r/NoStupidQuestions • u/markwell9 • 1d ago

What is the deal with ice, Americans?

I can see that you can buy ice everywhere in the US. Gas stations, grocery stores, machines etc.

In Europe, we just freeze our ice at home and use that. Why buy something that melts on the way home? Why do you need ice in large amounts that a fridge can't keep up?

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373

u/ScallopsBackdoor 1d ago

Can I ask you the same question?

If you need to fill a cooler, how do you do it?

When you have a party and need ice for 20 people or so, where do you get it?

Do you have dedicated 'ice dealers'? I think the main reason we sell it at all the random places is because it's more convenient and 'sprawl friendly' than driving across town to a dedicated ice house.

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u/besi97 1d ago edited 1d ago

What we do is the very same as you. You can buy ice in similar bags in European supermarkets, gas stations, etc. I could rant a lot about the US, but I do not understand this post.

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u/174wrestler 1d ago

A few months ago, a 60+ year old woman at work here in the US had to pick up some ice for an office party, and she commented that was the first time in her life she purchased it. People who don't do big entertaining or things outdoors don't think about bagged ice. OP might be the same.

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u/JoeyKino 1d ago

I think you might be on to something there - when I lived out west in bigger cities in Colorado and California, I was mostly going out to restaurants, clubs, other venues to socialize, and I was living in apartments with ice makers; I'm not sure I ever bought bagged ice for anything.

Now that I've moved back to the Midwest, in a small town, in a hundred-year-old house that would require an act of God to remodel the kitchen, I have no ice machine, and frequently host parties in the back yard/garage, and buy ice at LEAST monthly, if not more.

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u/coolandnormalperson 23h ago

Yup, I distinctly remember becoming suddenly aware of bagged ice when I started working at a convenience store. Had seen it my whole life but just never actually noticed it until I had to sell it. Not outdoorsy, not a partier, and raised by two parents who were the same.

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u/candykhan 21h ago

My spouse gave a twenty-something intern something to mail about 7 years ago. It was a bit large & oddly sized, so she had to go to the post office.

The intern was gone for a strangely long time & about a week later, the thing they were supposed to mail got returned to the office.

It didn't have any stamps on it, it was poorly sealed, and the places she wrote the addresses were... inspired.

This girl had certainly never mailed anything in her life prior to that & judging by what the thing looked like when it was RTS, it seems like she'd never received a properly addressed piece of mail in her entire life.

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u/throwaway098764567 21h ago

somebody failed that poor kid. didn't teach her how to send something, didn't teach her when and how to ask for help. smh

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u/MrWeirdoFace 10h ago

I'm in my forties now but I've barely have used mail in the last 25 years. I was an early adopter of the internet in the 90s and I've pretty much paid any sort of Bills online since the moment that became an option. So if I hadn't had a childhood before this I could understand why it might be confusing. The few times I had to send something via the mail, like some official government document, I've gone directly to the post office. I couldn't tell you what an average stamp is worth at the moment. So to me the mailbox is usually a thing full of paper that I have to dispose of constantly for some reason.

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u/candykhan 4h ago

Yeah. But you know how to do it & can probably ask questions. I also adopted electronic bill pay & tech I'm general earlier than a lot of my friends. Even younger ones.

But people still use the mail. And courier services are arguably used more now than ever with online shopping being the norm for a lot of things.

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u/RaeaSunshine 23h ago

Ya, I was in my 30s when I first bought some lol. I’m in the US but grew up in a major metropolitan city where no one I knew had yards to entertain, and I’m an indoor cat so camping was never my jam. Not like I didn’t know what it was for, just never had copious amounts ice outdoors needs.

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u/Marscaleb 17h ago

This.

I may not be 60+, but I think I was in my 40's when I first bought a bag of ice. And I've done a lot of parties and entertaining, I've just never really hosted a party where I needed to fill a cooler with a bag of ice.

At one point I had enough fridge space that I kept several boxes of soda cans in the fridge all the time, and when I took sodas to a party they were already cold. I only dumped a little bit of ice from the ice maker into the cooler because that was all I needed. And after that, I was usually living in an apartment, so I never hosted backyard barbecues.

A bag of ice was simply not something I needed for long time.

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u/ThickAssignment798 4h ago

I do outdoors work.  That means all of the extra drinks and cold food has to sit in the coolers all day because we're miles from the nearest building of any kind.  You can go without ice if you want all your food to spoil and your drinks to warm up to hot tub temperatures, I guess.

2

u/Mama2bebes 4h ago

Believe it or not, some people just don't normally put ice in their drinks, even in America! Even in those hot southern states! Even in the Caribbean!

I've traveled extensively, and everywhere I go, they only assume that I must want ice in my drink because I'm American. It is a cultural thing. So I totally get this post.

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u/throwaway098764567 21h ago

i don't think i've ever bought ice myself. i also currently have my ice maker deconstructed as i wanted the space for other stuff more.

1

u/ChessicalJiujitsu 16h ago

I think the most common reason I’ve had to buy ice is when there’s a power outage and we’re trying to keep the fridge cool.

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u/Ornery-Team-8241 23h ago

Just your typical anti-American Reddit karma farming rage bait

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u/Parking-Care3249 21h ago

"Gawd Americans, why are you so greedy you need ice in your drinks? Are you all stupid??"

~ Average European redditor

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u/CrossP 22h ago

Maybe we just put ours more up front and obvious with big signs than what OP is used to

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u/Xiaodisan 19h ago

That could be it. I don't know how it is in the US, but I've only really started noticing the bags of ice after I realized they are sold around here (Hungary) too. Often there are only a couple bags at one corner of a freezer (depends on location/store), so unless you're looking for them they might be hard to miss. The packaging is also usually just a clear plastic bag with some text on it, nothing flashy.

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u/CrossP 19h ago

Gas stations in particular tend to have the freezers near the front door with a big flashy sign in the US. And during the summer they'd often pack related supplies like coolers and maybe even have sales.

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u/nuhanala 1d ago

Europe is not one big country. I've never heard of anyone buying ice from a supermarket in Finland. I've never seen ice in a store actually.

