At less than $5, you really can’t go wrong with the Igloo Maxcold Ice Block. During testing, I tried the large size, which is 5.67 by 8.75 inches, and found that the hard, blue shell was leakproof on a 2.5-hour-long car ride on a warm day.

After packing this ice pack for a couple of other gatherings, I was most impressed with how long this lightweight yet durable ice block stays chilled. When I arrived at my destination, my cooler felt as if everything had been stored in the fridge the entire trip. Even after I purposefully left the ice pack out for 24 hours, it was still noticeably frozen and cold to the touch.

While this option comes in five sizes from small to extra-large, the large version fits nicely in my 16-quart Igloo cooler. It has a slightly 3-D trapezoid shape, where the sides are slightly angled, so it’s not a perfect rectangle that can lie flush. You also only get one per purchase, while other picks on our list come as a larger set.

Still, it would be ideal to buy another ice pack in the same size to sandwich food items with cold packs on both ends, ensuring that your goodies stay upright and perfectly cold. In real life, this ice pack is thin enough to lie flat at the bottom of my cooler or on its side, too, without taking up too much space. 

And although it does sweat after an hour—as most ice packs like to do—it’s a cinch to wipe dry and keep clean as needed.

_{Dimensions: 4.31 x 1 x 8 inches | Amount: 1 | How Long It Lasts: 12 to 24 hours (manufacturer claim), 24 hours (in our testing)}

These might just be the cutest ice packs you can get, plus they’re ideal for snacks on-the-run. During testing, we found that their compact, slim shape and BPA-free construction lends itself well to stashing them in a lunchbox or stacking them up in a cooler. 

After a roughly three-hour car ride, we also discovered that these packs are leakproof and fit nicely in our insulated cooler built to house 18 cans of soda. Each ice pack looks like a square doughnut, with a visible hole in the middle that makes them easy to pick up and move around.

The ice packs tend to freeze rock-solid with a slight bubble under the doughnut hole, which may eventually lead to cracking over time. That said, at $10 for a pack of four, this set is an amazing value, and you could possibly prevent that bubbling effect by laying them flat in your freezer.

Given their smaller dimensions, we do recommend using the packs as a set to keep food items chilled for short excursions. (Think, three hours on average.) If you’d rather use them one at a time for individually packed lunches, the eye-catching color options—far different than the blue hue of our top pick—make it a breeze to assign one color to each family member.

_{Dimensions: 4.75 x 0.5 x 5 inches | Amount: 4 | How Long It Lasts: Not listed (manufacturer claim), 3 hours (in our testing)}

Similar to our best value pick, the Healthy Packers Original Cool Pack comes as a reusable set of four and is great for daily use in a lunchbox. 

They are a tad bigger (roughly two inches longer) than our best value option and sport two holes, which make them easy to grab. The stackable and thin design is what makes them a particularly great fit for soft- and hard-sided lunchboxes—plus, with their hard shell, they are easy to clean and leakproof, too.

During testing, we loved that the plastic packs maintained their shape. We were able to fit all four packs into a small, hard-sided cooler, as well, along with six drinks to create a mini-fridge-like environment. 

You can buy Healthy Packers in sets of four, six, eight, or 10, too, with a four-pack costing just a couple more dollars than our best value pick. Unfortunately, these ice packs just don’t come in a full range of colors. 

_{Dimensions: 7 x 0.5 x 4.7 inches | Amount: 4 | How Long It Lasts: 6 hours (manufacturer claim), 4 hours (in our testing)}

As our largest and thickest ice pack on this list, we love that the Cooler Shock Freeze Packs, which come in a set of three, have the potential to stay frozen the longest. In our experience, they last for an impressive 24 hours, making them super ideal for longer trips.

Now, these ice packs do require some assembly, because the ice packs come as 10-by-14-inch bags filled with powder. It’ll only take a few minutes, but you’ll need to add your own tap water to get the packs started. Once the excess air is pressed out of the bags and they’re tightly capped, we could count on them never leaking. 

As one of our softest and most flexible ice pack options, we were concerned that these packs would get easily punctured, but this set is surprisingly durable and well-constructed with thick, nylon-reinforced material, so you also don’t have to worry about taking them to tailgates, on a beach trip, or hiking. 

Plus, they’re built with a handle, so it’s comfortable to hold them while transporting them to an ice chest or freezer. 

_{Dimensions: 10 x 1.5 x 14 inches | Amount: 3 | How Long It Lasts: 24 to 48 hours (manufacturer claim), 24 hours (in our testing)}

If you’re planning a large gathering, or you’re just packing for an extended road trip, consider the Everlasting Ice RX Ice Packs, which are 9.75 x 8.5 inches and come in a pack of four. 

Compared to our other options on this list, and the other options we tested that didn’t make it to the list, these four, large ice packs allow you to cover your bases in a larger cooler. In fact, they are mostly flat, so they fit nicely alongside the walls of a family-sized, hard-sided ice chest.

As soft packs, they do puff out slightly once frozen, so you’ll need to take that into consideration as you fill your cooler up with food. However, during our testing, the ice packs did a solid job of keeping our lunch cold for five hours. (They lasted up to 12 hours at a time.) 

We were also pleasantly surprised that all four fit well in our freezer, without taking up a lot of space—though, this could differ depending on the size of your refrigerator.

_{Dimensions: 9.75 x 8.5 inches | Amount: 4 | How Long It Lasts: 12 hours (manufacturer claim), 12 hours (in our testing)}

If you prefer an ice pack that can mold to any shape, we suggest the Arctic Zone Titan Ice Pack, which comes in a set of two and is soft and easy to bend even after it’s frozen. 

During testing, the puncture-resistant ice packs conformed nicely to the shape of our coolers, both soft- and hard-sided. The pair easily folds to fit along the bottom of a cooler or on just a side, depending on your preferences and needs.

Unlike others on this list, they can also wrap conveniently around food or drinks, making them a versatile, super functional, and leakproof option wherever you are going and for whatever cooler you choose to use. Though, they may be a bit too big for a lunchbox.

We noted that these are a bit on the thick side, measuring a little over one inch, which means they may take up just a little more space when stacked in your freezer, too.

_{Dimensions: 8.63 x 1.06 x 1.06 inches | Amount: 2 | How Long It Lasts: Not listed (manufacturer claim), 8 hours (in our testing)}

Honest truth: We accidentally dropped this medium-sized Arctic Ice Tundra Series ice pack from about 5 feet above a cement floor when it slipped out of our freezer. Good news—it survived, without any cracks or dents. As we observed, its heavy-duty, plastic design is up for adventures, and that makes this chiller one of our favorites. 

This ice pack comes in four assorted sizes, takes only six hours to freeze, and holds its shape nicely. It’s easy to move around and fits well in an 18-by-24-inch cooler.

It can stay cold for roughly 6 hours tops, so it’s not the most long-lasting option on our list, but it’s still a great pick if you need something particularly durable, and comes in a pack of two so your cooler doesn’t have to rely on a single pack.

_{Dimensions: 6.75 x 1.25 x 7.75 inches | Amount: 2 | How Long It Lasts: Not listed (manufacturer claim), 6 hours (in our testing)}