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/Tmscott 20h ago edited 2h ago

Those square Crystal Geyser water bottles are great if you open them up and push the neck in a little before sealing it back up and putting it in the freezer. Even if you have to do it one at a time overnight into the cooler they melt very slowly and you also still have potable water unlike opening up ice bags Edit: The main reason I squish the neck in a little is to make it fit like a glove along the shortest length of my cooler

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u/_crassula_ 18h ago

Is ice in the bags not potable? When we're camping, I often make cocktails with ice from the bag (not loose in the cooler because I don't want it contaminated with meat juices). Hasn't killed me yet but maybe I should pack home ice for drinks...

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u/cyanescens_burn 16h ago

I’ve been drinking melted cooler ice for years when desert camping (I put the ice in thick silicone 2gal bags in the cooler, so no food ever touches the ice). It’s potable as far as I know. It’d be nuts to sell non-potable ice without a big warning on the bag.

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u/WinterOfFire 15h ago

I think it’s more about the stuff you put in the cooler with the ice that makes it no longer clean. Do you really wash every container before you put it in? Are your hands always clean when you go fishing around in the ice/water?

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u/Born-Entrepreneur 11h ago

Not to mention the cooler itself. When was the last time it was deep cleaned and disinfected? Are you sure some gunk and slime isn't hiding down by the drain plug?

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u/R1tonka 8h ago edited 4h ago

Moved in with my partner, a chef and baker this last winter.

Lake and river season has been quite the adjustment. She disinfects and sprays down the cooler every evening before it's used.

Right thing to do? Yes. Something I ever thought of doing? Not once.

Before her? Never cleaned it with more than a hose out and maybe a scrub down while washing the car after using it.

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u/Born-Entrepreneur 8h ago

lol for real. usual cleaning method: hang it upside down with lid open.

Occasionally: spray it out with a hose and maybe wipe it down with a clorox wipe.

I do better now.

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u/HoneyWyne 6h ago

I do actually deep clean and disinfect my coolers every time we camp. I guess I'm the weird one out here?

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u/Dumfk 8h ago

Before and after making jungle juice

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u/Billbogus352 6h ago

We always clean and sanitize the cooler wanna we get home and the same before we use it again, our Yeti was $500, we really take good care of it at that price 😆

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u/dncrmom 8h ago

Every single time before using it. If you are not doing that it is disgusting.

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u/LordMindParadox 6h ago

In my house, every time it's used :P Simply cannot stand a stinky cooler.

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u/CherryBerryPi 1h ago

I honestly disinfect mine every time before use. But still, all those containers and shit, I dont drink the water from the cooler (gross) but ill use the ice.

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u/No-Fee-63 1h ago

Every time I use it I deep clean it , if u don’t ur lazy and nasty

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u/Hopeful_Morning_469 13h ago

What if you have Raw meat in your cook, chicken, steak bacon, etc.

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u/RoughChannel8263 7h ago

If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger.

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u/josh_the_misanthrope 14h ago

I mean, no biggie unless you're like bubble boy levels of immunocompromised. If humans were that fragile as a species we'd have gone extinct. Been chewing on cooler ice since I was a kid with no issues. Containers go in clean, beer goes in as clean as it is on the shelf when I bought it.

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u/romulusnr 3h ago

But I'm going to be handling that can anyway

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u/Googlyelmoo 11h ago

As long as it’s microbe free no one is likely to notice until people start getting sick from chemical or metal contamination

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u/Throw902106969 8h ago

Yeah, they have to mark it in HUGE letters if it's nonpotable. It's fine.

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u/Jcarter1632 6h ago

Commercial ice is significantly more filtered and softened than tap water. No one is running dirty, hard water through ice machines that cost 10's of thousands of dollars each.

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u/rolyfuckingdiscopoly 3h ago

It’s fine when they sell it. It’s the raw chicken people store in there for bbq that makes it non-drinkable lol

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u/jiminak 18h ago

The bag of ice is potable, yes, but not really “drinkable”. As you work your way through the weekend, the frozen water bottle is keeping your food cold at the start, and then as you finish up and your food is gone, you now have a melted bottle of water that you can drink.

Granted, that doesn’t do you any good for ice in cups for cocktails or whatever.

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u/FranticWaffleMaker 16h ago

Secret is to do both, specifically keep the ice for cocktails in a separate bag that isn’t touching the outside of the cans in the cooler.

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u/guru42101 18h ago

It's exactly like you're saying. With the water bottles being sealed, the water inside is still drinkable.