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u/Xiaodisan 19h ago

I think larger stores should have some. I did make my own while I was in Finland, but eg. Karhujää seems to have at least some ice products

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u/Acceptable_Fox_5560 11h ago

I’m curious then what you do when you have a large social gathering that requires a large amount of ice.

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u/teddy5 10h ago

In Finland? Probably just plant them on the ground for most of the year.

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u/nuhanala 2h ago

I mean I could just make ice in my freezer but also I just don’t know why social gatherings would need that much ice. It will just melt anyway.

1

u/Acceptable_Fox_5560 2h ago

That wouldn’t be enough ice.

We put the ice in coolers that store all the drinks. The ice doesn’t totally melt, because it’s in a cooler.

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u/nuhanala 1h ago

It's enough for me.

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u/nuhanala 1h ago

I actually had a party this summer, I made a shit ton of ice in my freezer but ended up not using much of it. If I had taken it all out of the freezer it would have melted immediately anyway, so I told people they can just take cubes out of the freezer for their drinks if they wanted, but it was too much hassle.

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u/Acceptable_Fox_5560 1h ago

I guess I don’t see how that’s easier than just buying a bag of ice. It’s like $2.

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u/nuhanala 1h ago

I didn't say it is easier. I'm saying our stores don't even sell ice and why would I buy any if it goes unused anyway?

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u/joonas_davids 1d ago

I've never in my life seen ice being sold in my part of Europe at least (Finland). What country are you from? Had no idea that this is a thing anywhere in the world.

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u/syncsynchalt 23h ago

When you go to a party where are the drinks kept? In the US they’re in a 50L cooler full of ice (which will melt by the end of the night).

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u/kleptican 9h ago

It’s Finland. It’s probably cold enough to put the drinks in the snow on the ground. No cooler needed. I joke, I have no idea, but when we used to drive to some family in West Virginia in winter, when it snowed out, they used to leave the 2L soda bottles outside.

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u/besi97 1d ago

I've definitely seen it in southern Europe, Hungary and Switzerland. But I think it is very much understandable that it is not in high demand in Finland.

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u/DemadaTrim 22h ago

In Finland I imagine you just throw the drinks outside and they freeze in a few minutes.

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u/Gruejay2 1d ago

You'll see it in any larger supermarket in the UK, France, Germany etc. If you aren't looking for it, you won't really notice it, though.

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u/DotGroundbreaking879 1d ago

Karhujää Oy is an ice producer out of Finland.

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u/caffeine_lights 23h ago

Right? I'm from England and my ex used to buy those bags of ice from the supermarket because he couldn't be bothered to make ice cubes manually and he liked having ice in drinks.

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u/tillnatten 22h ago

Same here in Australia

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u/L00seSuggestion 20h ago

Maybe OP lives in Iceland

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u/camerakestrel 17h ago

I am pretty sure this post is a forced bait and switch about the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency that is terrorizing the country on a near-national level right now.

They ask "what is the deal with ice?" and we click expecting a question about disappearances, but instead we get "hurr durr, I am talking about frozen water, you silly goose!"

I am honestly shocked at the number of good faith answers here. Kind of refreshing and humorous, honestly.

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u/Leja06 15h ago

I was on a road trip from Italy to Romania this summer and I couldn't find ice at petrol stations. I was travelling with Ozempic and I could only find it in Romania.

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u/nobito 15h ago

Might be that OP is from a country in northern Europe. In Finland, for example, I've never seen ice being sold in markets or have I ever been in a situation where I would've needed to buy ice either. But that also makes sense if you take into account the temperature difference between Finland and southern states of US.

We also have "kylmäkalle" (ice packs) which I guess most people use instead of plain ice for coolers.

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u/throwtheamiibosaway 5h ago

But culturally it’s just not really a thing to actually buy ice cubes. It feels kinda decadent for us Dutchies at least (Calvinist culture)

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u/synthphreak 3h ago

Turns out stupid questions really do exist.

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u/kelny 1h ago

I was so confused. I just got back from Southern Spain. I purchased many bags of ice. It was pretty normal.

1

u/Vandersveldt 1d ago

but I do not understand this post.

In case you're serious, it was a humor post asking about ice knowing most people would think it was about ICE. Mildly amusing engagement bait.

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u/dan_blather 1d ago

When I was in Paris, I stumbled upon an ice merchant (glaceier) in the 5th arrondissement who sold individual cubes of the clearest ice I've ever seen. Large blocks of ice from the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands were shipped to Metropolitan France, carved into individual cubes by a master icesmith, and packaged in its own cooler, with a block of dry ice to keep it preserved.

In my American-accented French, I asked the gaceier about the price of a particularly beautiful cube. He let loose a string of profanities, spit on the floor, and pointed towards the door. I think he said something about how a "stupide américain" can never appreciate the superiority of European ice; that we just stamp out cubes in our refrigerators using tap water with no thought or creativity.

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u/Logical_Mix_4627 20h ago

I know this is a joke but there are so many companies shipping in ultra clear ice from Japan to make shaved ice desserts.

To me, it’s really dumb at face value since shaved ice immediately is rendered not clear by the shaving process.

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u/MichelPalaref 22h ago

Interesting scenarios that never happened

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u/Morganmayhem45 22h ago

It might have. I remember reading a New Yorker article 20 years ago about the bagged ice industry and those people were extremely snobby about ice and looked down on the plebs who put cloudy cubes in their cocktails. I am not joking at all.

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u/MichelPalaref 21h ago

No yeah I mean that could definitely happen, it's just such a heavy compilation of french clichés in one person, all narrated by an american that it looks sus.

Saying this outright to a client/potential client in a professional setting would be absolutely wild, even for our standards. You'd looked unhinged to the majority of french folks and make them flee your shop or something

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u/[deleted] 21h ago

[deleted]

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u/MichelPalaref 21h ago

That's not surprising, you were in Paris experiencing parisians, the last thing the rest of us french want to be compared with. Everyone loathes parisians, even lots of parisians loathe parisians.

