Always Take Ice Out of the Bag
No matter how efficient your ice making system is, at some point you will need to grab an ice pack for a party, meeting, or other event that requires you to serve cold drinks to many people. And, whether you buy good ice or standard cracked ice , you should never do one thing – store it in your bag.
My contempt for this bag is second only to my contempt for people who rip open the bag, put their hands in it, then fold or roll the torn bag and put it in the freezer. Then, every time they need more ice, they take their bag out of the freezer, shove their dirty handle back into the bag, and rummage around until they find a few chunks of frozen water.
The dirty hand is actually the least offensive part of this whole song and dance. The most annoying part is the ice abuse. Taking a hellish bag out of the fridge and sticking your hand into its hellish hole will just take too long. This gives the ice time to melt and get wet , which is the opposite of what you want the ice to do. This tiny piece of melting then freezes again, turning your ice into one bulky block. (You know the block. This is the one you smash against the edge of the kitchen counter.)
All of this is really unnecessary. All you need to do is remove the ice from the bag and into the ice container. It doesn’t even have to be a real ice container – any freezer-fit container will do. Pour the ice into a container, place the container in the freezer and close the freezer. Then, when you need ice, remove it with clean hands (or with tongs if your hands look dirty to your taste).
Aside from the damn ice bin, there is one more step you can take to protect the integrity of your frozen water and prevent the dreaded Large Melted Block from forming: Take the refrigerator to the store and get a bag of ice. in the cooler as soon as you pay for it. This will keep your ice cold and dry on your way home, and dry ice is happy ice.