Aluminum Foil Is The Key To Keeping Ice Cream Frozen In A Cooler

Ice cream is one of those items that is a total disappointment if it's even a touch too warm. Unfortunately, the window between scoopable and creamy to soupy and sad is pretty small, so you need to do everything you can to slow down the inevitable. To successfully transport ice cream in a cooler, aluminum foil is your secret weapon.

When you line the inside of your cooler with metal foil, it helps to reflect away heat that seeps in from the outside. How does this process work? Generally, the contents of a cooler warm up through both heat radiation and conduction. When the sunlight strikes the outside of the cooler, that radiant heat is absorbed by the material. The cooler itself warms up and then conducts that heat into anything touching the inside walls, such as an ice pack, which in turn melts your ice cream.

Luckily, an aluminum foil barrier in your ice chest reflects around 95% of sun rays away from the inside. The remaining 5% is absorbed into the foil, but that amount is so small that it still greatly delays the warming of your precious cooler cargo (and no, using the shiny side of tin foil doesn't actually matter to pull this off). To further tap into the power of aluminum foil to protect your favorite ice cream, you can cover the top of the cooler with an extra layer.

Whether you are bringing homemade stand mixer ice cream to a picnic or stocking up on your favorite store-bought vanilla ice creams at the grocery store, lining your ice chest with foil is only one of several strategies for maximum cooling. You'll also want to take other precautions to save your frozen sweets. Firstly, invest in a high-quality, hard-sided cooler, and make sure to chill it for several hours beforehand. Avoid metal coolers, which only heat up more under the sun.

Once the inside of your cooler is nice and cold, the way you fill it up matters too. You want as little empty space as possible, so make arrangements that will help the ice cream fit pretty snuggly. Arrange ice packs across the bottom, then put the ice cream in. Place your ice cubes in sturdy plastic bags first, so you can arrange them tightly around the cartons without any water soaking through. Once you transport your ice cream to the event, keep the cooler out of the sun, and do not open the lid until you are ready to serve dessert.