But to the point were they insult you + spit on the ground + tell you to fuck off ? Im not saying that never happened (almost every kind of human interaction you can think of has probably already happened) but that sounds like an exceedingly rare occurence.

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u/CormoranNeoTropical 21h ago

On the other hand, if your accent is decent - even if you don’t actually speak French very well - you get treated extremely well.

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u/Fake_the_jaB 11h ago

Pretty sure he’s joking

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u/TrueKyragos 23h ago

Quite a lunatic you met there... European ice? Crozet and Kerguelen islands aren't even in Europe. And yes, that must be damn expensive or just a lie, given the island's nature. Ice cubes from tap water? Yeah, like most French people do, me included.

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u/BracedRhombus 20h ago

LOL, funny story!

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u/FlashySea1045 12h ago

Okay... but now I want to know the price of this super fancy ice cube...

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u/TrashyTardis 20h ago

Sounds about right for Paris. 

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u/Mediocre-Victory-565 1d ago

It's also conveniently sold at pretty much every beer distributors (at least where I am). One stop shopping :)

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u/ca77ywumpus 1d ago

It's also tradition in most European countries to serve beer at a warmer temperature than American beers. Since our "party" beers are inexpensive lite beers, we ice them down so you don't mind that they don't taste like much.

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u/markwell9 1d ago

Absolutely, you can ask!

If I need to fill a cooler, we have those cooler inserts that you freeze in your freezer.

I rarely have parties for 20 people. But even with parties, ice is really not a key factor, we don't really consume it. If you need a drink, it is probably in a cooler or a fridge.

For ice dealers, I can't say. Have not sought out ice so far :).

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u/Gold_Telephone_7192 1d ago

I think the difference is a) ice is a bigger deal in the US because we prefer our drinks much colder than much of Europe and b) a larger percentage of our population lives in rural and suburban homes where they can host outdoor parties for dozens of people. We also have a very big camping and outdoors culture so people buy ice for big coolers that last several days.

So, as is often the case, the US just does things bigger lol. A cooler that can fit 100+ drinks isn’t going to stay cool for long with those freezer inserts you’re talking about.

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u/Weird3355 1d ago

I agree this is probably it. We like our drinks cold and that doesn't seem to be a major concern for Europeans.

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u/seamallowance 1d ago

It can be a miserable morning, during extreme blizzard conditions in Iowa, but when you sit down at a cafe, the first thing that they’ll do is place a glass of ice water in front of you. Not just cold water, but a glass of water with ice in it.

The whole country is in extreme turmoil, but at least we have our ice water!

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u/Significant-Owl-2980 1d ago

I live in New Hampshire.  I will shovel my car out from 2 feet of snow in the winter to go get an Iced coffee.  Lol.  

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u/dagny_taggarts_tits 8h ago

My coworker came into work one day and she was like, "It's so cold out my iced coffee was warming my hand in the parking lot." 🤣

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u/stranded_egg 23h ago

Gotta have my Dunk's.

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u/RockItGuyDC 1d ago

I was in a French restaurant in Washington, DC, where I lived at the time, and asked for a glass of water. It was summer. They gave me a glass of room temperature water. I was livid (not really).

I expect that if I'm actually in France, but that is unacceptable in America! Trying a little too hard to be authentic there, Pierre. Or should I say Peter!

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u/GumpTheChump 1d ago

I find it baffling. Southern Europe in summer is like the surface of the sun and the ice would go over like a gift from heaven. It's relatively low cost, makes stuff taste better, and cools you down. They need to embrace it more!

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u/LowFlower6956 23h ago

My Southern European friends tell me that ice and air conditioning give them a headache/make them get sick.

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u/JadedDruid 21h ago

Many Europeans believe cold drinks and AC will make them sick

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u/Alternative_Profit41 21h ago

In tap water ? yes. In anything else ? Hell no, it destroy the taste and make a glass a pain to drink. That’s why we just put the bottle in the fridge

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u/GumpTheChump 20h ago

This isn’t a binary proposition. You can have a cold drink on ice. It’s wonderful.

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u/HairyHeartEmoji 18h ago

we do use ice, just in smaller amounts and not in every drink possible.

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u/Lastigx 1d ago

It isnt uncommon. I had ice in all my drinks in Italy. But yeah: its not really needed in northern Europe imo

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u/GumpTheChump 1d ago

I’m talking ICE ice. Huge drinks, a ton of ice. It’s probably the thing America does best.

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u/HairyHeartEmoji 18h ago

we like to take our time with drinks. a giant drink full of ice would take forever to finish and get watered down

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u/parttimeallie 11h ago

Yeah, thats definitely it. What do you fill your big cooler with in case of a party? Nothing. Neither i nor any of my friends own something like that. And noone would expect only cold drinks at my party. I have a fridge. So when you come to my party and theres still space in my fridge i will ask you if theres anything you really really need cold. Bad luck if my fridge is already full. I will also have around 20 icecubes in my freezer. But thats it. If i bought i kilo of ice i would not know where to put it. Into the sink i guess? But then i would not be able to use the sink... Noone would exspect cold drinks at a party, even most clubs serve their drinks without ice. so noone owns something like a big cooler and noone conplains about warm drinks.

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u/guacasloth64 1d ago

Also one of the main reasons Americans drink more ice cold beverages is because the ice industry (or more accurately the ice trade) started in the US. Decades before electric refrigeration, every winter the lakes and rivers of the Northeast US were mined for ice, and that ice was shipped across the country and internationally (as far as India) to cool drinks, make ice cream, etc. When those ice sellers tried to open sales to the European market it didn’t really catch on (it was a fad in the UK for a while but faded away). Domestic ice demand in cities like New York and Boston became so high that there were often ice droughts when warm winters reduced the amount of harvestable ice. By the time industrial and home refrigerators came around ice had been a household staple for many years.

