How to carry a pint of ice cream through a hot cardio workout?

September 19, 2021 10:00 AM

I want to bring a pint of ice cream to an outdoor workout and carry it with me for the hour or so, and still have it be palatable in the end. I can't leave it in one spot because we'll be moving through a busy public area. I could strap a cooler to my back, but that would be buiky. Ambient temperatures will be around 70 degrees, but if the container is next to my body, it would be even hotter. Do you have any other ideas?

I have a hard-sided lunchbox cooler with a handle. I also have a few soft-sided coolers. I could put them in a backpack and put it on my back, but it might still melt. What if I froze the pint in a tupperware container full of water, then put it in one of the soft-sided coolers, and then that in a backpack? Would that affect the quality of the ice cream?

posted by Borborygmus to Science & Nature (16 answers total)

No, but if a stiff-plastic container (like a Tupperware) full of water is frozen, the plastic might crack (as the ice expands).

Godiva shops sold (still sell?) pints of ice cream, which were available in pint-form-fitting Styrofoam containers. That's what you need. Maybe decant your ice cream into a medium foam cup (for a drink), and place that inside of a large? Ask at an ice cream place.
posted by Rash at 10:06 AM on September 19, 2021

you can send/receive ice cream in the mail (albeit with dry ice), so an hour or so should be no trouble with a (water) ice pack or two and adequate insulation. if you don't have a freezable ice pack, a leakproof tupperware or two filled 2/3 or 3/4 with water (to leave room for expansion) and frozen will suffice (no need to freeze the pint itself in a block of ice, though goodness knows that would probably do the trick!). If the soft-sided coolers are actually insulated, that really ought to be enough for the timeframe you're considering.
posted by wreckingball at 10:10 AM on September 19, 2021

Take the frozen ice cream and put it in a wide-mouth Thermos bottle, the kind used for soup. Put that in a backpack.
posted by TimHare at 10:10 AM on September 19, 2021 [18 favorites]

Wrap it in a bunch of sweatshirts (honestly!) and stick it in a backpack. Maybe with an ice pack or two. It may get a bit soft but it will stay cold enough to be edible.

A Thermos bottle like TimHare suggested would be even better.
posted by mekily at 10:14 AM on September 19, 2021

You want styrofoam + I would freeze the ice cream with dry ice beforehand for safety. You can get blocks of styrofoam at craft stores if you want to carve a custom solution - make sure you insulate the lid too.
posted by momus_window at 10:15 AM on September 19, 2021

My kid uses a Hydro Flask, and I've been amazed to see ice cubes lasting a full 24 hours in there. I don't see why you couldn't fill it with ice cream. (However I will say that his first one was defective, and ice melted in just a couple of hours. They replaced it.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:18 AM on September 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

I have transported ice cream, it's going to melt even if packed with ice at typical freezer temperatures. The only way to do this is with dry ice. Place a quarter pound of dry ice on top of the pint, place in a reasonably insulated soft-sided container, like a padded lunch sack.
posted by wnissen at 10:46 AM on September 19, 2021 [6 favorites]

Do not put dry ice in a hard sealed container!! The gas that is given off as it "melts" must be allowed to escape or you risk an explosion of the sealed container*. A soft-sided container sounds perfect, as it's not air-tight. Dry ice is the answer, though, to keeping ice cream frozen.


*A new person in a university research lab once sent samples via FedEx in a sealed container into which he had placed both the samples and dry ice, screwed the cap on firmly and sent it off to the central lab in the sturdy cardboard box required. It exploded in the FedEx truck, freaking out the driver (even more so because the samples were infectious) and blowing back on the University with a very, very large fine and a requirement for mandatory re-training of every single person authorized to ship samples. I worked at that university but not in that lab, and it reverberated for years.
posted by citygirl at 11:10 AM on September 19, 2021 [22 favorites]

If you are up for a science experiment, try making ice packs in a salt water bath. That'll keep the melted ice below 32°F a bit longer. Maybe adapt this Ziploc bag method for making ice cream.
posted by tinker at 11:27 AM on September 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

Used to work at a famous ice cream shop with 31 flavors. We sold dry ice to people on a walk-in basis and put it into heavy brown paper bags. Get some (if the still even sell it like that), and give it a test run?
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:16 PM on September 19, 2021

"ice paks" (the re-freezable kind) and a foil-lined cooler.

If you order from Amazon Fresh, they SOMETIMES put the small tubs of ice cream, like the 14 oz Tom and Jerry or Haagen-Daaz in these plastic-foam-sandwich envelopes. THOSE are great, esp. if you add some ice paks.
posted by kschang at 1:34 PM on September 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Load your ice cream into a good Thermos or Hydroflask insulated bowl -- they make small ones that would hold a pint of ice cream. Then don't worry about where you put it or how you carry it.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:27 PM on September 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Here is a bunch of info as it relates to Thermos.
posted by SageTrail at 4:55 PM on September 19, 2021

My best idea is put the ice cream in a large ziploc bag, then take ice and salt like you’re going to make instant ice cream, and put that in a much larger ziploc bag. The ice itself will want to melt quickly, but hopefully the salt will help it stay colder for longer.
posted by Champagne Supernova at 6:32 PM on September 19, 2021

There are appropriate drop and go thermoses for this. Random one.
posted by tilde at 9:13 PM on September 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've transported icecream successfully before with some ice bricks, a foil lined cooler and a towel, which recreates a freezer environment. I put a small ice brick above, below and on both sides of the tub, and wrap the lot in a towel and place inside the cooler. The towel is key because it adds a lot of extra insulation. If you're using a mini cooler, a hand towel or a couple of face towels would probably suffice

I'd also probably turn my freezer down the lowest it can go, and turn the icecream rock hard overnight before transporting
posted by Zaire at 2:45 AM on September 21, 2021