Keep Your Cooler Cold Longer with This Simple Trick!

The yogurts are warm and runny like Yop, the salad is completely wilted, and the lemonade looks more like a lukewarm tea than a refreshing drink… “Once again, our picnic is ruined,” your partner laments. Every summer, it’s the same story. You pack snacks for the road, but by lunchtime, everything has overheated: the ice packs have melted, and the cooler is filled with water. Even though he always packs it right before leaving, adding the cold packs at the last minute. “And I even used more than usual,” he marvels. Instead of loading up more, it’s better to try this trick. It’s lighter… and more effective!

This is a low-tech tip everyone should adopt. In this video, presenter Véronique Saumure explains how she manages to keep her cooler cold for several hours effortlessly. Instead of adding more refrigerant packs, she uses… newspaper. “It’s an insulator,” she explains. “It fills the empty spaces and thus reduces the loss of coolness.” By limiting heat exchange, it slows down the ice packs’ melting. Her method is well-honed: she first places a towel at the bottom of the cooler to absorb moisture, arranges the food and ice packs on top, then fills all the empty spaces with newspaper before adding another layer on top and closing it.

“It’s really effective: it keeps the cooler cold better,” she assures. She even verified it with a thermometer. After 2 hours, the cooler stuffed with newspaper registers 3°C, compared to 6°C for one without it. And this difference persists over time: after 6 hours, the temperature is 6°C versus 9°C, and after 12 hours, it’s 10°C versus 12°C. While it might not seem a huge difference, it can be enough to keep your food fresh… and save your picnic!

Easy to implement and costing nothing, this trick is worth trying. A few sheets of newspaper can help preserve the coolness and allow you to enjoy a picnic with food that stays fresh.