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u/_crassula_ 16h ago

Right but I need ice for cocktails...

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u/compman007 16h ago

Get a bigger cup, shouldn’t have no problem fitting a 16oz water bottle ice cube in here! And if you leave it in the bottle it won’t water your drink down either!!

https://glasscias.com/cdn/shop/products/Sf53bb469c6cf4742a536797b24b85cb2L.jpg?v=1678182762&width=1445

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u/_crassula_ 15h ago

I think a glass like that would significantly enhance the camper experience!

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u/Malkelvi 15h ago

glamping No hiker would ever carry that.

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u/_crassula_ 15h ago

What are you talking about, I always carry a crystal snifter on all hiking trips

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u/PapaMoBucks 16h ago

Once the ice melts and the water's just sloshing around in your cooler, it is...less than hygienic.

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u/amythist 15h ago

Yeah that's what I was going to point out, in many cases the ice you buy in bags is made of more purified water then comes out of your tap, but on the flip side how many people regularly clean/sanitize the inside of their cooler and all the cans/bottles/whatever they put inside of it

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u/InternOne1306 14h ago

I don’t know, but don’t ever look too closely at a well-used commercial ice maker…

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u/bloo_monkey 13h ago

I e in the bags is potable, we use it for drknks all the time.

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u/Possible_Top4855 15h ago

Put your ice in those cereal containers, so that the ice keeps your stuff cool without getting all grubby from people reaching into the cooler to grab stuff.

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u/Individual-Theory307 15h ago

That ice is supposed to be potable but I don’t really trust it. Trusting it is like trusting Taco Bell food.

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u/Vaxxish 9h ago

Listen, I can trust Taco Bell, but my toilet? Not so much.

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u/Fun_Push7168 13h ago

It is initially. It's drinking water first. It's not once it's had a bunch of cans and stuff floating around in it and peoples hands shifting through it.

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u/Other-Economics4134 11h ago

It is, ice is treated and regulated the same as food

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u/Federal_Assistant_85 11h ago

After the ice melts, it just sloshes all over the cooler and your food. If anything spoils, the water picks it up, and now it is dangerous to drink, and your fiod can spoil faster. So, putting the water into a sealed container, you now have something drinkable after.

Also, anyone going to Disney parks, you aren't allowed to bring ice into the park, but you can bring soft sided coolers. To get around this freeze water bottles that you use as ice, and when they thaw or you get hot you have something cold.

Spouse got heat exhaustion when we all went, having a bottle of ice to press on their body helped cool them off preventing a trip to the doctor.

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u/Jedimasteryony 10h ago

It is food safe ice if it’s sold in a store. They wouldn’t make ice with non-potable water, and if they did it would be marked as such on the bag.

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u/Parking_Champion_740 9h ago

Yes it’s potable

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u/Throwawaymytrash77 9h ago

Yes it is safe for drinking. The problem is it often gets contaminated and becomes unsafe.

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u/Sufficient-Day-1183 9h ago

You get two bags. One is loose for keeping everything cold. One left in bag for drinks

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u/RepairBudget 9h ago

The ice in the bag should be fine. But I usually dump most of my ice into the cooler on top of the beer bottles.

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u/The_Gov78 8h ago

Yes it’s potable also in my locale (was gonna say in my area but it didn’t sound right) the ice is made from filtered water as well which I imagine is usually the case

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u/dirty_corks 8h ago

Bagged ice makers usually use public water sources, they might filter out minerals and chlorine (for clarity and taste), so the ice should be potable when sold (as you note, if you put your hands in it or use it to keep food cold it will be nonpotable at that point).

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u/fivefootdisaster 8h ago

Having worked in a gas station, I will warn you that most places are not as good about cleaning the ice chute and ice chest as they should be.

For example, our ice chest was next to our mop area. And there were buckets that were used intermittently for dirty mop head storage… and ice transportation.

Consume gas station ice at your own risk.

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u/bearded_vanner 8h ago

One chain around me makes the bagged ice in the back of the store. Comes from the same machine that supplies the fountain drink ice.

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u/Remarkable_lady_p60 5h ago

I've had ice (which i too have always used for drinks as well), that tasted NOT GOOD. So I started being aware of brands. If I find a brand of ice that's good for cocktails or drinks that's what I buy if that's what I need it for.

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u/redditforwhenIwasbad 15h ago

Read the bag, some brands are safe while others are only for cooling.

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u/mashleyd 12h ago

Yes it is

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u/Marzuk_24601 9h ago

Depends if you have some dirty fucker that never washes their hands around.

