Was I just unlucky with this bag of ice?

[WeAreSeven]

I forgot to bring extra ice-packs for the coolbox and on a trip to Tesco remembered that someone here had said to buy a bag of ice and put it in. Granted it did keep everything cold but there was a hole in the bag and we ended up with a puddle of water at the bottom of the coolbox! Was I just unlucky or does this always happen?
Also how many ice-packs do people ususally use? I did have frozen food in there as well but it was all defrosted by the next day.
The coolbox is just a cheap one that was on sale, not an Icey-tek or anything fancy!

Our ice bags were always empty - there was always a hole. A neat trick I saw was to bring a grill to sit over the bag of ice and place all your food on top. That way the puddle doesn't soak everything and get in the open packets.

Good idea about the grill. Must find something that will fit!

Coolboxes keep things cool, not frozen. It's not a freezer.

put the bag of ice into a plastic bag?

Yes, I know that, Catlady. I was not surprised that that the ice melted, but I had thought the water might stay in the bag rather than forming a little bath. I was using the ice to keep the food cool.

I freeze a litre plastic squash bottle of water the night before, and use that as an ice pack. It lasted almost 2 days on our last trip.

If we're away without our electric coolbox then I put everything in tupperwear boxes/strong thick sandwich bags. Then stick frozen things and ice bags in there. They always have little holes in. Tupperwear stops things going soggy! Swap over ice packs every day.

So the moral of the story is, remember the spare ice-packs! Mind you, the car was full to the brim, I think the spare ice-packs might very well have been the fatal bursting point!

They always have holes in them. The ice cubes have sharp (ish!) edges and puncture the bags when they're all chucked together in the shop freezer.

I like the grill idea. Will try to remember that one :)

I know what you mean about the ice packs being the breaking point! We did bring extra, but some sites have no facilities to refreeze even though they say they do - hence our resorting to bags of ice, especially for a 2 week holiday!