Ice cube maker

[muffa2308]

Hi,

Around 3 years ago I started buying ice in bags from supermarkets. Think it was during a very hot spell and normal ice cube trays didn’t cut it. The cubes seem to melt instantly. 3 years on I’m still buying them and have probably spent a small fortune on ice! Along with everything else ice is going up. From 3 years ago 89p a bag is now £1.25 in Morrisons! I’m looking into buying a ice making machine. They are about £120 on Amazon. I reckon I’d make my money back in a couple of years 😂 does anybody have any recommendations etc? I want ice robust enough not to instantly melt. The round cubes are the best.

Thanks

[Anne]

Lidl and Aldi have them for cheaper. About £80 I think.

[j9mcl]

I think these machines cost a fair bit to run, so factor in the electricity costs as well.

[sam_b]

I don’t know when your freezer may be due for replacement, but our fridge freezer makes ice for us - crushed or cubed. It isn’t plumbed in - there is a water reservoir that we fill occasionally.
I wasn’t too bothered about it as a feature when we were looking - but it came with it. I LOVE it now. I always have ice on hand and no poking it out of trays … or picking a stray frozen pea out of it!

[sky13]

I live somewhere hot (Singapore) where it's currently 29 degrees at night so am a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to iced drinks - suffice to say that my freezer always has tons of ice cubes!

You could experiment with different sized ice cube trays - larger ice cubes would probably take longer to melt than smaller ice cubes (although smaller ice cubes are also nice in their own way!). I've even seen ice cube trays that make huge ice cubes for one giant ice cube per drink!

Another thing that keeps ice in drinks from melting quickly is to use a double wall container. I have both glass double wall (Bodum etc) and metal double wall and there are also others. Currently drinking an iced diet Coke out of a metal double wall container (it's actually an insulated travel mug but works well as a regular mug) and the ice cubes have lasted ages in this current drink. And the added advantage of this is zero condensation on the outside of the mug!

[djewkes]

We’ve had an Andrew James ice maker from Amazon for the past 4 years. Wouldn’t be without it, DH is in charge and usually makes a couple of bags full at a time storing them in the freezer because we’ve had it for so long I’m not sure of the running costs but it’s not like a regular freezer on all the time….well worth the money, like you we were buying a couple of bags a week……now we never run out…

[TheHughesCrew]

We bought an ice maker for a party. But because it makes ice relatively quickly, they're not solid. They are hollow. And hence melt quite quickly. I loved it though! But it developed a fault and we sent it back. So I just buy the supermarket bags now...