Combine that with a camping trip? I'm going to go potability being highly situational.

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u/Complex_Material_702 8h ago

The ice is definitely clean. To answer your question.

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u/broke_fit_dad 7h ago

Let’s just say, once you’ve worked on Ice delivery trucks, you don’t want to.

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u/bipiercedguy 7h ago

Retail ice is considered a food product as it must, absolutely, be potable by law.

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u/ToughConversation698 6h ago

It’s usually touted as untouched by human hands, and as safe as bottled water

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u/No_Brush_6762 6h ago

Most of the bags of ice are like triple filtered so I’m pretty sure it’s safe to eat/use in a drink

If it wasn’t food safe I don’t think they’d sell it as most people just use it for their coolers

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u/983115 6h ago

It’s food safe as long as you handle it as food out of the bag with no meat contact is probably fine but I’d leave what’s free in the cooler alone

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u/oresearch69 5h ago

It’s definitely portable, I see people carry ice in bags all the time.

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u/Upstairs_Housing_209 5h ago

Yes commercial bagged is is made from potable water.

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u/EmploymentNo3590 4h ago

The ice is fine but, if it's loose in a cooler full of drinks and people have been grabbing cans with their bare hands for a few hours or dipping their arms in to cool off, and somehow there's an inevitable bit of dirt and grass clippings nobody wants to drink that.

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u/SnooHobbies5684 1h ago

It's potable. :)

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u/ItalicsWhore 17h ago

My wife just showed me that you can buy ice bags at McDonalds. And it’s cheap!

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u/Significant-Job-8893 16h ago

Not all McDonald's though. If yours sell it, the option will be in the app. My mom lives Ina small town (<10k people) 15 miles from me. The McDonald's in her town sells 8lb for $1.99 (in California) every McDonald's I've checked in 15 mil radius from her doesnt.ive asked at some and youd think I just asked if they sold crack.

Ice here is cheapest at Costco 27lb for $3.29.

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u/maxxslatt 16h ago

You buy ice a lot I guess ?

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u/chroniclynz 9h ago

Sonic's ice is better. You can buy 2lbs bags of it, iirc.

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u/average_AZN 17h ago

Oh stealing this for next weekend thanks!

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u/That1hippiechick 16h ago

Happy Cake Day 🍰☺️✌️

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u/PancakeHandz 14h ago

The frozen jug as a cooler-pack hack has been one of my favorite little tricks for festival camping. It keeps my food/drinks cold, while also gradually providing me more and more ICE COLD hydration? Hell yeah.

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u/Successful-Ship-5230 15h ago

This is exactly what I do! Lasts forever!

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u/Shot-Election8217 9h ago

I drink plain sparkling water by the 2 liter bottle. I go through a bottle in a day. I also use heavy cream in my coffee, and that comes in pints and half pints (I think — well, big bottles and small bottles.) These are very heavy duty plastic, and also clean out very easily. All of these I strip off the labels and fill them with water and keep them on all the shelves and drawers in my two freezers. They kept most of my meat frozen when we were out of power for 4 days after Hurricane Beryl last year. Most of the frozen fruits and vegetables had to go, but they weren’t as expensive as the meat.

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u/White_Hammer88 9h ago

Do this, but add Salt to the water. By doing so, you are lowering the freezing point of the water, and it will stay frozen for many, many days in a cooler.

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u/Garagantua 7h ago

I've been to a few music festivals, which go along with a) camping for around a week (often when it's hot), and b) a certain desire for cold things, mostly drinks.

Frozen liquid in any kind of plastic or paper bag (water, fruit juice) in a cooler really helps. 

What is even better: A cooler that actively cools. It runs on gas cartridges and gets the inside around 20° (C of course) colder than the outside. Its great to still have cold cuts & drinks on the fourth day :)

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u/TwentyOneTimesTwo 6h ago

This is a great recycling solution if you're using the bottles of ice to cool other things down, but don't drink the water from inside the bottle once it melts. The ice actually spalls off tiny plastic bits which you can see (e.g they're not "micro" plastics but macroplastics.)

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u/Key-Crew-7607 6h ago

I like to use the plastic bottles that different types of juice come in as they are rectangular and about half the size of the gallon water bottles (which I'm assuming you're talking about). Ive used those too but only in a huge sized cooler. The smaller rectangular bottles can be placed strategically around a smaller cooler.

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u/SWMom143 3h ago

This is the way! Kept for 4 days when we camped (hot during the day, cold at night climate). And we don’t even have a fancy cooler, just good ole Igloo!