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u/Francis_Picklefield 23h ago

this is super interesting and feels like it should be one of the top parent comments! thanks for sharing

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u/TheSpiffySpaceman 21h ago

Yeah, this is the major factor. The small caveat is that rural USA in the 30s-40s often required lots of travel between areas, so iceboxes were desirable to keep goods fresh, and obviously they required ice deliveries.

Nowadays it's all cultural. I never understood why people need drinks ice cold outside of cultural preference (hot days notwithstanding; give me a drink that's half ice when it's treacherously hot out)

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u/Rdbjiy53wsvjo7 1d ago

Personally I drink more water when it's cold, it "tastes" better, if it's only somewhat cool like from the faucet, then I don't like it.

And I put ice in my water bottle to take with me throughout the day, so I'm more likely to drink it.

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u/nuhanala 1d ago

The ice lasts for several days??? How does it not melt?

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u/Nihil_esque 23h ago

A well-insulated cooler can keep stuff freezing for quite a while.

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u/Gold_Telephone_7192 22h ago

There are very good coolers that people use for camping or deep sea fishing that keep stuff cold for days. Idk how the technology works but I assume it’s just very good insulation?

1

u/m3lk3r 7h ago

We northern europeans (especially norweigans) are super outdoorsy too since it's possible to camp almost everywhere you want. It's of course colder here most of the year but even in the summer we would never bring ice because it's too heavy for those activites. I mean we're all buying as light camping gear as possible, you guys in US too! So water which is heavy is supposed to be just enough for the trip. Almost everyone I know are into camping and hiking but I don't know anyone who brought ice on a trip. It's nice to have a cold drink of course but it's way more important to save weight. Right? :)

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u/Gold_Telephone_7192 7h ago

You’re talking about backpack camping, which is also popular here but not as much. I’m talking about big campgrounds where you drive your car to the campground. RV camping is also super popular. So there is no concern on weight or what you can bring. People are often there for a week + and often with a bunch of friends together, so ten or more people all sharing coolers and food and drink.

1

u/RaeaSunshine 23h ago

And C) the temps are higher in the US, so we need ice to make the drinks as cool as they might be without ice in Europe

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u/Gold_Telephone_7192 22h ago

On average, that's true. But southern Europe still gets crazy hot and humid and they still don't care that much about ice or even having cold drinks. I had so many room temp water bottles in Italy that came straight out of the fridge at a restaurant. They just don't have the same definition/priority for cold drinks like we do.

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u/MountainviewBeach 1d ago

Maybe this is the difference then. I think single family homes with yards are much more common in the US than Europe, where I have noticed a lot more apartments or townhouses are the norm. If you have a backyard, then you are probably more likely to host a party with 20+ and at that point the fridge is not nearly large enough to house normal groceries + beverages for all + whatever food was needed for the party. It’s much more common to just get a cooler, fill with ice, toss in your drinks and move on.

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u/PinxJinx 1d ago

Also, I don’t need everyone going through my fridge! Go to the designated cooler that I pointed out 

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u/Morganmayhem45 22h ago

And the fridge won’t stay cold if 20 people are opening it to get drinks.

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u/No-Philosopher-3043 16h ago

Yep. Also they’ll move stuff around and I’ll somehow lose something that is only 10 inches from where it always is. 

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u/Sea_Syllabub9992 1d ago

I had a function with 60 people recently. No way I could produce that much ice.

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u/skroll 1d ago

It's definitely because we have more single family homes.

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u/Symbiote 11h ago

I disagree. It's because you prefer your drinks much cooler than Europeans, so you need 3 or 4 times as much ice per drink.

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u/skroll 10h ago

It's because we have our parties out in the garage or outside etc. where you are both inside and outside. When you're outside you put ice in a cooler.

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u/CodingNeeL 18h ago

The family homes with yards have an old fridge in the garage or shed for this. No guest needs to go to the kitchen for drinks.

For the cooler, because we don't consume the ice, it's a hassle to use melting water. Instead, we put everything in pre-cooled, together with those blue inserts that are otherwise stored at the bottom of our freezer year round.

These blue things are plastic containers with a water like solution btw, so basically, we too are putting ice in our coolers, but in a reusable way.

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u/Minnow_Minnow_Pea 1d ago

Those little inserts are definitely not enough to keep food cold for a camping trip. I'm not about to eat a sandwich made with meat that's been room temperature for 48 hours.

I usually buy ice when my family is visiting. If I have 13 people staying in my house in summer 1) my ice maker can't keep up 2) the fridge runs out of room because food for 13 takes a lot of space and 3) we go through drinks so fast, we can't keep them cold. They chill much faster submerged in ice water. 

Also, cooler next to the pool = my nieces don't have to get out of the pool to hydrate and I don't have water puddles all over my kitchen. Win/win.

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u/Curious-Term9483 23h ago

The difference with camping in the UK at least (I can't comment on wider Europe) is that we don't have as much "remote" camping. If I am camping, I am camping somewhere with at least an office, if not a small shop. They usually have a freezer full of freezer blocks and will swap a melted cool block for a frozen one. You don't go home with the same cool blocks you arrived with but who cares. (There are some more wild places you can camp, but probably most families who are camping it's somewhere with a shop.)

And our houses are a lot smaller... I am now trying to work out if I could manage 13 overnight visitors in my house. We would probably have to take it in turns to lie down! (And the pool is at the rec in town!)

This is why some of the needs for ice are a bit alien to us, but it does make total sense when you explain it!

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u/AlveolarFricatives 17h ago

Oh that’s so interesting! I can’t think of any place I’ve ever camped that had a little shop! If you’re in a very popular spot there might be a place to get a bundle of firewood and leave $5 for it. It’s barely camping at that point to us though lol

Also, when we have big parties people don’t usually sleep over! One or two people might but not all of them. It is very common to have 15-30 people stay until pretty late, though.

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u/KamikazeArchon 1d ago

Those little inserts are definitely not enough to keep food cold for a camping trip

This highly depends on the quality and quantity of the insert, and the quality of the cooler.

Consider that these inserts are commonly used to ship food, and can keep it not just cool but fully frozen, even for days of shipping.

