Tailgating is one of the most fun parts of football season. Meeting with friends, family and other fans, enjoying food and drinks, and watching an exciting game is a great way to start the autumn season off right. Clean, clear, cold ice is a must-have for every tailgater. Here’s how to find the best ice for tailgating, and how to make your ice last longer.

How to Find the Best Ice for Tailgating

There are many places to get ice. To get the best ice for tailgating, it’s important to find ice that is clean and clear, but also affordable and convenient. Twice the Ice ice vending machines can meet all of your needs.

Clean

Whether you’re just using your ice to keep your food and drinks cold, or you’re using your ice in your drinks, your ice should be clean, clear, and sanitary. Ice from Twice the Ice (TTI) is even cleaner than ice you’ll find from convenience stores or big box stores. TTI ice is also made on the spot and not touched by anyone except the consumer. Ice from convenience stores, grocery stores and similar locations is handled by the producers, shippers, and workers. In addition, contactless vending removes the need to handle cash or cards. This makes vending machine ice the cleanest type of ice available.

Convenient

Ice from TTI vending machines is available faster than ice from most other stores. You don’t have to navigate through a store to find ice, or ask an attendant to unlock an ice bunker for you. With a TTI ice vending machine, you can simply drive up and put your ice in a bag, or fill up your cooler directly, or both. Using the TTI app, you can easily find your closest location, make a purchase directly from the app, and get your ice even faster.

Affordable

Prices of ice vary quite a bit from place to place. Bagged ice averages at about $2.50 for a 7- to 10-pound bag. However, vended ice is about $2.00 for a 16- to 20-pound bag. This means you’ll get even more ice at a lower cost. You’ll have plenty of ice for your cooler, drinks, or any other container you need. You can fill your cooler directly at the ice machine, or fill up a bag.

How to Keep Your Cooler Colder Longer

Ice from Twice the Ice is made on-the-spot, in the ice machine. This means it doesn’t freeze and thaw while waiting in an ice bunker, and turn into a solid block. You’ll have individual ice cubes, which will fit into your cooler much more easily. This is a great advantage of TTI ice machines, and it makes it easier to fit around the items in your cooler.

How much ice do you need? An ice cube melts in about 90 minutes in a 75°F room. However, the ice in the center of the cooler will melt slower, since it will be surrounded by cold ice cubes. So, a good cooler can keep ice, and the food and drink items within it, cold for 12 to 24 hours. However, there are a few steps you can take to make your ice last longer and keep your drinks and foods colder longer.

• Pre-freeze: If your items and, if possible, your cooler are already cold before you’re ready to tailgate, they’ll stay colder longer.
• Insulate: Adding a layer of insulation, like styrofoam, around the walls of your cooler will keep the cooler colder longer.
• Layer items: If you open the cooler less, your items will stay colder longer. Keep the foods you’ll access more often on the top, so you can reach them without digging around.
• Get rid of water: Water from melted ice will melt the rest of your ice faster. If you can release the water that will collect in the bottom of the cooler without emptying it completely, you’ll keep your items colder longer, and prevent them from getting soggy.

With the Twice the Ice app, you can make purchases directly on the app, take advantage of savings and rewards, find the closest machine, and more. This way, you can get the ice you need fast, and get on your way to your tailgating party faster. You can save money too, and get all of the party essentials you’ll need.