Frozen water trick for cheap coolers backfired on me badly

I read online that freezing a block of ice in a milk jug keeps your cooler cold longer and saves money on bags of ice. Tried it on a 4-day camping trip in Arizona last summer and the jug leaked saltwater all over my sandwiches and ruined them. Anyone else had a repurposed container fail on them in a weird way?

2 comments

2 Comments

dixon.ryan10d agoTop Commenter

Ah heck, I've had zip bags split on me mid-trip and ruin everything. A little duct tape wrap keeps things safe just in case.

patb8610d ago

Wait, I gotta push back on this a little. I've been using the frozen milk jug trick for years and never had a leak. Are you sure you didn't grab a jug that was already split or damaged? I did the same thing on a trip to Moab last summer and it kept my drinks cold for almost three days with zero salt water or mess. The key is to freeze them completely solid before you go, and maybe wrap the jug in a plastic bag inside the cooler just in case. I think the salt water thing sounds like maybe your jug had a crack from being frozen too hard or dropped.