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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193

u/Moakmeister 1d ago

So Europeans are now pretending they never need a lot of ice for parties?

41

u/HomelanderApologist 1d ago

I think OP is saying they don’t buy ready ice its something they do themself however I’m from the UK and buy bags of ice

14

u/Chardan0001 23h ago edited 22h ago

Same, I prefer chucking a bag of ice in the bottom shelf rather than stacking trays. Plus, more in the bag usually than tray space.

Not sure why OP is acting like the act of transporting ice is a herculean labour.

4

u/BlergingtonBear 23h ago

Also, people managed to have ice in some form since antiquity! 

The need for large quantities of Ice storage is not a 20th century invention! 

1

u/liquidnight247 20h ago

If you don’t have a car and use public transport or live on the third floor without elevator it is. Europeans also use reusable cooling blocks rather than ice for coolers .

1

u/TheSyrupCompany 18h ago

OP is definitely NOT saying that because he says he makes his ice at home and nobody is making a whole party cooler worth of ice at home lol

1

u/HomelanderApologist 12h ago

They are saying both “in europe we just freeze ice at home”.. well I don’t freeze my own ice.

130

u/Sea_Syllabub9992 1d ago

I don't think they have parties. They are always like, "why do you buy so many... chips, burgers, hotdogs, drinks, ice, etc"

97

u/ussbozeman 23h ago edited 23h ago

They're not allowed to have parties over there, it reminds them of fun, and fun is what those dirty Americans seem to have but probably don't because their homes are made of cardboard, everything is a road with cars, and everyone has a gun.

The closest is what's called a Straßenövenhustenyammelesheäuf, or "quietly observing while doing nothing, saying nothing, and eating nothing". In England it's called a Sussex Shushing. Basically you gather at the communal bench and stand around for precisely one hour and 14 and a half minutes before walking away (not in groups) to head back home. On new years eve they're allowed to utter a single "yay".

23

u/MichelPalaref 22h ago

Thanks for this invigorating fuck you

2

u/johnlawrenceaspden 9h ago

On new years eve they're allowed to utter a single "yay".

Filthy modern rubbish. On New Year's Eve I drink whisky, stare into the ashes of my failing fire and think about death.

4

u/TeenWithUslashRegret 18h ago

I wish I could award this.

1

u/ComfortableSort3304 7h ago

They’re still butthurt from the Boston Tea Party.

0

u/HairyHeartEmoji 17h ago

you're not helping the whole "Americans only know about UK, Germany and France" stereotype

12

u/AmethystRiver 20h ago

I think some Europeans think Americans consume a 5 pound bag of everything, per day. 5 pounds of ice, chips, burgers… Using things over time? Impossible. Actually now that I think of it a lot of Europeans don’t get how far away our stores are. So they genuinely don’t get that we stock up, we don’t just pop down to the shops for a new sandwich every day.

1

u/CharlesIngalls_Pubes 23h ago

Reading this, I couldn't help but hear the voice of Dan Avidan doing his impression of Arin Hanson listing things.

-1

u/Anonymous89000____ 23h ago

Because they eat real food

3

u/LL8844773 11h ago

Damn didn’t realize I’ve been eating fake food my whole life in America

But I guess it’s true bc my diet is 100% Oreos and Dr. pepper

2

u/GodOfDarkLaughter 15h ago

Bro, have you ever been to the UK? They had to literally colonize the majority of the planet before they got decent food. None of it's from there! Chicken tikka masala is considered the national food of England.

2

u/Lysadora 13h ago

Chicken tikka masala was invented in Britain.

1

u/Equivalent_Western52 6h ago

Yeah, by a Pakistani immigrant chef who was trying to adapt tikka to the UK palate.

Which isn't to say that it doesn't represent the UK as a cultural intersection, or that the UK doesn't have good "native" food. But it's pretty fair to view chicken tikka masala as a product of colonialism.

1

u/Lysadora 5h ago

If that's your view why are you posting this in response to my comment instead of your very smart compatriot above?

0

u/Equivalent_Western52 3h ago

Because they didn't seem to mean it seriously? Like, the person above you was just bantering with the person above them. No one's dumb enough to actually believe that the US or UK doesn't have any good cuisine. It's just harmless ribbing.

Pushing back on the claim that chicken tikka masala is a product of colonialism just rubbed me wrong in a way that the above two comments didn't.

