Best Cool Boxes for Camping | What Cooler Do I Need This Summer?

Camping Coolers Top Tips: What Cooler Do I Need This Summer?

Advice & Guides 5 min read June 8, 2026

Two of the greatest campsite pleasures are sipping chilled drinks and gobbling down a fatty fry-up. However, without some kind of cooling, you could be faced with lukewarm or larger and iffy eggs. So with summer arriving, we thought it would be a good time to run you through the different cooling solutions and explain how to get the best out of them.

Getting The Best Out Of Your Cooler

As the best practice for cooler use is the same regardless of which type you have, let’s get started by running through our top cooler tips;

Pre-chill It– Make sure the things you put in your cooler are already as cold as possible. If you can get away with pre-freezing items, do so, as this will greatly boost the cooling duration. Also, when buying food during a trip, always shop from the chiller cabinet or freezer section where possible.
Fill It – When you open a half-full cooler, most of its nice cool contents (the air) will simply drift away. Keeping it topped up with food or drinks will prevent this from happening. If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation where your shopping doesn’t quite fill it up, you’ll just have to add a little more chilled beer or wine (what a shame).
Shut It – Try to minimise the amount of time your cooler is open and also put chilled items back as soon as you’re finished with them.
Ice Pack It – Don’t scrimp on the ice packs! If you have extra space and need more ice packs in a hurry, fill some old plastic bottles with water and freeze them. Just remember to crush the bottles slightly before screwing them shut to allow the water to expand as it freezes.

Now you know how to maximise your cooling power, let’s talk about the different coolers available.

Cool Bags

Ideal if you want to keep things cool for up to 12hrs. Cool bags are lightweight, inexpensive and the least bulky cooler option. Cool bags are best suited for things like picnics or for keeping items cool until you reach an accommodation equipped with a proper fridge.

Cool Boxes(Passive Cool Boxes)

If you follow our advice above when using a cool box, it can be effective for as long as 24-48 hours. That said, it tends to be the larger versions that are able to provide 2 days of cooling. Generally speaking, cool boxes are robust and good value for money; however, they are bulkier, so make sure they’ll fit the space you have available in your car.

It is also possible to achieve long-term cooling with a passive cool box if you plan. Many campsites provide facilities for refreezing ice packs, so if you check for availability and take two sets of ice packs, you can keep things cool indefinitely.

Powered Cool Boxes (Thermoelectric Cool Boxes)

Increasingly popular and with good reason, thermoelectric cool boxes allow cooling without the use of ice packs. Depending on the model, a powered cool box will cool between 15-25°C below the outside temperature. It is, however, important to be aware that they are not fridges, so they will struggle to cool down non-chilled items, and on hotter days won’t cool as well as in more normal conditions.

For power, most now have a mains option (domestic plug) as well as a 12-volt option (car cigarette lighter plug). As so many campsites now have mains hook-up available, the mains option has become essential; however, they do need a mobile mains kit on most sites to connect them up.

Just one word of warning, it is essential that powered cool boxes are never run on 12 volts when the car’s engine is switched off, as this can quickly drain the battery. Instead, when you reach your destination, switch over to main power or (if a freezer is available) add ice packs and use it as a passive cool box.

We hope that this advice will make lukewarm lettuce a thing of the past. If you have any further tips for keeping things cool, we’d love to hear them. Until next time, happy camping!

What are the best coolers for 2026?

Now you know all about the different types of coolers, it's time to pick one out! Luckily for you, we have picked out ten of the best for you to get your hands on in time for the summer.

Hi Gear 28 Litre 12V 240V Cooler