago and it’s great. If you chill or freeze what you can and pre-cool it, drinks stay cold for 4-5 days as long as you don’t leave it open for long. By Sunday I’m usually getting ice from the co-op to give it a boost but other than that it works well.

[Alvoram]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01KVRZTM0?tag=track-ect-uk-715798-21&linkCode=osi&th=1&ascsubtag=ecSEP5j3m0tlau9igpy

Takes camping gas cans 🙂 

[clarkete]

They Icey-Tek here doesn't need any energy, it's portable and keeps things below 5 degrees for up to 6.8 days apparently...
https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/food-drink/1410190/best-cool-box

Edited June 11, 2023 by clarkete

[StoneCircle]

Another vote for Igloo, ours is a Maxcold. I freeze a 5l water bottle, add drinks and top up with loose ice. It's still cold when we leave on the Monday! 

Some great advice in this very old post, see below as I couldn't get it to quote here! 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by StoneCircle

[gherkin8r]

Bring a cool bag and then buy ice on site as required. Most reliable spot is just to the right hand side of pyramid stage as you face it. Always have stock if you're there by noon. 

[StoneCircle]

On 5/12/2011 at 10:19 PM, port said:

the definitive version: igloo cooler..... freeze the biggest ice block you can manage . a 4ltr ice cream carton usually does the trick but even bigger if your cooler can take it. put 2 bags of ice cubes in the cooler for two days before you leave.

 

the day you are leaving put the ice block on top of the ice cubes. ALWAYS leave the cold water in the bottom but you can drain it down to the plug hole if needed but better to leave it.

 

If taking food , vacuum pack it to protect it from the water. Also freeze the food.

fill cooler and put another 1-2 bags of ice cubes on top.

 

The cold water in the bottom draws any condensation inside that forms from each opening to the bottom. This also stops the ice block from melting. (think of an iceberg surrounded by freezing cold water)

 

If you drain the water your ice will quickly melt. took two igloos like this last year and still had half the ice blocks left on the Monday in all that heat,,, and it was the coldest milk I have ever had.

 

ps: the bigger the ice block the longer you will have to freeze it, I usually have mine in the freezer for at least 5 days

 

[Suprefan]

If it was even affordable you get a Yeti cooler. But everything above works fine.

[Mr_Grump]

1 hour ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

I got a decent cool box (Igloo) about 10 years ago and it’s great. If you chill or freeze what you can and pre-cool it, drinks stay cold for 4-5 days as long as you don’t leave it open for long. By Sunday I’m usually getting ice from the co-op to give it a boost but other than that it works well.

Another vote for Igloo...they're not cheap but they are brilliant & last hell of a lot longer than a bog standard coolbox. We usually pour bags of ice in after filling it with drink (that has been chilled down in a fridge), we still had some bits of ice in there on Sundays after filling it up on the Tuesday evening.

Plus freeze bottles of water...they're better than the blue blocks & you can drink them by Saturday/Sunday.

In addition, make sure you only open the lid for the bare minimum time...the more it's open, the more warm air gets in.

[gherkin8r]

The thing about cool boxes is that they are bulky and not conducive to being carried around all day so unless you're happy to make regular trips back to base camp then they aren't really an option. Any half decent cool bag will be much easier to carry over the shoulder and will do the trick from midday to late evening and give you freezing cold drinks rather than "cool". 

[gherkin8r]

20-30 tins of cider and 2 bags of ice into the cool bag each morning is the way to go for me. The extra weight to carry even acts to incentivise drinking more early on, thus digging you out of your hangover earlier. A big bottle of mixer at the bottom of the bag has you sorted for the evening's festivities too if you do an early evening return to camp to grab some spirits.

[EFC1996]

Thanks everyone, gunna invest in a smaller cooler bag to take out in the day then just spirits in the night for me. Cheers 

[GlastoLou]

57 minutes ago, EFC1996 said:

Thanks everyone, gunna invest in a smaller cooler bag to take out in the day then just spirits in the night for me. Cheers 

If you look around a bit you can get 3 cold cans for a fiver, I always take my own spirits out and find this the most economical, plus the bar measures are tiny 

[EFC1996]

4 minutes ago, GlastoLou said:

If you look around a bit you can get 3 cold cans for a fiver, I always take my own spirits out and find this the most economical, plus the bar measures are tiny 

Cheers will keep an eye out, I normally go to the ice cream vans I remember paying a small fortune for cans last year 

[GlastoLou]

6 minutes ago, EFC1996 said:

Cheers will keep an eye out, I normally go to the ice cream vans I remember paying a small fortune for cans last year 

3 quid a can and they don't even pretend to put them in the fridge! Pretty sure it was the tobacco stalls I got 3 for 5 last time 

[DJL]

1 hour ago, gherkin8r said:

The thing about cool boxes is that they are bulky and not conducive to being carried around all day so unless you're happy to make regular trips back to base camp then they aren't really an option. Any half decent cool bag will be much easier to carry over the shoulder and will do the trick from midday to late evening and give you freezing cold drinks rather than "cool". 

Cool boxes stay at the tent or lock-ups. I carry a cool-bag rucksack which I fill up at the start of the day, and usually at the lock-ups at some point later. Heavy but a lot easier than carrying a cool box around.

[Peter_Quaife]

40 minutes ago, GlastoLou said:

If you look around a bit you can get 3 cold cans for a fiver, I always take my own spirits out and find this the most economical, plus the bar measures are tiny 

Purchased one of these, great job. Haven't put ice on it yet, just a blue ice block

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08BZBWHF6?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

[Dejalves]

My go-to is standard cool box, 2 bags of ice and various chilled and semi-frozen beverages. Drinks normally last 3 days before a top up is needed. Never tested this out at a glastonbury length festival though.

I'll be arriving Mon, my worry is if the weather is at all similar to this weekend, any mildly chilled cans taken from the campside will be baking hot after 30 minutes walking around inside the festival. Since I can't be bothered to carry a cool bag inside the fesitival, might just take the L and learn to love a warm can.