Reusable Ice Cubes: Love Them or Hate Them?

July 6, 2010

I'm generally pretty good when it comes to recycling, and repurposing everything from wine bottles to plastic clothes hangers. But there are some things I just can't get into, and one of them is the concept of reusable ice cubes. I know they prevent diluting, but I happen to love the sensation of biting down on an ice cube, so I have to enjoy the real thing. Can you get behind reusable ice cubes?

Love It Or Hate It Poll Eco Reusable Ice Cubes

26 Comments

2 years

I use them when making Iced coffee. Real ice waters down the coffee flavor pretty quickly, so by the time you've drunk half of the glass, the coffee is so watered down that it taste awful. With these cubes, the iced coffee keeps it's flavor down to the last drop. I love 'em. They are easy to clean, just rinse them off, pat dry, and refreeze. They also do work really well on bruises or small burns, and they're great for shocking hard-boiled eggs. They take up less space than ice trays, are probably just as safe, with regard to leaching chemicals, and they also come in colors - which can look pretty cool if you're icing water.. I'm a convert.

2 years

If you going to vacation, let’s say Dominican Republic with cholera at Haitian border, you will love them, because you don’t use ice cubes in your drinks made from local tap water.

2 years

I love them.. I don't use them often because we actually use freezer cups, but I hate ice... My daughter is 3 1/2 and ever since she was about 14 months they've been her boo boo ice.. and she loves them we have fish and flowers.. over the past almost 2 1/2 years I've had only one incident (recently) when my daughter bit one and drank about half of its contents.. poison control said its only a minor problem (may cause VERY MINOR GI problems) and she didn't have any. So I'd say they are rather safe.

2 years

I love these things. I hate watered down drinks, and so long as you're not abusing them you really don't need to worry about them breaking and leaking into your drinks. We had a set of these that lasted us years and never had one break in our drinks. We lost them when moving is the only reason we don't have them now.

2 years

Small follow up to Afry--I'm not sure why reusable ice cubes would be more wasteful. Normal ice cube trays, of course, are composed of silcone/plastic and probably do not last as long as reusable ice cubes.

2 years

The major brands of reusable ice cubes seem to be made of HDPE (recycle symbol 2), which does not contain BPA and is the same plastic used in milk cartons. From what I've read, it's a very safe plastic. I've been thinking about buying reusable ice cubes for a while, because they seem better for the environment. They should take a smidgen less time to 'make' (grab them from freezer, rinse, toss back in freezer) and obviously use less water (that would have to be filtered). They're more compact than trays. I also haven't found any BPA-free ice cube trays that perform very well. If the reusable cubes do soak up drink smells/flavors, as another commenter suggested, that would be annoying--maybe light soap would help. I look forward to not having quality drinks diluted. (Soapstone will not of course hold 'cold' as well as water. I also have no idea what kinds of potentially dangerous minerals might be present in soapstone.)

blooditsnotfunny 2 years

no thanks! I'm trying to avoid plastics as much as possible. Can't help thinking that although they are reusable, they seem more wasteful than regular ice cubes to me.

bethinabox 2 years

I used to HATE ice in my drinks, so my parents bought me some of these reusable ice cubes. :P They were kind of adorable, lol. But now I love ice and don't ever use the reusable ones. *shrug*

archerkate 2 years

I hate them. When I was younger we had them in my house and my parents would use them to cool down beer if it wasn't cold enough in the summertime. Smart use for them--who wants diluted beer? Whenever I used the cubes afterward though, there was always the lingering taste of beer.

bluesarahlou 2 years

:ponder: I'm liking the uses for reusable cubes other than in drinks...Vemba that's a good idea!

bluesarahlou 2 years

:ponder: I'm liking the uses for reusable cubes <em>other</em> than in drinks...Vemba that's a good idea!

Spectra 2 years

I love eating ice, so I would probably skip the plastic ice cubes.

2 years

I keep a bag of plastic cubes in my freezer for shocking hard cooked eggs. I would never use them in a drink.

hexentanz 2 years

hate em, they start to make drinks taste nasty after a few uses.

kkreashuns 2 years

Never saw them before, but seems like a better idea than what I have. I use Zip lock bags, half fill with water, set in the freezer. When I need ice, I just grab an elongated ice zip lock bag out, drop it in a glass, and I have instant iced tea.

stylinfabqueen 2 years

I think its a great idea but I don't know. I might use if I was just using it for chilling a punch bowl or wine.

bluesarahlou 2 years

I love Think Geek! :nerdgirl:

bluesarahlou 2 years

I love Think Geek! :nerdgirl:

Akasha 2 years

I love eating ice so I'm not really a fan, although my roommate loves the Whiskey Stones for drinking scotch. They are non porous soapstone rocks that you keep in the freeze and they neither impart flavour or odor. He got them from Think Geek http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/ba37/ in case anyone is interested.

Akasha 2 years

bluesarahlou 2 years

Yeah I don't really care for them...my drinks typically account for diluting...so having plastic cubes wouldn't work.

danakscully64 2 years

Don't care for them, I love eating ice.

2 years

I worry about where they are made, and worry about them breaking inside my drink and leaching whatever is inside them (water from china? chemical?) into my drink... plus, ice melts and is gone - why buy more plastic stuff when it's totally unnecessary?

weffie 2 years

I have a set but I only use them to shake dry martinis... in most cocktails and all non-alco bevys I prefer the real thing. The plastic cubes are really great for injuries tho, the kid I babysat called them her "boo-boo ice" :)

eacsn 2 years

i use them but am not totally happy w/ them. it doesn't seem to get my drinks as cold as regular ice cubes. but i love that it doesn't take up unnecessary room in my freezer, they don't taste strange depending on what's in the freezer, and it adds something cute to the drinks. so all in all, there's more pros than cons.

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26 Comments