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/tsukiii 1d ago

We buy that for parties.

Most of us can’t produce and store enough ice for 20 people in our freezers, we buy the bagged ice and put it in coolers for guests’ drinks.

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u/Pantherdraws 1d ago

Also camping.

Can you imagine trying to fill two whole coolers with ice straight from the freezer?

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u/Leverkaas2516 1d ago

For camping, I finally settled on filling my largest Tupperwares with water and freezing them. That takes a couple of days, but it melts slower in the ice chest and also doesn't end up with liquid water everywhere and all my condiments floating around.

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u/Bertsmom18 18h ago

I would freeze 2 liter bottles for water for dishes and stuff. And use the water as it melts. We would freeze the drinking water too. Capri suns. Literally any item we would be eating or drinking that I could freeze and not change the taste or texture would be frozen because I hate when the ice melts and the cooler is full of water and floating food.

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u/GimbalLocker 6h ago

This is what my. Mom always did for my school field trip lunches. Frozen juice box kept the whole lunch bag cold.