Ice blocks from vacuum bags?

[outdoornate65]

Heading out on a 6-day river trip on the Green in Canyonlands in a couple weeks.

I usually take my big Engel 65qt cooler and have had good luck freezing plastic bottles as ice in the past.

I had my vacuum sealer out the other day.....you know, sealing some stuff, when I had the idea to make some "ice blocks" for the cooler.

Since the "bags" come in a cut-to-size roll, I was able to make them a custom fit for the bottom of the cooler.
I laid them flat in the freezer and came out with a couple nice slabs of ice that are probably 2" thick and perfectly sized for the Engel.

I figure a couple layers of those blocks augmented with a little dry-ice should be good for the 6 days. My concern is the durability of the
vacuum freezer bags.

Anyone tried this in the past? Feedback would be great.

Thanks,

Nate

 

[Wildcat]

how did you make them? did you freeze the water in the bag then seal it?

 

[john61ct]

Google "polar tubes"

Cycle between freezer and cooler, make custom size, leakproof

 

[Rains Lee]

Heading out on a 6-day river trip on the Green in Canyonlands in a couple weeks.

Nate

I tried it for the first time on a ten-day trip last month in Colorado. I made block ice by freezing water in a 4.5" x 9.5" x 4" Pullman bread pan, then removed it and vacuum sealed in a bag cut to fit. I made three blocks, one of which I double bagged. That block and one of the single-bagged ones didn't spring any leaks, but the other single-bagged one did. So I'll be double bagging next time.

 

[Modeler]

I use the bags from Dunkin' Donuts box of Joe boxes. Works well for the length of my cooler. I use 2 or 3 depending on the duration of the trip.

Picture of the bag I stole from the web:

 

[outdoornate65]

how did you make them? did you freeze the water in the bag then seal it?

I filled the bags and then sealed them.

 

[outdoornate65]

I use the bags from Dunkin' Donuts box of Joe boxes. Works well for the length of my cooler. I use 2 or 3 depending on the duration of the trip.

Picture of the bag I stole from the web:

Those are pretty cool. I wonder if I asked really nicely, if some donut -shop cutie would give me a few of those?

 

[thefishhawk]

I see the advantage in making them to size, but I think it's a disadvantage from an ice storage perspective. By making a long, wide, thin-ish slab you are increasing the surface area of the ice which will make it melt faster. I'd probably stick with the bottles and then you don't need to worry about durability. I use the rectangle drinking water ones from the store, kind if depends on what fits your cooler best.

We do though do a lot of pre-cooked, vacuum sealed meals on our trips and then freeze the bags, so no reason why they wouldn't work for ice. They seem plenty durable.

We just got off (well, I guess it's been a month now) doing Cataract from the Green side for 8 days. You are going to have an awesome trip, great beaches right now.

 

[Hilldweller]

I used to do this before we got our first fridge.
I'd make blocks of ice in tupperware and vacuum seal them. Worked fine for about 5 day trips ----- but would decline fast at the end.
...but then you just drink the lost soldiers....

We didn't use dry ice though. That's pretty dang cold and would certainly extend the life of the ice.

 

[hour]

Dunno how relevant, but I took kooler-gel and mixed it up in bottles and then dumped in to vacuum sealer bags. It was a pain to seal - would be easier to do with two people. Made four 12 (or whatever the width of the roll is) x 14-16" bags. They've held up to getting smashed by cans and sharp plastic snack containers this season. If I didn't pack my fridge so full on each trip I'd consider throwing one in there. Been using them on trips where I don't take the fridge on, and also in a 50-can insulated cooler bag that I got at walmart for $5. It's nice to grab extra beer and sodas and load up the bag, then cycle them in to the fridge as space becomes available. Better than hitting the road loaded (minus beer), getting a couple cases, and then having barely cool beer by the time camp is setup.

 

[john61ct]

Ideal would be if it could fasten to the underside of the lid.

My plan is polar tubes and some sort of spring clips.

 

[outdoornate65]

OP here.....

Just reporting back after my Green River trip last week (which fricking rocked).

I used a double layer of freezer-bag slabs (4") under a couple plastic bins that organize my cooler. Also had another slab standing vertically on one end for some tall stuff not in the bins.

The freezer bags were only single layer but they all made it through the trip without leaking. It was easily another days worth of (cold) water.

On day seven we were down to no ice but very cold water in the bags that kept the food at safe temps. I feel like the 1.5 liter normal saline bottles I procure from work stay frozen longer.

Hindsight: we started the trip with some dead air in the cooler that I should have filled with loose ice the morning we started the trip. Also broke the cardinal rule of cooler management a couple days into the trip: I put river-temp beer in the cooler.

Anyway....interesting experiment.

Nate

 

[ottsville]

How about a trip report? That is one of the trips on my list.

 

[outdoornate65]

How about a trip report? That is one of the trips on my list.

Hoping to get to that this weekend.

Can answer questions as needed. I've only done the Stillwater Canyon section from Mineral Bottom.

 

[workerdrone]

Maybe I'm not getting it - what's the advantage over freezing disposable water / soda bottles in the .5 to 1.0 liter size? They're free, tough, leak proof, waterproof (even if your cooler gets contamination, you could drink them when melted.) Plus you can pull one out for a hot summer hike and sip cold water for quite a while