I cut up every 2 liter Cola bottle we have, and keep block ice. I also cut tops out of stuff like Peanut Oil containers (for some reason I don't go through a lot of those in a year, though). I have an old side-by-side in the shop and I keep the freezer side loaded with blocks of ice.

If you put all the blocks a cooler will hold in a cooler...........then the one expensive bag of ice cubes will last a WHOLE lot longer.

That said, I'd still like to have an Orca or Yeti or other rotomolded cooler. But it'll have to come from Santa.