Cool Ice/Water Idea

[CyanEssence]

Hello Everyone,

I devised this neat trick last year on the playa, and thought others mind find it useful too, especially virgins. Someone else may have come up with something similar, but a cursory search of eplaya didn't seem to turn up anything (I would bet it is around somewhere). I couldn't decide if this should go in "Food & Drink" or "Keeping Cool," so I just went with the former.

So, here is the tip. Bring some extra, 1gal (or larger if you can find them) ziploc bags, of the strongest type you can find. When you get your ice from Artica, immediately pour the ice (this works with crushed ice, not blocks, but there may be another container you could use for blocks, and get the same result) into the ziplock bags, zip them up, and space them out evenly in your cooler. Make sure that they are zip-side up.

The next day, go buy some more ice. Your ice from yesterday will be partially melted, but will be entirely in the sealed, ziploc bags. You can take these, open them partially, and pour the ice water into your camelbak, water bottles, etc (I mix mine with electrolytes too). If you have extra, leave it in the cooler for later, or share with your neighbors or other passersby. Finally, pour the new ice into the now-empty ziplocs. Repeat as needed.

Not only does this allow you to have nice, cold water in the intense daytime heat, but it also prevents you from having to cope with a mass of disgusting gray water that is mixed with your cheese, bacon, and the half-finished beer your camp-mate wanted to save, but totally forgot about.

I bet it would also work okay with a water jug with the top cut off, but that might leave more room for spillage.

Best,
Cyan

[LowePro]

Works for blocks too if you get the XXL ziplocks. This tip is awesome for cooler management. I don't drink the melted ice, but I dump it into jugs and reuse it for swamp coolers, washing may face, spray bottles for cleanup around camp, and mist-showers.

[CyanEssence]

Even more great uses for the cold water!

When I was writing this, I had wondered for a second whether or not it was really healthy to be drinking this water, or, if like showering in those water-spray trucks, it was a bad idea. I had to look into it since you mentioned you don't drink it. I just checked out the FDA website, and it looks like selling packaged ice falls under the same rules as selling bottled water - it needs to be potable, and handled in a sanitary fashion at every step in the process, including delivery (and presumably being handed out by Artica staff).

So at the least, we don't have to worry about microbial contamination, and we know it is meant for human consumption. It may not be as good as hand filtered water from the deep Yosemite backcountry, but it shouldn't make one ill.

Then again, their guidelines only count up until the point where the Artica staff hands it over to us. Once in the cooler, it's all on us to make sure we don't make ourselves ill. Keeping the cooler clean and organized would go a long way in ensuring that we stay healthy. Problems that come to mind involve raw meat touching the ziploc bags of ice/water, and microbes from the bags making their way into camelbaks, water bottles, etc.


So, with that line of reasoning, I would add a word of caution to my tip - make sure to avoid letting raw meat, or anything else that could make a person ill that lies in your cooler, touch your ziploc bags of ice water, if you plan on drinking it, or putting it on a persons body.





http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou ... 197586.htm

[Jackass]

Um... this idea of yours has been talked about and rehashed almost as may times as the RVs vs.Tents battles...

1001 uses for water.

You could save it in ziplocks until you're back in Yosemite, pour it into the Hetch Hetchy... Cali needs it

[CyanEssence]

I had a feeling that it probably had been.