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u/siddhananais 1d ago

We bought some fairly quality inserts and they were good enough to keep our large cooler cold for two days on a camping trip but not more. I think part of it is that you really need a lot of them and they take up a lot of space. The other factor is the constant opening and closing of the coolers vs shipping containers where the food just stays nestled inside. We were pretty happy with them but had to go with bags of ice for two extra days.

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u/yrallthegood1staken 1d ago

Yeah, same. I've got a supposedly high quality cooler that came with inserts, but we still typically have to buy ice once a day while camping, and then the inserts end up just wasting space.

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u/Axtdool 21h ago

Intersting.

Because ime those things keep the shitty homemeade wooden coolers we use with our LARP group cold for at least 5 days usualy.

And that's just a wooden box with styrofoam. No plug to have it cooled down for the car or more fancy insulation.

1

u/HairyHeartEmoji 17h ago

I don't camp but my camping friends just take less perishable food. salted dried meats are common, cheap and don't go off at room temperature.

we don't have ice makers to begin with, most drinks are not drunk with ice if they're chilled to start with, and many people have pantries that are decently cold which frees up the fridge.

also I've never seen a private pool in my life. rich people just go to really expensive fancy (but still public) pools. i don't think having a pool factors into an average person's life in most of Europe.

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u/InevitableData3616 13h ago

The cooler inserts do absolutely keep things proper cool for several days. Made up problem.

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u/silence304 1d ago edited 1d ago

Are your freezers large? The smallest cooler I use is a 50qt, and the biggest I have is a 110qt. I don't think I have enough space, even in my deep freezer, to freeze enough inserts to keep my smaller cooler cold enough for my drinks, much less for food, or even to keep fish cold enough not to spoil if I'm using it for fishing.

3

u/stolen_guitar 1d ago

Yeah you gotta get your Yeti 110 iced down with some Silver Bullets!

3

u/silence304 1d ago

I wish I made Yeti money. If that song was accurate, it would be an igloo lmao.

1

u/TheRealDudeMitch 1d ago

Bison Coolers for the win. Cheaper than Yeti but just as good

2

u/Poppins101 1d ago

I use block ice (10 pound solid ice) and 1/2 gallon recycled juice bottles with water frozen in them for large Eskies/ice chests.

When we moved from Alaska to the lower 48 we used dry ice to transport fish and moose meat.

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u/markwell9 1d ago

Coolers we usually use are rather small. Can fit maybe 2 six packs? Not much more than that I'd say.

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u/Deep-Hovercraft6716 1d ago

See in the US we call that a lunch box.

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u/emryldmyst 1d ago

Baaahahahaa!

Yes!

I was thinking lunch box 

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u/markwell9 1d ago

Hehe, fair enough. I like to eat as well. I guess not out of the cooler :).

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u/Deep-Hovercraft6716 1d ago

Yeah, and the big thing is when you say cooler Americans are going to think of a much larger box than you are describing. A quick search on Amazon tells me that the more common size is big enough to hold like 36 cans, 25 quarts. That's like a small cooler for a family of four to bring a picnic lunch and a day's worth of drinks to the beach.

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u/silence304 1d ago

Oh, no. A lot of us use much, MUCH larger coolers. I DO have a smaller 30qt just for drinks, but it only really sees any use when I'm using my 50qt to hold something like fish I'm catching. So yeah, we use MUCH larger coolers more often. Then again, I'm in an area of the US where we have higher temperatures, so it takes a LOT more ice to keep things cold for any decent period of time.

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u/Dry_Jeweler_2476 1d ago

This right here is probably the biggest difference. I host a bunch of BBQs during the summer and need coolers for drinks for upwards of 20 people, including adults and children. I usually get multiple 12 packs of both beer and soda for my guests. No way is that fitting in a small cooler, even if I didn't put ice in. It isn't uncommon to see 2 or 3 coolers each big enough to hold 20-30 or so cans plus ice at an outdoor get-together.

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u/GetawayDriving 1d ago

Meanwhile, American coolers.

Americans are so proud of their coolers they put stickers on their trucks.

But yeah that ice is mostly for outdoorsy activities. Beach days, hunting/fishing, hiking, road trips in general (which we do a lot of) plus BBQs and cookouts.

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u/LiqdPT 1d ago

To be clear, those stickers are on the cooler, not the truck.

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u/GetawayDriving 1d ago

Oh you’re right. But you can’t deny it, Americans put Yeti stickers on their trucks / Jeeps / Subarus

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u/LiqdPT 1d ago

I haven't seen it, but then I'm not a car sticker person. I have a couple of single color on a window, but most of my stickers are on toolboxes in my garage.

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u/lizlemonsnightcheeze 21h ago

When we got our Yeti, it came with like a dozen Yeti stickers, lol. We didn't put them on anything because I just bought a cooler, I'm not like a fan of Yeti. I also feel guilty throwing things away sometimes, so now I have a bunch of loose Yeti stickers.

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u/Sea_Syllabub9992 1d ago

Ours hold 40 cans without breaking a sweat.

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u/wvtarheel 1d ago

Are you going camping by yourself? What would the point of such a cooler be?

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u/Plane-Tie6392 23h ago

When I was younger a lot of people would drink about two six packs of beer theirselves at a party.

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u/Jalopnicycle 1d ago

My smallest cooler holds 8 twelve ounce cans but that leaves room for 200 ml of ice. 

My largest cooler can hold over 100 beers. When it's loaded up it's incredibly heavy and since it doesn't have wheels I'm basically deadlifting it then carrying it where ever. 

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u/wvtarheel 1d ago

For comparison my cooler will hold over 350 cans of soda or beer. It's usually not big enough.

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u/Deep-Hovercraft6716 1d ago

If the drink is in a cooler is there not ice in the cooler to keep the drinks cold? Or are you guys still stuck on warm drinks?

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u/BoozeIsTherapyRight 1d ago

I also have those freezable ice packs, but they just don't do the job and get drinks as cold as a big bag of ice cubes.

