How much ice should you put in your soft cooler depends on how long you want to keep ice for.
If you’re just using a little cooler to keep your lunch cold and you don’t mind if it’s warm by the evening then 1-2 small ice packs should do the trick.
If you’re looking to keep ice for much longer, days or maybe even a week then more ice is required. Yeti recommend a 2:1 ice to food ratio but that’s to make ice last for a solid 5-7+ days in a larger cooler.
For most people a 1:2 ratio or a 1:1 ratio of ice/ice packs and food/beverages is going to work just fine.
Or maybe you want to layer your cooler and have a layer of ice bricks on the bottom and a layer of ice bricks on top.
If it was me I would layer ice bricks in between my food and drinks in the cooler and then have a layer of ice bricks on top so everything stays evenly cold. I don’t think I would personally bother with a bottom layer of ice or ice packs.
It’s also important to pre-chill as many items as possible before you put them in your cooler and if you can pre-chill your cooler also.
