Do you think I can use silicone dishes to make large blocks of ice?

You can always freeze a gallon milk carton jug filled with water. Then just cut the plastic away after it solidifies. Don’t fill them all the way though, as liquid obviously expands when frozen.

I do it all the time for when I’ll be in the sun all day in my canoe.

Tupperware. Just soak your frozen tupperware creation in a pan of hot water for a few seconds and it will pop right out. Refreeze if need be.

My mom used to fill paper half gallon and quart milk cartons with water and then freeze. Great blocks for the ice chest before a long car ride.

I have silicone icecube trays so I don’t see why you can’t upscale it to large blocks of ice. The ice comes out of the silicone trays really easily.

If you’re looking for something round to put in a punch bowl, some people use a Bundt pan or a ring mold (like the kind used for old fashioned jello salads).

For Halloween punch bowls some people fill up several latex gloves to make floating hands. Just be sure to rinse out any powder if they’re the type with powder on the inside.

I’ve frozen all sorts of things in silicone baking trays. Water should be fine. The only issue is having a freezer organized enough to have a very very very flat level surface to place it on – so there is no slop-over.

^^That is a problem. Lol.

I’d probably throw a bunch of regular ice in the pan before adding the water so there would be less chance of a huge amount of water spilling. It will freeze faster also.

@zenvelo That’s a good idea. I do want to make a large ice chunk so it melts slower than lots of smaller pieces of ice. I hope my logic is right on that.

If you have the space, put the silicone baker on a cookie sheet. It will help keep things level.

The big chunk will melt more slowly than a lot of small pieces – less edge exposure is my 2 cent explanation.

Are you doing this for use in a cooler? Or decorative ice for a party?

Cooler.

I did some research and the pro campers stress minimizing air space in between your ice/cool packs and items in the cooler. Less air space = colder cooler for longer periods. I read one hardcore will add a cup or more of salt to the bottom of the cooler and as ice water accumulates the salt will super cool the water and lower its temperature and keep the liquid water colder longer. Another suggested freezing square water bottles and the pack super tight with minimum airspace and you have drinking water as they thaw. Have fun!

For a cooler? freeze water in any clean food grade container that fits the space you have. I used to always keep juice boxes in the freezer to fill in the spaces in the cooler (in addition to the larger frozen container of water) – keeps stuff cool and the drinks are good as they thaw.

I saw Lucky Guy write on another thread that he freezes bottles of water and uses them in the ice chest with cans of soda. The frozen bottles act as ice and also people like to take them and sip the water as it melts.

@jca My husband does that. He has two bottles he uses over and over again. We dumped out a little water, because the plastic lately is thin, and the bottles we had bought were very full. I wonder if the plastic affects how cold the air is in the cooler? Seems like bare ice is colder. That’s probably not right though.