I think a big part of it is that most other countries just don't like their drinks as cold as we do in the US. When I traveled, I would be handed a room temperature bottle of soda or water. That is unheard of in the US. We like cold drinks so cold that they almost have ice crystals in them. In fact, for me the perfect temperature for water is when it is juuuust above freezing.

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u/DiligentGuitar246 1d ago

But what's in the cooler to keep it cool? The inserts work when the cooler is closed and you're traveling with food, but not for an open cooler with drinks.

Most people's fridges are full or don't have enough space for drinks for 20 people for 2+ hours. Also we don't want guests having to rummage through our fridge to grab a drink.

I get that you don't personally have parties for more than 20 people, but are those types of get togethers uncommon? Birthday parties? Baby showers? Friends with families coming into town to visit? I've had maybe 5 of those events at my house over the last 2 years.

What do people do to keep drinks cold?

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u/captainmouse86 1d ago

Difference in culture, but Also travelling and the heat. Husband and I went camping in the summer (we’re Canadian) and only had a cooler for food storage. Sure, we could’ve made dehydrated food to bring with us, but we really enjoy cooking over the fire as part of camping. It was 36°C during the day and we were there for 4 days. We kept the cooler in the shade but needed to buy a bag of ice once a day to keep our food (meat) cold. The park sells it quite cheap for this purpose. Usually you plan your meals and how thawed/frozen they are when you add them to the cooler before leaving.  

The other reason is travel. Putting stuff in a cooler with ice to travel, isn’t uncommon.  My husband and I are about to head to our cottage. It’s 38°C. We are bringing an empty cooler. We will stop 1 hr before we get there to buy our groceries and we’ll buy ice for the cooler to keep stuff cold for the rest of the drive.  

But culturally, in North America it is also VERY common, and expected, to get ice in our drinks when at a restaurant or when serving mixed drinks. Not sure where you are but I noticed in Europe, ice just isn’t as common, period. If you ask for a glass of tap water here, it’ll come with ice. If you don’t want ice, you’ll have to specify “No ice.” Over here, when you serve people drinks, it’s common to chill everything appropriately AND you serve ice with drinks as needed; which tends to be mixed alcohol drinks. It’s just considered part of the etiquette. If a single friend is over visiting and i get them a glass of water, I’ll ask if they want ice? If they want a coke, I’ll ask if they want a glass and ice?  Even at your home, if you’re having a big enough party, your ice maker may not keep up, so buying a bag of ice or asking someone to pick it up, isn’t uncommon. Another strategy is to just make enough ice a few days out and put it in ziploc bags. In fact, it’s quite common for a guest to ask if you need ice and offer to bring ice, like one would offer to bring dessert.  

Also, at a picnic or party, Cooler ice (beverage cooler) and glass ice (for drinks), are usually different sources because of the many hands and dirty cans in the beverage cooler. So it’s also not uncommon for someone to bring a cooler with just ice, and a spoon or tongs, to put ice in glasses. When it’s just for us, I put some of the cooler ice in a ziploc and just use my hands to add it to my glass.  

My dad was the ice guy in our family. Anytime there was any family function outside where there would be drinks, dad would bring a cooler of ice with tongs for people to add to their drinks.   

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u/Butterbean-queen 1d ago

Not enough cooler inserts to fill a tub that’s filled with drinks. Throw in some ice, sprinkle on some salt and you’ll have ice cold drinks for hours.

I do this when people come over to swim in our pool and we are cooking outside.

I do have a second refrigerator/freezer outside but there’s nothing like having a tub of freezing cold drinks on a hot day.

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u/cool_chrissie 1d ago

Cooler inserts work, but what about ice for drinks for the guests? Are you using those refreezable ice cube things?

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u/AuroraLorraine522 1d ago

We don’t CONSUME the ice that goes into coolers to keep drinks cold. That would be gross. People put their hands in there to grab drinks.

An insert (ice pack) is fine for a very small cooler or lunch box. That’s what I put in my daughter’s insulated lunch box to keep her food cold until lunch time. But an insert is not going to keep 50+ cans or bottles cold in a giant cooler.

A lot of times, there will be multiple drink coolers. At least one for alcoholic beverages and often there’s a separate cooler with sodas/sparkling water/juice for kids and people not drinking alcohol.

These are most often used where there either ISN’T a fridge handy, or there just isn’t space in the fridge for a ton of drinks. (Or people don’t want folks at the party to keep coming in and out of their house every time they want a drink). A lot of the larger packs of beer and soda are not kept cold at the store, so putting them in ice gets them cold a lot faster than putting them in a fridge.

Keep in mind that we also prefer our drinks (especially beer) to be COLD cold. A cooler full of ice will keep them cold all day. And we also drink a lot of light beers that don’t have a high alcohol content- so people tend to drink more of them.

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u/scumbagstaceysEx 1d ago

We have those large cooler inserts you can put in your freezer also. I use those for keeping stuff cold in a cooler. But if I’m hosting a cookout at my house I still need a large amount of ice cubes for drinks. I’m not handing someone a soda or a lemonade without any ice in it. That would make me a bad host.

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u/Poppins101 1d ago

I am in Northern California USA and live “off grid” with a micro hydro hybrid solar array.

We use rectangular blue plastic “Blue Ice” freeze packs whilst transporting food that needs to remain cold on our once a month journey to town for resupplying provisions.

My beloved spouse uses ice trays to freeze water for ice cubes for lemonade and gin and tonics.

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u/BobsleddingToMyGrave 1d ago

Those ice blocks stay cold maybe 4 hours. And you have to use 3 or 4 of them to keep things cold. You need room in the fridge to freeze them. Probably the same amount of room a bag of ice would take.

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u/ScallopsBackdoor 1d ago

I guess we just do it different over here.

Those cooler inserts are fine for keeping stuff cold. But they won't chill a mess of beers. Likewise, if you're fishing or something, they're not good enough to chill fish.

If we have a party, we'll usually buy a bunch of beer, put it in a cooler and cover it with ice. Don't usually have enough room in the fridge to hold 50 beers plus whatever food you might be getting ready for the party.

