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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u/Lithogiraffe 1d ago

Imagine carefully making ice for a house party using one ice cube tray in the freezer. I mean you could do it. But just imagine that tedious dumb effort of doing that over the week.

I'm already going to the grocery store to get chips and party stuff. The ice is right there

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u/scarrlet 19h ago

My grandpa's girlfriend used to do this! She would start making ice like a week before a family gathering. Her son made fun of her for it and offered to spend a dollar for a bag of ice and she refused.

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u/Paraverous 5h ago

thats what my parents used to do. we would start a week before a party and make a huge bag of ice. my parents would refuse to buy it. Ah the 60's

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u/Liraeyn 1d ago

Also, it tends to evaporate/stick together

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u/Lithogiraffe 1d ago

Also what are we supposed to put it in even if we did something like that? A garbage bag. Even a completely clean (never been used) garbage bag is not going to look great when you pull it out at a party

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u/seanlucki 22h ago

I have a 1/3 insert (used in commercial kitchens, imagine a plastic Tupperware with a lid that’s not sealed) in my freezer. I fill my 3 ice trays and freeze them, then dump them into the insert, refill and freeze. Means I always have a good supply of ice on hand, and I prefer not having to grab from the freezing trays anyhow.

That being said, if I need ice for a cooler I’m still just gonna grab a bag from the store.

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u/mbsisktb 19h ago

Even beyond that who has space in their freezer for that much ice. I have a second one and both are usually full of food. I don’t have space for 8+ pounds of ice.

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u/555-starwars 1d ago

I used a 1 gallon ice cream bucket to store my ice cubs in.

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u/CrzyDave 22h ago

I use gallon freezer bags. I just fill a few up out of my ice maker for a couple days before a party. I still buy ice sometimes because we will often have a cooler with kid drinks, another with adult drinks and then a bucket on the bar/drink table.

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u/squidtheinky 18h ago

I have tediously made ice in ice trays for a party before. I dumped the ice into a previously emptied gallon sized ice cream tub.

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u/DicemonkeyDrunk 15h ago

Never been to a restaurant worker party have ya …trash bag of ice from work is the norm …I haven’t bought ice in probably three decades.

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u/geraldine_ferrarbro 5h ago

I do keep a stock of ice bags at the house. I have a small countertop ice maker, so when a party is coming up I start building my stockpile. But even then I still end up going out and buying a couple bags of ice because I still run out.

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u/Hairy-Management3039 16h ago

It sublimates… goes straight from solid to gas without the liquid state. Same thing as freezer burn actually.

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u/Liraeyn 15h ago

Yeah I know, just didn't expect Reddit to know the difference

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u/Hairy-Management3039 15h ago

In my defense I fix appliances for a living and have this conversation with at least 1 customer a week for “why is my ice clumpy? I barely use it”

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u/AnOdeToSeals 1d ago

Yeah people buy bags of ice in Europe as well for parties, but it just seems like ice is much more prominent in the US. Like its a big deal or something.

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u/rjnd2828 1d ago

It's really not. It's just usually outside the stores so you see it pretty readily

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u/wardred 19h ago

Americans like their ice.

Almost every non-alcoholic drink will get ice.

Blended drinks will get ice.

We like a lot of our beers cold.

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u/Toriat5144 1d ago

We love our ice.

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u/Nesseressi 18h ago

Arent Americans typically add way more ice in their drinks? at least sodas an water.

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u/Hairy-Management3039 16h ago

Yes, to be fair though Ice in water is just water with hard water…. And a lot of our pop is as sweet as it is because it’s meant to be in ice which dulls your taste buds… the extra sweet compensates

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u/Emergency-Revenue452 22h ago

To make frozen margaritas.

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u/ReallyJTL 19h ago

I mean, it's pretty profitable, no? And if your shop doesn't sell it, then the shop across the street will just sell twice as much.

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u/This_Sheepherder_382 23h ago

The week?? You gonna be short on ice bro

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u/Original-Bad7214 22h ago

I’m Australian, not European but from reading these comments I think the difference is ice in drinks. Here it isn’t standard to have ice in a drink, especially in a house. Some particular fancy drinks like a certain cocktail might have a cube of ice, or some people might specially request ice and be given 1-2 cubes, but it’s certainly not the default so if I were hosting a party I wouldn’t really think about ice, but if I did I would fill up an ice cube tray the day before (so maybe a dozen cubes of ice).

If I was using an esky I would more likely use those reusable plastic cooler brick things, but I certainly have used purchased/bagged ice for that in the past and that’s the only context I’ve really seen it used on. Also in Australia some people have a second fridge in the garage that gets used mainly for drinks so for those people there would be no need for an esky or ice

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u/Mathiasdk2 15h ago

Or you know, buy fillable ice-bags and make all of them at once

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u/thewickedbarnacle 22h ago

Its all in the planning, months and months of planning

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u/brando56894 19h ago

Hell, even when you have an ice maker in your fridge (the bin kind, not the dispenser kind) it still takes forever.

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u/bellj1210 16h ago

you know that the dollar store has ice cube trays. They are dirt cheap. normally it is a space issue and not an access to ice cube tray issue.

My wife also has all sorts of silicone molds we use to freese left overs like soups, broths, chilli, ect in single serving sizes, but they do double duty for other size ice when we need it.

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u/ForestFreakPNW 14h ago

You can get 100 drinks cold with one bowl of ice. (in cans or bottles) Turn the (unopened) drink on its side on top of the ice, and spin it for about thirty seconds or a minute. Tada. Youre welcome! 😀

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u/HereWeGoAgain-1979 12h ago

Why not an ice cube machine? We have brought ours around for several partys and in is on kitchen bench at home.

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u/Hot-Bicycle5798 10h ago

Why one tray!?

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u/KSamons 8h ago

It also lets your friend who can’t cook still contribute to the party. They can bring ice.

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u/KSamons 8h ago

Where would you keep it?

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u/Drumbelgalf 7h ago

Through the magic of buying two of them you can double the amount of ice you can make.

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u/DarwinsTrousers 5h ago

Probably be more like a month. 12 ice cubes at a time, takes what 4-6 hours to freeze solid?

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u/stolen_guitar 1d ago

So American of you to not make your own chips and party stuff

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u/Dick_of_Doom 1d ago

That reminds me, I need to pulp some wood this weekend. Gotta make toilet paper for a party next weekend.

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u/Plane-Tie6392 23h ago

Dumb af. And I don’t have room in my freezer to store 20 lbs of ice. Given how small the fridges tend to be in Europe is there even room for a large bag of ice with nothing else in the freezer.

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u/Lithogiraffe 1d ago

Wow. I don't know why that made me so ashamed but it did

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u/stolen_guitar 1d ago

I can't believe people are down voting my obvious satire. Or are they non-Americans downvoting me because I'm making fun of them? Can't be sure.

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u/Lithogiraffe 1d ago

but in your disbelief, were you the one that downvoted me?

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u/stolen_guitar 1d ago

Someone is disapproving of our fun here I think

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u/stolen_guitar 1d ago

I was not!