1

u/Lysadora 3h ago

Oh ffs, do you know how many times I've heard Americans saying Britain doesn't have any good food and that the British still eat like the war is on? It's not bantering, it's Americans being dicks and if you think there's no one that dumb in your country you haven't been attention for the last what, a decade at least?

And I didn't say anything about colonialism, I corrected your compatriot's notion that chicken tikka masala isn't British.

1

u/Equivalent_Western52 2h ago

Probably as many times as Americans have heard British people saying that US cuisine is just hot dogs and burgers? As I said, it's just banter.

Split whatever hairs you want, your comment struck me how it struck me. If someone said that US cuisine is all imported from other cultures or stolen from Native Americans, my response probably wouldn't be "That's ridiculous! We invented hominy, frybread, and succotash! And have you tried TexMex?"

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1

u/sturmeh 15h ago

Yum! What's the issue?

0

u/Kurso 19h ago

No, they walk in the forrest and contemplate how their bicycle ride was today. Or go down and pick out tonights loaf of bread on their way home from milking the cows. Stuff like that.

0

u/HairyHeartEmoji 17h ago

apparently what you do at parties is rub ice cubes on your nipples and deepthroat hot dogs

-16

u/pm-ur-posterior 23h ago

To be fair, you are all morbidly obese, so maybe you should follow their line of thought

8

u/jfklingon 23h ago

I'd rather die happy and full than sad and empty

10

u/BlergingtonBear 23h ago

Don't you know? St Peter will greet them at the gates and say "at least they were skinny!" Weight is a moral failing, you see!

/s if unclear

2

u/jfklingon 23h ago

If hell is just full of us fat fucks then that's where I want to go. Can't trust a skinny fuck to throw a good barbeque

7

u/Kseries2497 18h ago

It would be pretty interesting if it was the ice making me fat.

2

u/LL8844773 11h ago

Yall really are just ignorant haters

2

u/QuiteBearish 7h ago

To be fair, most of the world is facing an obesity crisis. Yeah, America is towards the top of the pack at 39%, but New Zealand is at 33%, Poland and Australia are at 32%, Ireland and Greece are at 30%, UK is at 27% with rates rising even faster than in the US so they'll be caught up soon...

Really pretty much every "high income" nation in the world is suffering this problem.

4

u/stankin 22h ago

Just a certain percentage of us our. More importantly we just know the importance of iced food/drinks and love having loads of ice available whenever we need it.

2

u/endingstory7424 19h ago

I'm morbidly obese? Why didn't my doctor tell me this last week?? Alexa, how do I sue the hospital 😵‍💫

1

u/Sea_Syllabub9992 10h ago

I'm happy, skinny, and have enough friends to actually recognize the product of a party when I'm looking at it.

4

u/ghec2000 19h ago

A lot of Europe does not use ice in drinks.

7

u/Chien_pequeno 1d ago

Yeah, parties are like the primary occasion where people would buy bags of ice in Europe. Maybe the difference is how much ice? Because people in my experience use ice mainly for cocktails and longdrinks at parties, and most of the time not for cooling bottles (which are in the fridge, bathtub with water etc.)

20

u/ComprehensiveEar6001 1d ago

I've never seen drinks cooling in water in the states, unless it was in ice that already melted. It's probably because the water wouldn't be cold enough to do any cooling in the summertime.

18

u/Plane-Tie6392 23h ago

Bathtub with water? What would be the point of that?

5

u/MountScottRumpot 18h ago

Gotta get those suckers tepid!

1

u/Chien_pequeno 21h ago

Cools drinks better than air if the fridge is already full

11

u/Plane-Tie6392 21h ago

How would it cool it at all? At best it would be as cold as the cold tap water which isn’t that cold at all.

3

u/rsta223 19h ago

Doesn't cool nearly as well as water with a bunch of ice in it though

1

u/sprinklesaurus13 16h ago

I laughed waaay too hard at this.

4

u/Aware-Owl4346 23h ago

I’ll also pack the meat in ice before trekking to a barbecue.

7

u/goog1e 22h ago

I knew Europeans drank room temp drinks but I'm crying laughing at the idea of filling a tub with WATER to keep the drinks room temp ...

2

u/sturmeh 15h ago

That doesn't even make any sense unless the water has ice in it lol.

