How To Make an Ice Pack

You could go out and buy a $10 ice pack from any store in Peoria. You could buy a $2 ice pack and watch the blue liquid leak all over your nice clothes. Or you could make your own when you need it: quick, effective, practically free, and a perfect way to recycle those plastic grocery bags.

Although aesthetic beauty is not one of its many attributes, this homemade ice pack has an important advantage: it's much, much larger than conventional ice packs, so it gives much greater coverage on the back and can wrap around an arm or leg.

What you need: 1) ice, 2) a plastic grocery bag. (Click on any picture for a larger version)

---

If the ice is in whole cubes, you'll need to crush it with a rolling pin or a hammer. It's a good way to take out aggressions. If you're blessed with an in-freezer ice dispenser, however, you'll be able to simply choose the "crushed" or "chopped" ice instead of the cubed. I prefer "crushed" over "shaved" or "pulverized" or "atomized".

Fill your bag up to half full with the ice chips.

Press down on the bag to evacuate the air.

Tie off the top of the bag. By filling the bag only halfway and then pushing out the air, you've created a malleable bag that will easily mold to any body part.

You've now created your ice pack! That was easy.

Never put a plastic ice bag directly on the skin. Put a damp (not sopping) paper towel between your skin and the bag, to prevent ice burns.

Leave the bag in place on your injured body part for about 15 minutes. After you remove the bag, the area will continue to get colder, believe it or not, so you're inviting frostbite by leaving the bag on longer than that. Don't ice more than once an hour. Also, be very cautious when applying ice packs to children or the elderly: their skin is fragile and more easily injured.