I read about perishable meat choices, portage weight and the desire for cold beer in August while 12 miles in and I think, "Why doesn't this get discussed more often"? I'm not saying this is the only way, but it's been rock solid for us.
Big coolers work against you. I like to spend time carefully menu-planning, lay out the food by days and use multiple smaller coolers. Why? Opening and closing. Try it yourself some time. I have a "day 1, 2 and 3" cooler and a "4, 5 and 6" cooler. The second cooler gets boxed in biodegradable packaging and taped closed. I don't care WHAT it is you think you need. You open da coola, I breaka da fingas. A beverage cooler can also go along. That sucker gets opened and closed a LOT, but it's a low priority for me (rye whiskey and lake water for me thanks). A big, frozen mass tends to stay frozen for much longer when it's not exposed to warm, moist air. Keep it closed, keep it cold. Plus, multiple smaller coolers are much easier to portage. My small coolers have been customized with shoulder straps (tumplines) and are much easier to move than designating two guys to one cooler. Solo trips are freezer bag cooking, foil chicken, dehydrated ground venison and fish. No cooler needed.

Rye whisky, rye whisky,
Rye whisky, I cry,
If you don't give me rye whisky,
I surely will die.


in the fall/winter it's rye whisky and hot lake water for me.

i should write up a gear review on jim beam rye.

When I was in the BWCA two weeks ago I took all my frozen meat put it in a soft sider [carry your lunch type bag] then put that bag in a slightly larger bag and had still half frozen chicken breasts 2 into the trip, granted it wasn't hot weather but it got into the low 60's, worked really well, used the empty coolers for my depthfinder on the way out. FRED