Transform Your Cooler into a Tailgating Necessity

Everyone knows that coolers are great for keeping things, well, cool. It’s no secret, it’s right in the name! But your cooler is capable of so much more — in this instance, it can easily be transformed into the only tailgating necessity you’ll need for the sports season.

Tailgating is a part of sports culture, whether you’re coming out to watch a soccer game, a football game or pretty much any major league sport. Generally speaking, it involves having a few drinks and enjoying some hot, grilled food outside of the sports arena to get pumped up for the game.

But that’s often part of the difficulty — getting that hot, grilled food to the sports arena.

You basically have two options: you can bring a small grill and make your burgers or hot dogs fresh, or you can make hot food at home and transport it to your destination.

Most of us (especially first-time tailgaters) would probably prefer to cook at home, where you have a grill/stove/oven setup already! Otherwise, you have to invest in a transportable grill and bring all your raw ingredients to the arena, which can be an expensive pain in the neck.

The other option, making food at home, sounds much more cost efficient and simpler. However, the issue becomes getting your food to the tailgating party just as warm and delicious as it was when you grilled it up on your patio or in your kitchen. That’s no small feat, as most of us know.

Well, now Daphne from ABC’s The Chew has given us the ultimate hack for solving this common tailgating problem. And, unsurprisingly, it involves your handy dandy cooler.

All of the magic from this hack comes from insulating the inside of your cooler so that it goes from keeping food cold to keeping foods warm. It’s still just as easy to transport and pack as it would be if you were bringing chilled snacks to the beach, it’s just being personalized to serve your purpose.

Before you freak out thinking about buying expensive insulation, you’ll be thrilled to know that this entire hack is a DIY! You can make these “insulated walls” right in your kitchen, using two cheap materials you probably have in your home right now.

For the full directions on how to turn your cooler into the perfect hack for your next tailgating party, make sure to watch the ABC video here.