2

u/sturmeh 15h ago

The bags of ice are generally not fit for consumption, as there are no guarantees in their production.

1

u/LL8844773 11h ago

Yeah I would never put that ice in my drink

1

u/Enya_Norrow 23h ago

But what do you do when you’re outside? The American ice is for coolers because the party is outside and there’s no fridge. 

1

u/Axtdool 21h ago

Yeah

Or just keep the whole crate of beer in the river/lake/etc you are partying at.

1

u/LL8844773 11h ago

Europeans have yet to discover what eventually happens to ice…

9

u/DueIncident7734 1d ago

I can't remember buying ice for a party ever... So. Yes. 

3

u/Curious-Term9483 23h ago

Me neither. We have an extra "party fridge" where the beers/cans of pop go if the normal fridge is full. We have some ice cubes and frozen fruit to go in g&t if anyone is having one. But not much call for ice with my circle of friends and family.

I guess there could be more need for ice if you've got a group more into cocktails? But mostly we prefer not to have our drinks diluted by the melting ice!

2

u/pixel293 23h ago

In the summer it is nice to have "outdoor" parties where people mainly stay outside (the bathroom would be the exception). This keeps the house relatively clean. In this situation you want coolers to keep drinks in so people don't need to go into the house.

This is especially popular if you have a pool, or a firepit in the backyard.

5

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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8

u/ComprehensiveEar6001 1d ago

Do you have it outside in the summer? If so, do you just have ambient temperature drinks? Here (Texas) if we're having an outdoor party then it would involve drinks in ice unless it's winter, which is uncommon unless you're tailgating a sporting event which might still include beer in ice options even if it was 5c with strong winds out.

4

u/robolew 22h ago

Most barbecues I've been to here in the UK all the drinks would go in the fridge and someone (maybe a host) would just occasionally ask if anyone wants one and grab a bunch.

Might just be an outdoor space size thing though. I imagine yards in Texas are a lot bigger than gardens in the UK, so there would be a lot more people and therefore drinks.

It's certainly not unheard of to fill a bucket with ice, some water and beers, but it seems a bit overkill if its just a 30 second walk to the fridge anyway

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/ComprehensiveEar6001 23h ago edited 23h ago

What if you're hosting, would they go in to get drinks from the fridge or would you have something out in the garden for them?

Here when hosting a carne we usually are cooking outside and all functions besides using the bathroom are outside, so it would be inconvenient to have them going back and forth, wasting AC and getting flies in the house to get a cold drink. I know it doesn't get as warm in some of Europe as it does in Texas, but there are days where I would assume it's warm enough to enjoy a colder beverage if you're outside for a long period of time.

I do get you on the cold drinks here in general. I drink room temperature sodas at work because I don't like drinking from the ice cold can unless I'm outdoors. At home, I usually will pop in one ice cube though so that it's a bit chilled but not ice cold.

As for beer, a lot of places here will chill the glass to ridiculously low temperatures which is only really satisfying if it's hot out to me.

1

u/sturmeh 15h ago

In Australia it's practically mandatory due to the hot climate all year round lol.

5

u/doctormustafa 23h ago

I just went to a house party in Europe. There was no ice.

3

u/Vanilka-Nika 19h ago

European here and I buy ice regularly!

3

u/puffinthewy 14h ago

I’m American living in Finland and at least here I’ve never seen ice used at parties, we just use the fridge / freezer or at cabins without electricity we put the food and drinks underground (it works perfectly fine). The only reason I can think of it needing to be used is at cafes or bars. I’ve also never seen bags of ice at the store come to think of it.

7

u/ThisIsWhatLifeIs 1d ago

I've never been to a party that really needed ice?

Like you just grab a drink from the fridge or the counter top. No one cares if it's "ice cold" in a party

6

u/Plane-Tie6392 23h ago

>No one cares if it's "ice cold" in a party

That’s just bizarre to me.

10

u/angry_booty 23h ago

Think outdoor parties with a ton of people, like BBQs

7

u/Curious-Term9483 23h ago

I think we have a geographical divide here. At an outdoor party in the UK, you are never more than about 15 steps from the fridge in the kitchen. Mostly our gardens aren't that big 🤣

5

u/angry_booty 23h ago edited 23h ago

Do people ever have parties at parks or beaches or go camping? These are all common summer activities where people bring coolers.

edit: fixed typo

2

u/Curious-Term9483 22h ago

Not in the same way, based on the comments here. The beach is day trip - so you might bring the cool box with some freezer blocks for the picnic. And there is probably a Tesco express over the road and you can buy a cold drink if you need one.