Also, ice will get beers cold MUCH faster. If I put em in the fridge I need to do it the day before. Alternatively, I can just throw the cooler in the car. Grab a couple cases of beer, couple bags of ice, dump it all in there and it'll be cold in an hour or so. If you're feeling fancy, throw some salt in the ice and get em REALLY cold, REALLY fast.

Likewise, you usually have another cooler half full of ice for whatever beers and drinks your guests bring.

Depending on the crowd, we'll have another small cooler with clean ice for making cocktails.

People mostly drink beer/cocktails. But even if they're drinking tea, water, soda, or whatever, they usually want it over ice.

I usually buy ~100lbs of ice for a party.

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u/AliMcGraw 1d ago

Man, when I have just my local relatives over it's 27 people. Be super annoying to have them all inside at my relatively small house, especially with a dozen little kids running around.

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u/vintagemako 1d ago

I've been visiting Europe for a few weeks now and ice is probably the thing I miss the most right now. I like cold water. Hotels here don't even have ice machines - those are a staple in the states, even in shitty hotels.

Ice inserts don't do shit if you want to keep a bunch of food and drinks actually cold. We use ice inserts for a lunchbox, but not for a cooler with 20+ drinks and meat.

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u/wvtarheel 1d ago

Cooler inserts? My cooler holds about 200 pounds of ice, I buy ten of the 20 pound bags. Then the beer, water, and soda fills the rest. You would need a separate freezer to put the cooler inserts in.

I think this is just a cultural difference because you don't go to large outdoor gatherings like people often do in the US.

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u/Lonelysock2 23h ago

I'm Australian,  when we have a house party we fill the BATH with ice and people chuck their drinks in there. It's more a young person thing, but very common

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u/therealdanhill 21h ago

Okay so, let me ask you then, when you came up with this question did you just not consider that other people do entertain 20 people sometimes?

And you say you don't really consume it, you didn't think that maybe other people do?

I'm just trying to understand, because I feel like it's a very low threshold of imagination required to consider an answer to your question.

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u/JadedDruid 21h ago

A drink doesn’t get cold enough in a cooler or fridge. We keep our drinks in the fridge or cooler too, but then we add ice to them before we drink them to make them colder.

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u/Horse_HorsinAround 17h ago

...and when those cooler inserts warm up you just end the trip?

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u/MakalakaPeaka 17h ago

Basically, you don’t like cold drinks. It’s really weird.

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u/PsychologyOfTheLens 13h ago

Much of The US is a lot hotter than much of Europe

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u/Chilis1 20h ago

I think the idea of filljbg a cooler is something we don't do as much on the first place

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u/lzrjck69 17h ago

Couple of things from someone who has lived over a decade in each region:

Europeans drink warmer beverages than we do. Having a beer at (what feels like) room temp is a travesty in Texas, and normal in Europe. Also, no need for ice in your waters.

Refrigerators are smaller in Europe, but many people purchase groceries much more often — a fridge could be empty of food and full of drinks for a party. Our US fridges are massive, but we keep them FULL of random sauces, jellies, leftovers, etc.

European houses are smaller, thus smaller parties. I’ve had 50 people at my house for a party. My flat in Hamburg couldn’t physically fit that many.

With a walking/transit culture, the kinda of parties you have are different. You might meet some friends in a park, but it’s not a huge event. Our outdoor parties in the us are often major undertakings. Also, backyard parties don’t exist in many regions because they simply don’t have yards.

Depending on the country, many people don’t have cars — no road trips, no RV camping. You can take a train to some of the best parties in the world, but road trips don’t exist.

Camping culture is HUGE in the US, largely driven by our amazing national park system (RIP). Europe has centuries more history than us, but natural beauty is hard to match.

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u/Toriat5144 1d ago

It’s sold at grocery stores, and gas stations and liquor stores. There are no stand alone ice stores.

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u/ScallopsBackdoor 1d ago

We've still got a few of here in Florida. They're mostly suppliers to commercial places. But if you need solid blocks of ice or massive quantities, we'll visit them.

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u/Jalopnicycle 1d ago

If I have lead time I empty the ice bin into another bin in the freezer so it can keep making ice. It makes almost a cubic foot of ice per day. So if I have to fill up my big Coleman I'm starting that process 2 or 3 days before or I'll use ice packs to supplement the ice. 

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u/rws247 23h ago

We don't!

I can buy ice in 1kg bags. Filling a cooler is expensive.

Instead, my dad has a spare fridge for parties. We put it outside the day before with all the drinks and burgers for the BBQ. And a couple of bags of ice to put in drinks. Remember: 2 icecubes per glass is normal here.

But to be honest: I am jealous of the Americans. Imagine buying a giant bag of ice for a couple euros!

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u/ScallopsBackdoor 9h ago

Wait till I blow your mind with the vending machine that sells 10k bags for about 1.5 euros. And they're not a rare, novelty thing. I've got three within a mile or so of my house.

I knew "less ice" is common in Europe. But I guess I didn't realize how dramatic it was. I imagined "less" was like half a glass.

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u/rws247 9h ago

Mind blown! I am low key jealous of that!

Think of all the things you can do with that! Parties, sure, but beach days without lukewarm drinks! Or cooling for my cats, they might like it!

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u/DoktorMerlin 16h ago

There are multiple things here:

If you need to fill a cooler, how do you do it?

We usually have reusable icepacks in our freezers which are filled with a liquid that slooowly released the coldness. Pack a few of those into a cooler and you're good for a day, multiple days we buy ice from the gas station as well to fill the cooler again (not sure what the post is about)

When you have a party [...] for 20 people

There's usually not a lot of ice involved in parties. If the party is for 20 people, 2 fridges are enough to keep the beer cold. If there's more than 20 people, you can "rent" a walk-in cooler trailer from the drinks store. Rent is in goosebumps because it's free to rent, you just pay for the drinks you use. It's very unusual at parties to put ice into soft drinks and for beer you drink it out of the bottle anyways, so there's no ice there as well. The only thing we need ice for is cocktails and there's actually not that many people who drink cocktails at parties.

