Ice cube trays
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We really don't use that much ice and neither of us drinks cold water. We've decided not to hook up the water that supplies the ice maker and water dispenser that are in our new frig. We had the water hooked up on our old unit and found that the ice cubes mostly evaporated before we got around to using them.
While we don't use much ice, we do use it occasionally. The last time we had ice cube trays they were either the metal ones with the lever on top, or the plastic ones that are so rigid that it's hard to flex them to pop the cubes out.
Function ranks #1 (easy to fill and to pop out the cubes). Cool ice cube shapes are a distant second but might be fun.
So who uses ice cube trays in the 21st century? Got a favorite kind?
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We have the silicone jumbo cube maker, too. Easy to use. Usually my cubes shrink before I get around to using them, but I just make more. Old Fashioneds for the win!
Our icemaker is the only thing that has failed on our fridge/freezer. We had it fixed (broken plastic parts). But I keep the icemaker turned off most of the time, and turn it on to make ice to sit in the bin when we’re low on ice.
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The twisty plastic ones have been working fine for me.
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I’m surprised that so many of us are using trays. I thought we were outliers because we don’t use much ice. Seems like everyone we know wants the thru-the-door ice and water dispensers.
Anyway, ordered these for starters. Wirecutter gave them a good review. The sliding top keeps them from evaporating as fast, and in theory help to prevent the cubes from picking up odors from the freezer. And you can slide it back part way if you only need a few cubes.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/OXO-Softworks-Ice-Cube-Tray-2-Pack-Blue/5739179816
Think I might also go for the silicone jumbo cube maker like @AdagioM and @Rontuner have...they just sound like fun....
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I use the icemaker at home. Martinis take a lot of ice.
I use trays in the trailer. I use the silicone big cube trays in both locations for those who appreciate fine whisky and like the big cubes. Those who are serious about their whisky bring their own cubes.
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You have to have barware that is big enough to accommodate the big ice cubes! They only fit in our insulated wine tumblers, which is fine. The lids keep us from spilling, bonus!
@Steve-Miller we have whiskey stones in the freezer (no melting!) but we’ve never used them; they were a gift from the kids a while back.
@wtg When we bought our fridge, we wanted an icemaker, but not water through the door. But there was only one refrigerator that would fit in our galley kitchen (low height due to cabinet above), so we have icemaker + water. And I like the filtered water, after all.
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We never use ice, so we don’t use the fridge ice dispenser or the water one.
But it seems like it would be a good idea to have ice on hand if needed for an injury… We used to have those silicone ice trays, I wonder if they’re still around here somewhere….
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We've found the gel packs to be much better than ice. Bought a couple of these more than 10 years ago. We just keep one in the freezer, just in case we need it. Hard to believe, but they haven't leaked yet, even after all these years. The come in all sorts of sizes. We have this squarish one, but we also have one that is long and narrow that we use for back pain.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UPRVD4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can use a towel around it so that the skin doesn't get too cold. We bought the separate sleeve with a velcro clousure to put ours in. I see 3M sells the gel pack with the sleeve in one package:
https://www.amazon.com/3M-1570-Nexcare-Reusable-Plastic/dp/B000GCNE96/ref=sr_1_11?s=hpc&sr=1-11
The gel packs vary quite a bit. The Comfort Gel one that we have gets really cold but stays pliable even when just taken out of the freezer. I bought another one, in a different size, at Walmart for Mr wtg's knee surgery and ended up returning it. When we froze it, it became pretty hard and the plastic was brittle. We thought it would crack and leak in no time. Def read the reviews for whatever you might buy.
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We had one of those rock hard gel packs too. They’re unusable. I’m pretty sure that one was from Walmart too. We switched to Ace bandage brand ice gel packs and had good luck with those.
I used to use those packs all the time for migraines. As it happens, switching meds (almost two years ago now) was life-changing for me and I can’t remember the last time I had to lie in a dark room with an ice pack on my head.
/threaddrift