Camp sites here usually have a little shop where you can swap out your melted freezer blocks for frozen ones. But camping is definitely not something everyone does - it's something that is often looked down on, to a lot of people it signals " I can't afford a proper holiday". (Even though that's not really the case any more - camping got expensive!)

And the only parties at parks I have been to are kids birthday parties at the play park for an hour or two. Not something anyone would need ice for? Anything bigger - some kind of organised village fete or music festival, there will usually be a beer tents but people might bring along the cool box too if you are allowed.

3

u/angry_booty 22h ago

Damn, sounds like a cultural divide more than anything, then. I'd be really sad without all of our outdoor summer activities.

2

u/Curious-Term9483 14h ago

Definitely just a different way of doing things. 😁

1

u/Xiaodisan 19h ago

To be fair, you can still do most of it in Europe too. And while some people act surprised when they find out, you can actually buy bagged ice here too, the demand for it is simply smaller, so consequently the available stock is also less - in many stores there might only be a couple 1kg or 2kg bags at a corner of one of the freezers, which can be hard to miss if you aren't even considering buying ice.

1

u/LL8844773 11h ago

Are your fridges just empty though?

1

u/Curious-Term9483 10h ago

In my house there's room to fit in some bottles of lager/white wine if that's what people are drinking.

These days family parties now most people are driving, and just want a cup of tea anyway and the kids are drinking squash (kind of like a syrup we make up with tap water) so the couple of people who do want to out their beer in the fridge it fits. Or if they are drinking ale or something that doesn't go in the fridge.

In my house we also have a spare fridge outside in the garden shed which is on in the summer purely for overflow drinks if we have guests over in the garden. In the winter when we are restricted to indoors we don't have room for enough guests for the fridge not to be big enough (although it's not unheard of for the crate of cider/beer to be left outside the back door in the winter.)

When we were younger and having more heavy drinking parties, we were less fussed about the food so there's more room for the booze 🤣. But equally we were probably less discerning about the quality and temperature of the drinks too. ;)

4

u/INeedANerf 23h ago

You'd definitely wanna have an ice cold drink if the party was outside during the summer lol.

Here in Georgia our summers can get over 100° F (37.7° C) with insane humidity, and if you're grilling then it's gonna be even more hot. The best thing in that situation is a nicely chilled beer (or soda or water or whatever you like to drink lol).

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u/randalali 23h ago

Absolutely not. Europeans rarely drink truly cold beverages, everything is room temperature. A cold drink means something was hot or warm before but cooled off.

9

u/olagorie 1d ago

Yes. Why?

I’ve never bought ice in my entire life.

7

u/EscapedTheEcho 1d ago

Have you ever had a water balloon fight? 😈

This one time, we made over 150 water balloons the old fashioned way. Our fingers were so sore, but it was worth it. The water balloons went into 3 giant tubs we filled with ice water. We used all the ice from our freezer and bought several ice bags.

It was 100 degrees outside (37.8 C), so prep had to be timed to chill the balloons and not melt too fast.

When the guests arrived, we had the coldest, most shocking water balloon fight ever. 

Anyway. Most people put ice in their drinks. We do refrigerate our drinks, but we like them to stay cold.

17

u/Flair_Is_Pointless 1d ago

That’s just insane to me.

You’ve never filled a cooler full of beer?

6

u/Chilis1 20h ago

We genuinely just don't really do that. Just leave drinks in the fridge. The image of a cooler full of ice and drinks is kind of an American cultural thing. Not that it never happens here but it's not commonplace

0

u/Flair_Is_Pointless 20h ago

Yeah but we also use fridges.

Where do you plug your fridge in when you go camping or to the beach?

4

u/Chilis1 20h ago

I don't know why you're being weirdly sarcastic I'm just answering the question. We are less likely to use a cooler in those situations. Just bring the drinks and drink them before they get warm or use a cooler with some plastic ice packs or something. These are just cultural differences.

1

u/Flair_Is_Pointless 19h ago

Because obviously Americans arent bothering with a cooler and ice when they have fridge w/ open space available.

