Filling a cooler with ice, along with all your drinks, is a simple enough way of doing things. Problem is, it’s nasty, often leaving your cooler filled by a pool of water with a bunch of dirt, leaves, and other small debris floating around in it. The NeatIce offers a cleaner alternative.
An ice bag, it’s a waterproof container designed to hold ice, so you can place the bag inside the cooler instead of just dumping the ice straight in. Doing so allows you to lower the temperature inside the same way as regular ice would, all without the mess of a slowly growing pool of water inside the container.
The NeatIce is made from 420-denier nylon, so this should hold up to being placed in awkward positions inside the ice box, even with the weight of cans and bottles sitting on top of it. A TPU lining sits on the inner part of the bag, providing the necessary microbial resistance to keep the melted water clean and abrasion resistance to keep the ice from damaging the bag from the inside. All materials used are BPA-free, with any part touching the contents of the bag guaranteed safe for contact with potable water. That means, you can drink the water inside the bag if you need to, which would be pretty useful when all the refreshments have run out, including your stash of bottled water.
To start using the bag, simply detach the Velcro, roll the top open, open the ziplock, and dump your ice inside. It measures 15 x 9 x 6 inches (height x width x depth) and holds approximately up to 10 pounds of cubed ice, allowing you to use just a single bag (or two) to adequately cool down even a larger cooler. For smaller coolers, you can also just fill part of the bag and fold it down to save space. While the bag is designed to hold ice cubes, we imagine you can fill it with water for freezing, too, which would make for an even better solution, since the larger mass means the ice will take longer to melt. Just make sure to toss the bags in the freezer well before your party and you should be good to go.
The NeatIce has a valve at the bottom for quickly emptying out all the water inside, with a detachable 10-inch drain hose for controlling the water more precisely. When emptied, the bag can be easily rolled into a compact bundle, allowing you to stash it in a bag for easy access as soon as you get home. Whether you use coolers strictly for refreshments or use it to hold fresh food items, too, using an ice bag actually seems like an attractive solution, since you will never have to reach inside an icy pool of water to get a can of beer, a bottle of wine, or the few pieces of steak you wrapped in a vacuum-sealed bag. Plus, having food swimming in a dirty pool of water just sounds gross.
Want one? The NeatIce is available now, priced at $39.99.