Packing an RTIC cooler

Probably a dumb question but here goes...

I have always had cheap coolers where I just threw ice in and packed everything in there (food, drinks...) and had to drain and refill the ice every cpl days.

I picked up a RTIC 52 qt cooler that came with a divider. If I just put ice on one side of the cooler (with drinks) will the other "dry" half of the cooler (where food will go) maintain a cold enough temperature to keep the food at refrigerator level temps for 4-5 days? Or do I need to put ice on both sides?

 

When I was a kid we bought block ice. That ice lasted the whole trip. The dry stuff would be on top of the block. The drinks swam in that frigid melt water

 

Put ice on both sides as it is an ice chest not a fridge.

 

Pre cooling it helps too. I had ice last few days and keep the ice inside the bag, it will last longer

 

Over my many years of camping I’ve learned a lot about coolers and keeping things cool/cold. We use to spend 2 weeks every summer up at lake Shasta camping where summer temperatures ranged from 95 to 110. This was primitive camping. I’m not going to discuss the various types of ice chests, that is a whole separate discussion.
We had 3 separate coolers. The first was for meat (chicken, steaks, hamburger, ribs etc.) that we’d grill for dinner nightly. We’d bring enough for one week. At the end of a week we’d drive into town and get more. We would freeze the meat and pack it in a ice chest the morning we left. The meat ice chest would be opened one time a day to take out something for dinner. The more you open an ice chest the faster the ice melts. The meat lasted a week no problem as long as we only opened the cooler one time per day. The ice mostly lasted a week.

We had another ice chest for things like lunch meat, cheese, mayo and various things that need refrigeration . We tried to keep opening that to a minimum, maybe 2 or 3 times a day. The ice in that lasted 4 or 5 days.

Finally we had one for cold drinks which got opened a zillion times a day. That ice only lasted a day or two at most in the drink chest. We drove the boats into a marina every other day to replenish ice. It doesn’t matter if you have a Yeti or a cheap Walmart special, the more you open the cooler in hot weather the faster the ice melts. When you open the chest the insulation value is temporarily destroyed.

Here’s a couple other things we learned -
Chill or freeze everything before you put it in the cooler. The ice lasts much longer by doing so.
Use block ice and break it into good size chunks. The chunks last much longer than cube ices.
Try to keep and store the ice chests in the shade as much as possible. Makes a big difference.
Use a reflective space blanket. We would tie the corners of a silver reflective space blanket to ropes and then to some trees about 3 feet above the ground. We would store the coolers under the space blanket. It provided shade and reflected the heat away from the coolers. That also made a huge difference in ice longevity.
Forget dry ice. It’s a pain in the ass, it’s expensive and doesn’t last any longer than regular ice.
Try to minimize how many times a day you open the coolers.
Stay cool
Oh yeh to the OP’s question , put ice on both sides of the ice chest. If you put it in only one side the contents on the other side will barely stay cool. If you are out for several days you may get spoilage with ice on only one side.

 

Good tips, thanks. For this initial trip I'll be up in the NorCal coastal redwoods this week. Heat won't be an issue obviously. Ill be going solo, probably lots of beer in the cooler and a few small food things. Simple . I'll keep ice on both sides.