Here's one for the "why didn't I think of that before?" file...

[Vacation Lover]

Instead of using ice or frozen gel packs in the cooler, use frozen Capri Suns! They keep everything cold and no need to clean out melted ice or weigh the cooler down with ice packs. The kids love the slushy juices, but setting them in the sun for a short time will melt them.

 

[marmalade]

Instead of using ice or frozen gel packs in the cooler, use frozen Capri Suns! They keep everything cold and no need to clean out melted ice or weigh the cooler down with ice packs. The kids love the slushy juices, but setting them in the sun for a short time will melt them.

Great Idea!

 

[luvlumpy]

Ooh, so smart! I'm headed to the pool tomorrow and will try it!

 

[arihillfarm]

Instead of using ice or frozen gel packs in the cooler, use frozen Capri Suns! They keep everything cold and no need to clean out melted ice or weigh the cooler down with ice packs. The kids love the slushy juices, but setting them in the sun for a short time will melt them.

We've been doing this for a while now, works great! We freeze Capri Suns, juice boxes, water bottles, yogurt squeeze tubes and PB&J sandwiches, sometimes grapes too. I also bought some Mickey reusable ice cubes that are filled with water (the kind where the water inside melts, but doesn't dilute your drink) and put those in sippy cups with milk, to keep the milk fresh longer even inside the cooler.

-Astrid

 

[justwinnie]

That's exactly what I do! 3 frozen ones, 3 cold ones in the cooler. That way the kids will have ones to drink with lunch, and then cold ones to drink in the late afternoon.

I love that Capri Sun now has the 100% juice or their flavored water for less sugar content.

 

[Fly4free]

It is great and leaves more room in the cooler. We freeze juice boxes, water bottles and yogurt tubes too. Love my cooler this time of year!

 

[ShortStuff]

Love freezing water bottles and capri suns for 'ice'. I like to bring small coolers to the splash pads and this works great! I learned very quickly to open the waters first, pour a little into a glass and then freeze them though.

 

[Celidh]

I like to use the frozen water bottles. We are all water drinkers and when we are travelling, I never know if the water is very good for drinking (Florida would be a good example! )

This way, as someone else pointed out, there is no messy water in the bottom of the cooler (anyone ever had soggy sandwiches from your cooler?) and you have cold water to drink that you know you will like and won't disagree with your digestive system.

 

[tinytinkmom]

This works so great! My dad used to do this for my school lunches when I was a kid!

Another tip, which my husband does for our daughter's lunches - freeze gogurts to stick in your child's lunchbox... By the time lunch rolls around, they are thawed out, but still nicely chilled!

 

[MineMail]

I used to freeze the juice pouches for school/camp lunches. Kept everything cool and no one had to keep track of the reusable ice pack.

When we were in Orlando last week, I brought reusable plastic bottles and filled them with ice cubes throughout the day. The ice machines filter the water better than the tap or water fountains, so the water tasted better and we drank more of it. (Although the 95¢ soda refills of the Butterbeer mug were a big temptation, as was the original beverage.)

 

[bearloch]

just dont drop em on ur toe! as I did in route to magic Kingdom!!lol

also when making sandwichs put meats in a plastic bag and veggies too then bread not so soggy!

 

[DawnM]

We have been doing this for years. We rarely drink/take juice boxes, but water bottles are great.

I like to use the frozen water bottles. We are all water drinkers and when we are travelling, I never know if the water is very good for drinking (Florida would be a good example! )

This way, as someone else pointed out, there is no messy water in the bottom of the cooler (anyone ever had soggy sandwiches from your cooler?) and you have cold water to drink that you know you will like and won't disagree with your digestive system.

 

[Ginny Favers]

We already do this, too!

 

[Zhoen]

just dont drop em on ur toe! as I did in route to magic Kingdom!!lol

also when making sandwichs put meats in a plastic bag and veggies too then bread not so soggy!

Bread on the outside, then cheese or dry lettuce next, then meat, then tomatoes, with any mayo/sauce in the middle. Works great. Also for PBJ, if you smear the PB on both slices of bread, it "seals" it, and the jelly in the middle won't soak through.

 

[Alexander]

Bread on the outside, then cheese or dry lettuce next, then meat, then tomatoes, with any mayo/sauce in the middle. Works great. Also for PBJ, if you smear the PB on both slices of bread, it "seals" it, and the jelly in the middle won't soak through.

I learned this trick years ago and can't imagine eating then any other way--double PB!

We freeze juice pouches for kids lunches. It keeps them cold and by lunch time the juice has thawed, but is still cold. Frozen Gogurt does the same thing!

 

[pixiewings71]

We do that with water bottles, for lunches we do it with juice boxes or gogurts. It is a great way to keep things cold.

 

[hearts8701]

freeze some yoplait yogurt whips YUM!

 

[mjkacmom]

We've been doing this forever (plus if still frozen, the juice pouches make a nice ice pop). DH gets a little crazy, and there have been times when we've been dying of thirst, because everything was still frozen! He always underestimates the number of unfrozen beverages to put in.