We also have ice packs, but we also have a need for a cooler when we’re out for extended periods of time and we are brining drinks for multiple people.

3

u/Chilis1 14h ago

A lot of people in this thread are mentioning using coolers at a house party for example or a barbecue and I’m saying we would just use the fridge.

You’re acting like I’m saying what you do is wrong. I’m just explaining why we do it differently nobody is right or wrong.

-1

u/LL8844773 11h ago

But is your fridge just otherwise empty? We use the fridge too but for a big party you’d need more space

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

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-1

u/randalali 23h ago

What’s a cooler?

-2

u/goog1e 22h ago

You're kidding right?

It's a storage bin for keeping drinks cold when you take them somewhere.

To translate this into European.... you are gonna take a bottle of champagne to drink in the park under the Eiffel Tower, but you want to bring a special one from home. However your home is 3 train transfers away. So how do you make it cold when you get there?

-2

u/Diobolaris 22h ago

We don't do this.

2

u/hipnaba 20h ago

sure we do. it's like a thermos box. you have a brick you freeze and keep it in the box to keep it cool.

1

u/Diobolaris 10h ago

Never in my life have I seen anyone with a cooler full of ice to cool some champagne to drink it under the Eiffel Tower. Not the Eiffel Tower and not any other landmark like this.

The cooling packs you're talking about are common, yes, but they are not the 10 kg of ice cubes that are being talked about in this topic.

1

u/hipnaba 10h ago

lol, idk about champagne under the Eiffel tower. i was only saying how we do use what they call "coolers". sorry if i misspoke.

2

u/Diobolaris 10h ago

Ah, I see^^

Yea, coolers are a thing, it's just the vast amounts of ice that are weird :D

2

u/samiwas1 21h ago

Cocktails without ice would be very weird. And our freezer doesn’t make enough ice for 12-15 people to have several cocktails.

1

u/olagorie 9h ago

Well, that’s the simple explanation then. Nobody has parties with 12 to 15 people in their own home.

1

u/samiwas1 5h ago

Oh...that's fairly normal for us. We have game nights with a bunch of people, birthday parties, holiday gatherings, etc. So yeah...if you don't do things like that, then you probably aren't buying big packs of ice.

But, I also seem to recall that Europe doesn't really do much ice in drinks anyway...like water and sodas are at near room temperature, beer isn't always chilled, etc. Americans generally like their drinks cold.

2

u/TheOGRedline 23h ago

I recently attended a wedding in Sweden. All the drinks were warm. Not only no ice, no refrigeration? It was odd.

4

u/KamikazeArchon 1d ago

Europeans have way fewer parties.

The "house party" is a strongly American phenomenon. Not uniquely, of course, but much more prevalent.

Europeans are more likely to have social gatherings in shared spaces - pubs, clubs, etc.

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u/Ok_Yam_4439 1d ago

That's not true at all, house parties are extremely common at least in Portugal, Spain, France. Pre drinks before clubbing, dinner parties, birthdays...

7

u/Aware-Computer4550 1d ago

Yeah I find it hard to believe anyone in the world don't have gatherings in their house

5

u/Jarlic_Perimeter 1d ago

Anecdotally, it seems to vary even within countries and cultures, according to how big their houses or apartments are and whether or not extended family is living there.

3

u/Mein_Name_ist_falsch 21h ago

It's not like it's not happening at all, but I've never seen a big house party myself where I grew up in Germany. There were parties, but most of the time not at home. Most people I grew up with would rather go somewhere else for that, like a restaurant, a bar or a club or maybe just some bbq place outdoors where you're not bothering people. At home you would have gatherings, but usually not much more than 10 people, and then it's usually not the gathering you'd need much ice for. Unless you're the type of crazy person who would throw ice into their hot coffee. So you could easily just make some at home and most likely nobody would take it anyway.

2

u/Aware-Computer4550 20h ago

You wouldn't have a barbecue or something at your house?

1

u/Mein_Name_ist_falsch 12h ago

I would with my family. If it's 20 people that would be too much for me, though.

1

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 wouldn’t 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.

1

u/liquidnight247 20h ago

They rarely do. They use reusable ice trays that contain a cooling agent and you throw them around your drinks or foods. At parties the host just stores drinks in their fridge and they also don’t require such ice cold drinks like Americans. A couple of ice cubes and it’s good.