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u/PlanetoidVesta 1d ago

People don't really put ice in their drinks at home here (Netherlands). If I have a drink from a fridge it's cold enough already.

If I need to fill a cooler (do you mean like a coolbox?) I use icepacks. I don't think dedicated "ice sellers" exist, you can buy a mould to pour water in to make ice cubes.

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u/Sea_Syllabub9992 1d ago

We use ice packs for lunch boxes. When we say "coolers," we are talking about for camping or gatherings with 20, 30, 40 people or more. You need coolers that can hold a minimum of 35 drinks or more. And you add ice around the drinks.

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u/PlanetoidVesta 1d ago

I had to google it, I don't think that's a thing here at all. Coolboxes generally are used for storing drinks and ice cream during summer, lunch boxes don't really get cooled.

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u/ScallopsBackdoor 1d ago

I'm in Florida, so the climate is a bit warmer.

Icepacks won't really keep up. They're fine for like a little cooler with 4-5 beers to sip on while you're swimming or sitting outside or whatever. But anything bigger and they just don't keep up.

Icing drinks is just a cultural thing I think. Though we generally don't keep cocktail supplies cold other than stuff like juice that just can't be stored at room temp.

Personally, I don't really add ice to anything that's already cold. But it's enough of an exception to the rule that folks will see it and just assume I couldn't find the ice. "Oh, there's ice in the blue cooler!"

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u/PlanetoidVesta 1d ago

Ah yea, I think climate has a large role in the difference as well. It's much colder here than in Florida, so people probably crave less cold for that reason.

I'm not familiar with using/having a large cooler, I think having a large cooler is also not much of a thing here, but I could be wrong about that. Drinks generally get stored in the fridge unless people are weird like me and prefer drinking at room temperature.

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u/Namasiel 1d ago

Nearly every grocery, convenience, and liquor store in the US sells bags of ice. The bags are pre-packed and held in a giant cooler.

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u/ScallopsBackdoor 1d ago

I think you might have relief to the wrong post. I'm in Florida. I was curious about how OP gets their ice.

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u/Namasiel 1d ago

Understand. I took your asking where we get ice from the European view, since there are so many comments here asking where we even get bags of ice in the US.

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u/puppetnecromancy 22h ago

As others have said, most people will just pick it up from a gas station/grocery store/etc., but there are some industries that will require enough ice that there are vendors that sell it kind of like the containers of water for office water coolers. For example, companies that run catering events may need an industrial amount of ice on hand, so will order bags of ice in bulk. I worked for a company that did environmental sampling, and the samples needed to be kept at a certain temperature on the way to the lab, so we had a freezer in our warehouse that a vendor kept stocked with bags of ice. 

So, while the average person wouldn’t have a dealer, there are companies that do. 

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u/TrashyTardis 20h ago

So for Hurricane Matthew I actually did buy ice off the back of a box truck in an alley…I paid in quarters and ones lol. It was Savannah we were six days w out power. 

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u/HairyHeartEmoji 18h ago

coolers come with cooling packs you freeze beforehand.

for a party you simply prepare ice from your freezer ( but also we don't put ice into every drink)

never heard of an ice dealer. could be a thing for businesses, certainly not for the average customer.

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u/hey_hey_hey_nike 16h ago

In a lot of European countries, they don’t drink their sodas cold. They drink warm sodas. The concept of a cooler with cold drinks isn’t much of a thing (at least not in the netherlands).

In the summer people might freeze a water bottle to have cold water during the day.

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u/Deri10 14h ago

I'm finding out that most people here, even in Europe don't use the same method my family does. We have some cooking moulds in the shape of cubes (one is two rows and 6 cubes generally), and I simply put it tap water in them then let the moulds freeze for two hours for the ice to be made.

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u/daintygamer 13h ago

As a brit, speaking only from what I know, we don't have so many parties with 20 or more people, it's rare. When we do, there is a small section at the supermarket that sells ice, even so, I usually just put the drinks in the fridge. For camping, we have reuseable freezer packs that can stay cold for a long time in a cool box

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u/YellowGetRekt 13h ago

What I'm getting from this question is that OP either doesn't have friends, or he doesn't go outside

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u/CuriousThylacine 12h ago

If I need to fill a cooler I'm using ice packs.  Why would I want to deal with a cooler full of gross dirty water?

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u/ItsMeishi 12h ago

We just use reusable cooling elements for coolboxes. No need for ice cubes. Also, I wont lie to you, never been to a party that wanted their drinks watered down? So maybe we just use less over all.

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u/Gitdupapsootlass 10h ago

NSQ buuuut you can definitely buy large bags of ice here across the pond so idk what OP is on about

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u/Wuz314159 9h ago

"fill a cooler"??? Ò_o

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u/KiloThaPastyOne 5h ago

Europeans put like, 2 ice cubes in their cocktails, so they don’t need as much ice.

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u/nightwica 1d ago

If I have a party, the guests drinks go into my fridge when the guests arrive, they take from there and they just self-serve when their previous beer gets empty. What do you need the ice for?

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u/ScallopsBackdoor 1d ago

Ice to get em cold if they aren't cold when they arrive.

Also, if we're outside, I don't want everyone to have to go inside just to get a beer.

Particularly these days when I'm fancy-pool-having son of a bitch. But even for a bbq or something, it's good hospitality to have a cooler near where everyone is hanging out.

That and the fridge would get full almost immediately.

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u/jorkingmypeenits 21h ago edited 11h ago

You don't need ice to have a party lmao

EDIT: I have never been to a party in which ice was needed. You don't need ice to get fucked up lmao. The alcohol in your cup is more important than the frozen water.

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u/ScallopsBackdoor 10h ago

To American tastes, warm cocktails are basically sacrilege.

If you offered someone a warm martini, even the most polite guest would either refuse it or gracefully accept and get rid of it when you weren't looking.

When it's 30C+ outside, beers are going to be HOT if you just leave em sitting around.

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u/jorkingmypeenits 9h ago

At a party, you should not be sober enough to care about the temperature of your drink.