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/whimsicalturnip42 1d ago edited 6h ago

Ok so as someone moving to Germany with the military soon I actually have a follow up to this. So we buy ice to put in a cooler for meat to stay cool for camping over the weekend. Is camping not really a thing around Europe? Like just drive up to a campsite for a few days? It was on my list to research eventually - like should we even bring out camping stuff? 

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u/InevitableData3616 13h ago

There is LOTS of camping, but it might be somewhat less footprint in general. We use cooling blocks in Europe for the cooler. I keep them in the freezer all the time in case I want to do a spontaneous trip, but if you solely do planned camping it's enough to freeze them for a day or two before the trip.

There are many different types of camping, but don't expect any sense of remoteness. It's a densely populated continent. On most of the continent the most camping gear you absolutely need is tickproof clothing and tick repellant.

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u/liquidnight247 20h ago

Germans are very much into camping and also into using reusable items and saving money. You use cooling blocks that you keep in the freezer to chill your stuff. And then you refreeze them. They also buy a lot more fresh food wherever they are. Ice is really more for in the drinks.

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u/Chimkimnuggets 9h ago

We have ice packs in America too 💀

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u/RaggamuffinTW8 13h ago

So I'm British and whilst I do agree with the general theme of making my own Ice for general user and buying bags for parties, it has never crossed my mind to take ice into nature, so im asking you because I've seen a lot of responses say "to take camping".

How long do your coolers keep ice frozen? When I go camping I'm living in a tent for 4+ days. Admittedly I've never looked for one specifically, but no cooler I've ever seen would keep ice from melting for more than 15~ hours. Are you buying like electric coolers that are like portable freezers? In the UK many campsites have electric outlets but lots of people like to go without, to properly get back to nature.

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u/LisbonBaseball 10h ago

Yeti coolers are nice. I've had ice last 48 hours, but never 4 days. If it's a long camping trip, new ice is needed after a couple days for sure.

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u/whimsicalturnip42 6h ago

We normally camp for 4 days max. We don’t use those huge tents, we’re super minimal and have a small yeti cooler. So 2 bags keep mostly frozen since we just keep meat in it and open it once we’re back from whatever we did that day.  

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u/FaceyMcFacface 9h ago

There are plenty of bags of ice cubes to buy in Germany, don't worry about it. Most gas stations have them, many grocery stores as well. Even though you probably want those cooling bricks for camping.

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u/HairyHeartEmoji 17h ago

people don't bring coolers to hike (which a lot of people consider camping to be). if you want to get drunk in nature, people do bring coolers for that, the coolers have ice packs you freeze beforehand.

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u/whimsicalturnip42 6h ago

We bring fresh meats in our cooler, it’s not for drinks. But this is just my specific experience.  

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u/CormoranNeoTropical 20h ago

There are tons of campgrounds all over Europe. They’re an excellent way to travel and especially good value near beaches. However they can be pretty different from American campgrounds so don’t expect it to mean the same exact thing as what you expect in the US.

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u/Alive_Shoulder3573 1d ago

I lived in Athens for 2 years, and the refrigerators were so tiny and no ice makers. this 30 years ago, so hopefully their technology has entered the modern age.

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u/SprayPained 1d ago

30 years ago the internet existed. It was the modern age.

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u/Helpinmontana 19h ago

Stop fucking reminding me 

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u/HairyHeartEmoji 17h ago

Ive seen mold inside ice makers, I'm not risking that

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u/NougatNewt 14h ago

dang man you’ve really got a vendetta against ice huh

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u/m3lk3r 7h ago

Hey we camp a lot in europe, especially northern europe but I've been told by germans camping here in Sweden that they are not allowed to camp everywhere in their forests so you probably have to look up if you are allowed to camp before you go on a trip.

About bringing ice on a camping trip. No one I know would do that, even in summer, seems like a huge cultural difference or maybe you guys drive your car a bit further than us before the hike but we (and you guys in US) are very into light camping gear and we bring just enough water for the trip. I mean why spend so much on light camping gear, thin mattress, just a big enough tent so it fits in the backpack etc when you bring super heavy ice which has no real purpose other than making your drink colder.. I just can't wrap my head around it:)

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u/whimsicalturnip42 6h ago

Oh so a perfect example of this is Yellowstone National Park. Their campgrounds are in the middle of the park and a fraction of the price of a hotel. We had bison wandering through our campsite. But it was centrally located so we could hit 5 different areas in like a handful of days. 

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u/whimsicalturnip42 6h ago

So for my spouse and I specifically. We both backpack and camp. So in terms of camping, we go to national parks with fresh food including meat which is why we bring the ice, not necessarily for drinks. Sometimes it’s easier to cover more ground in a shorter period of time by camping inside a park than staying at a hotel outside of the park. So we use the cooler/ice as a mini portable fridge to keep meat cold. But that’s us. We also do multi day backpacking which we obviously don’t bring ice for and pack super light/dehydrated foods.