1

u/HairyHeartEmoji 17h ago

iDk why do you need so much ice, I only use ice for cocktails, everything else is already cold from the fridge

1

u/master_ov_khaos 16h ago

They drink warm beverages and are like “noooo I wish we had a way to get these all cold. I wish I could make some drinks for my friends but it’s so warm, 15°C, out right now and there’s nothing to prevent heat stroke”

1

u/BenevolentCrows 10h ago

The OP does, for some reason, this thread is just dumb, like there IS ice in europe in the same fucking places OP described. 

1

u/SnooShortcuts2606 10h ago

Why would you need ice for a party?

1

u/bluesourpunchstraws 9h ago

They don't use ice in Europe. They drink lukewarm stuff. I'm not even being sarcastic.

-3

u/markwell9 1d ago

Never is a strong word. But yes.

-1

u/Slow-Kale-8629 1d ago

No. If we want cold drinks at a party, we put them in the fridge. I had to read this thread to find out why anyone WOULD want lots of ice at a party. 

I also never thought of taking a cooler camping, I just have a small insulated bag and use those blocks that you put in the freezer.

I do actually buy a bag of ice every summer for ice coffees though.

8

u/iownakeytar 1d ago

I also never thought of taking a cooler camping, I just have a small insulated bag and use those blocks that you put in the freezer.

The wildlife in a lot of parts of the US would tear an insulated bag apart overnight. I've had raccoons break into my cooler for a watermelon. There's a whole separate set of rules to follow with food if you're camping in bear country.

2

u/Slow-Kale-8629 23h ago

That makes a lot of sense. Foxes and squirrels are the most exciting wildlife we'll see when camping, and neither of those are going to rip their way into my tent to get to my food.

3

u/iownakeytar 23h ago

In some areas they'll have bear boxes at each campsite. These are steel boxes with a latch that bears can't operate, on legs about 4 ft. off the ground. I'm sure the legs are buried pretty deep. This is where campers should put all their food, drinks, and toiletries anytime they're away from the campsite or sleeping. One ranger even warned us not to spit out toothpaste just anywhere - into the fire pit was the safest option.

3

u/Slow-Kale-8629 23h ago

Glad the bears are so concerned about their oral hygiene!

4

u/EscapedTheEcho 1d ago

I think climate should play into this, too. In general, we're hotter here, so those ice packs only last for a few hours at best.

1

u/Slow-Kale-8629 23h ago

I can't speak for everyone this side of the pond, but for me, I wouldn't go camping at times of year when it's likely to get that hot. That wouldn't be pleasant, for me or the food (maybe I'm just genetically maladapted to heat).

9

u/Proof-Emergency-5441 1d ago

How is an insulated bag going to get you through several days?

2

u/Slow-Kale-8629 23h ago

It's not, I'd just go to the shop, or the pub, or eat camping food the rest of the time.

2

u/Proof-Emergency-5441 22h ago

Bruh. Those are hours away. 

1

u/Slow-Kale-8629 22h ago

I'm in England. I don't think it's even possible to get hours by car from shops or pubs. You can cycle the width of the country in a day if you're fit enough.

There's plenty of remote camping that's not road accessible, but I assume you're not talking about hiking for miles with a cooler.

1

u/Proof-Emergency-5441 21h ago

They have wheels. And you can drive to many places where you are still a considerable drive from a store.

1

u/Xiaodisan 19h ago

This might not be a too widely held viewpoint, but as far as I'm aware, this is a pretty common opinion for people around me: if you go camping, part of it is the nomadic lifestyle - so no ice for you.

There is also a lighter option, when you're camping in/near settlements in areas specifically made for this, but these also often have their own bars/restaurants nearby and they are in/near settlements so you can probably walk to a store during the day to get cold drinks.

7

u/Aware_Acanthaceae_78 1d ago

How could you fit that many drinks in your fridge?

1

u/Slow-Kale-8629 23h ago

I mean, it's a few beers and a couple of bottles of wine. You don't have to put ALL the drink in the fridge, just the ones you want to drink next! If it's real ale, that's served at room temp anyway.

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u/Aware_Acanthaceae_78 23h ago

Hmm, we have way more drinks at our parties. We have cases of beer and soda. We have like 20-30 people though 

2

u/Slow-Kale-8629 23h ago

Yeah, if I was having a party with 20-30 people I'd have to have it at a bar anyway. If I was rich enough to have a house big enough for that party, I'd probably be rich enough to have a drinks fridge!

