3 Ways To Keep Ice From Melting

So, you have some guests for your party and wondering whether the ice you already prepared will even last an hour to keep all glasses cool. You don’t need to be in too much panic. To make sure that your guests’ glasses remain chilled, you need to ensure you have about 2 pounds for every guest. Anyway, how will you ensure that the ice doesn’t melt away, here are three simple methods.

Method 1: Use a cooler or ice bucket

Step1: Make use of light colored container for a cooler

Looking for a cooler made of light color or reflective material ice bucket or ice storage solutions. The idea behind it is that light colors will absorb less heat; on the other hand, dull colored containers will absorb the external heat and melt up the ice inside the cooler or container bucket.

While choosing your cooler or ice bucket, it is strongly recommended that you go for a plastic container. Plastic will ensure that the ice stays cold for a longer period of time. Nylon or Styrofoam will keep the ice at least a day long. Metal buckets, on the other hand, are the least preferable when it comes to storing ice since absorb heat will easily melt everything away within a few hours of your party.

Step 2: Use aluminum foil as a lining for the cooler or bucket

It is basic science that reflective surfaces are used to maintain or keep temperatures at a constant degree, so using a reflective aluminum foil as your lining it will ensure the ice stays solid longer. So, before putting the ice in the cooler or bucket, cover the inside of the cooler with a layer of the aluminum foil.

Step 3: With a clean towel, wrap the ice bucket

This is typically for the scenario where you don’t have the best cooler or ice bucket, so after putting the ice in the container, use a towel to wrap up the container. This will give it a layer of insulation to cover up the ice to ensure that you have yourself hours to keep the ice cold within the hour of the party.

Method 2: Proper storage techniques

This is the simplest and most basic method of them all. Storing the ice should be uncompromised in order to keep it from melting. It involves 3 simple steps.

Step 1: Store the ice in a cool spot

Identify a cool spot within the room and place the bucket of ice there. It could be by the air conditioner or fan or a breezy window. Ideally, the ice storage unit should be away from direct sunlight as much as possible so if you are in an outdoor setup, you would place it under a tree’s shade or under your deck’s shade. Also, avoid placing the ice bucket close to your plethora of hot dishes. The basic principle is to keep the ice away from any heat around it, ensure it is in a place with minimal or no contact at all with heat.

Step 2: Improvise frozen ice packs

Ice packs are very handy in ensuring that the container is kept cold and keeps the ice from melting. As well, you can use frozen plastic bottles of non- carbonated drinks as your ice packs.

Step 3: Always ensure the container is full of ice

This ensures that there is a constant flow of ice in the container and the container is kept cold. This implies that the remaining ice doesn’t melt too. Though, if you have a good insulator, you will not need to constantly check on the ice since it can stay cool by itself.

Method 3: Large ice cubes should be used

This has proven to be a good way to keep ice from melting taking into consideration the surface area to volume ratio of the ice. It involves 3 simple basic steps.

Step 1: Use warm boiled water

With this step, boil the water prior to putting in the ice trays reduces the air bubbles present within the ice. With this, the ice will be clear.  Though, when using a plastic tray for your ice tray, you need to let the boiled water cool down so that you don’t melt down your ice tray.

Step 2: Use bigger ice trays

Using a bigger ice tray will ensure that you have larger ice cubes. In case you don’t have large ice cube trays, you could consider a muffin pan and pour the water over the muffin pan, then place it in your freezer. This will give you bigger ice chunks. It is a fact that crushed ice melts faster since they have a small due to a small surface area exposed to the surrounding heat as compared to its relative density.

Step 3: Use a towel as an insulator

Placing this towel will act as insulation and keep the ice from any external heat. Also, a bubble wrap before the towel would be very handy to ensure maximum insulation of the cooling container and ensure ultimate storage of ice. Cover the bucket with a lid to zone out external warm air and prevent melting.