This is week 4 in our Summer Summit Waypoint series for car camping with your kids. Your trip is a few days away, your gear is set, and you’ve got one last big thing to do before you all leave - pack your cooler.

This is an easy one, right? You throw some ice in, throw your food in, and go, right? Yeah, basically, but there's more than that. You want that cooler to stay cold for however long your family is gone camping, because you want that food fresh when you need it.

We’ll cover some tips and tweaks you can take to make sure you get the longest life out of your ice. It’s one part Tetris, two parts planning.

If you're able, get your kids to help create a map of your masterpiece. It’ll come in handy when they want to dig for that chocolate late at night.

To see all our waypoints in the series, click here: Summer Summit 2020: Car Camping.

First, figure out what coolers you’re going to bring and prep them for the big event.

If possible, use two. One for food, and one for drinks, so your food can stay cool while the kids open and shut the drink cooler all day for yet another juice pack. Get one with stellar insulation for your food, and bust out grandpa’s old one for the drinks. It still works, right?

If you're going on a boat, a cooler with wheels probably isn't a good fit. You don't want it sliding around the deck. For that, we'd break out a Yeti 45. Solid ice retention with study rubber feet.

BUT, if you're camping with your family, wheels are pretty essential. They make it SO much easier. That’s when we grab the RovR Cooler.

Bring the coolers inside a day early to disinfect it and get them to room temperature. This is especially needed if you store them out in the garage where it's warm. Level up by filling it with ice or cold water a day early to cool the whole thing down.

It’s so nice to have things prepped when kids are involved, even better when it comes to food. You want this thing to look like the backcountry version of a meal delivery kit. So prepped you don't have to think or do, just cook.

First, decide what actually goes in the cooler. Don’t waste space on stuff that doesn’t need it. Like oranges, apples. Tote bags work great for all that. We'll fill the extra space with ice.

NOTE: If you’re going out to bear country, get yourself a bear canister, a bag for hanging, and a few odor-proof bags. If you’re at a campground, they’ll give you a bear box for storing food, but it’s still better to have your own safety net if not.

The night before you leave, remove excess packaging and sous-chef it up. Your food will take up less room and less time to make later.

Grab some travel-size shampoo bottles, and fill them up with your olive oil, condiments, and marinades. Only bring what you need.

Assume everything will get wet. The ice will melt. It’s just the nature of the beast. But if you pack things in baggies and grocery bags, you just might save dinner. The RovR cooler has a whole dry bin inside for this point exactly.

When you’re ready to start packing, start with a layer of ice. But not any ice, and especially not loose cubes from a bag. You want this to be block ice.

Think freezer packs, much like the ones you might get delivered as part of your food delivery service. Cover the entire bottom floor.

If you don’t have freezer packs, you can fill up plastic water bottles and freeze them overnight. Or fill up some Hydrapacks and freeze them. Whatever water container you use, make sure to leave room for the ice to expand. It’s science.

This is where the Tetris comes in.

You want to put your food in the cooler in the reverse order you plan to take it out. So last day’s food first, first night’s food last. We recommend lining your meals up from left to right in the order you plan to eat them, and then layering them like so:

• • First, the meat. Freeze it if you can, except for the first night’s food.
• • Then, your dairy. That means butter, sour cream, dips, and cheese. All sealed and bagged to prevent any leaking.
• • Finally, your produce. This works best in a crate sitting on the top or a dry bin like we mentioned with the RovR cooler.

If you’re bringing leafy vegetables, wrap them in a paper towel and add them last.

Remember, you want to pack this food tight, but be thoughtful of what goes where.

This is where it would be really cool for your kid to draw a map of the food layout. Especially if you’re cramming a lot in there.

This is the fun part. Take a big bag of ice, and let your kids smash it on the ground - concrete or asphalt, please. Kitchen floors weren’t made for this.

Make sure they break it up good, then rip a hole in the top, and let it pour over the food. Let it fill in the gaps as much as you can. You want the least amount of air in there possible.

We read somewhere that it’s a good idea to make a foam or cardboard cutout of the inside of your cooler so you can place it on top and continue to push it down as you consume your food and the ice melts, but we haven’t tried it yet to know if it’s worth it. We’ll report back.

You're good to go! When you’re packing it in the car, try to avoid the trunk. It could heat up more than you think.

When you get to the campsite, place it in the shade. Maybe throw a rug over it, or go hard and get some sort of reflective material to lay on top.

If you’ve got that map ready, it’s time to tape it to the cooler. Seriously, it’s a good idea.

As the weekend goes on, pay attention to ice. Cold water is great for drinks, but can make food soggy. Drain your food cooler a bit as it starts to melt. Throw a food thermometer in to check each time you grab meat. And as you pull food out throughout the trip, keep packing it in.

The dream is to end your weekend with all the food eaten and nothing spoiled. And we believe in you. Time to set off on your family adventure.