After getting an ice bath, it doesn’t take long to realise the cost involved with buying bags of ice from the shops. This article aims to solve that problem by recommending the best ice tray for ice bath. By making our own ice we are saving money and time by not consistently traveling to the shops for more ice.

There are various ways to create reusable ice for ice baths which I’ve highlighted in a separate article. However, this article focuses on an effective way to create big blocks of ice for the purpose of cooling down an ice bath.

Ice tray for ice bath

The idea of a large ice tray is to create our own ice blocks to put in an ice bath. There is an ingenious way to achieve this with the help of a plastic filing cabinet. With the plastic filing cabinet below, you get 6 draws.

In total, this would give you 10+kg of ice, which should be enough to reach your desired ice bath temperature.

The process of using the below product is simple, remove the draws, fill them with water, and place them in your freezer.

The trays full of water should fully freeze in around 24 hours. When you want to have an ice bath simply remove the draws from your freezer and empty the ice blocks into your cold plunge.

Below is a recommended product that others have used with great success.

With this approach, you get many large blocks that provide a great volume of ice, meaning the ice lasts longer. One disadvantage with this approach is that with less surface area, it would take longer to reduce the temperature, compared to using ice cubes.

Freezer space

Of course, one requirement to creating your own ice blocks is having enough space in your freezer. The nice thing about the trays in the plastic filing cabinet is that they fit snugly in the freezer and can be stacked. However, you need sufficient space in your freezer for this to be worthwhile.

Some people actually purchase a separate small freezer for the sole purpose of storing ice, but this costs a fair amount of money. If you are interested in this, then check out the below product which would fit the ice trays in nicely.

Save money and time

Most people will tend to use bags of ice to keep their ice bath cool but if you ice bath regularly this can quickly become costly in terms of time and money. By avoiding constant trips to the shops and carrying heavy amounts of ice you can spend time doing things you’d rather do.

Save yourself the cost and hassle and make your own ice with this unique ice tray trick.

How much ice do you need for an ice bath?

This will depend on your desired temperature, generally for cold water therapy the ideal temperature is between 10-15°C (around 50-60 Fahrenheit). Depending on the ambient temperature and water capacity you may need around 7-15kg of ice.

Typically you will need more in the summer time, and you may not need ice at all during the winter time.