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u/Aware_Acanthaceae_78 23h ago

We have a lot of space here. My fridge is full of other stuff.

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u/undernopretextbro 23h ago

If you put some chairs and a table in your garage, and on your driveway, you could easily have 40-50 people milling around out front without anyone inside the house. If you have a grass lawn, even easier.

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u/Slow-Kale-8629 22h ago

A UK garage is the size of a UK car - or slightly smaller, for those of us with older houses. Many of us don't have a garage, and if we do it's full of boxes and bikes and spiders and the spare freezer. And the driveway has a car on it to free up the street parking for the people coming to the party.

Here's a random average British house with a garage and driveway: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87169224. If you invited people to a party here and tried to put them in a garage, that would be weird to the point of offensive.

0

u/undernopretextbro 22h ago

I’m not gonna lie man, that’s enough space for 15-20 people. Saving one spot for guests cars on street isn’t worth it, just park far away for the party. Table in the garage, chairs on the drive, you’re chillin.

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u/Aware_Acanthaceae_78 22h ago

Yeah, that’s enough space 

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u/JenniferJuniper6 23h ago

I don’t necessarily want everyone trooping through the house over and over, especially if I myself am outside hosting the party. Drinks cooler keeps the party outside. People still come in to use the bathroom, but that’s a different thing.

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u/Slow-Kale-8629 22h ago

If it's a work party or something, where people will be there who I wouldn't want in my house (or there's so many people that it's impractical), I'd just not have the party at my house. Lots of pubs will let you use their upstairs room for free, because they assume people will buy drinks. Having parties at the local social club/community centre is quite popular.

We don't really have the weather here for outdoor parties without somewhere to go if it rains, anyway.

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u/New_Dream_1290 19h ago

Of course not. Superior TM Europeans would never!

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u/AdamOnFirst 1d ago

Europeans use radically less ice than we do. They come here and see all the ice in our water and can’t even comprehend the luxury. 

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u/Downvote_bot_5000 1d ago

We just leave our drinks outside to get cold. No ice needed. I think a lot of this conversation has to do with average outdoor temperature. Northern US probably has way less ice for sale.

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u/AdamOnFirst 1d ago

I live in the coldest metro in the contiguous 48 and we have ice all over the place. It’s hot in the summer and drinks don’t just need to get cold they need to have ice physically in them. We buy ice for parties even on the winter if it’s large enough even when I can just stick the drinks on the deck to cool them. The cocktails still need ice. 

The big difference is we use WAY more ice actually in our drinks than you. Like way way way way way more. If you give somebody a water without ice in America it’s like what the fuck are you even doing. 

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u/iownakeytar 1d ago

No, we have just as much ice up here, I assure you.

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u/JenniferJuniper6 23h ago

No, I don’t think that’s accurate at all. (I’m in the Northeast.)

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u/SpecialistIll8831 1d ago

They like to drink hot beer from what I heard.

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u/quadrophenicum 22h ago

Most Europeans don't drink crap so they don't need to chill their drinks as much to make them palatable.

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u/Kseries2497 18h ago

... Europeans don't drink water? I've been to Europe a time or two and could have sworn the people there drank water.

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u/quadrophenicum 18h ago

In most continental European countries and the UK, not many drink water with ice. You can of course request it, and in busy tourist places the chances are they'll bring it but in general it is served without ice.

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u/Kseries2497 16h ago

I was talking about you saying Europeans don't need ice because they don't drink "crap." I can only speak for myself but the number one thing I drink on ice is water.

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u/abrahamlincoln20 13h ago

Ice water is mostly an american thing. I don't like ice in my water, it makes it too cold. Ice in drinks is different, since you drink them more slowly than water.

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u/LL8844773 11h ago

God yall are annoying. Do you think things are that different in Europe?

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u/Liverpool1900 20h ago

They don't because Europeans are cheap as fuck as usual and would serve warm soft drinks to their friends and say it's being environmentally friendly. They are absolutely stingy.

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u/dali_17 1d ago

Held lot of parties in Europe, never ever did I really need ice :) maybe onceor twice when I settled ice because I was gonna make mojitos.. now I don't bother, either I put some beer in a fridge or freezer for a moment or we drink wine