I remember a time when we did not have a fridge. During the summer, milk and butter was kept in a bowl of running cold water and we had something called a “safe” in the garden for perishables, although they perished all the same in the warm weather.
The first person to own a fridge was my Aunt Lil, who lived opposite. He and her husband had taken over their complete little house in the East End of London, Bethnal Green. Aunt Lil and Uncle Arthur had no children and so they had more funds at their disposal than the rest of us working class families. It was not our fridge and I could only imagine the advantages of drinking liquids with ice cubes floating in them on the hot Summer days. I remember when Aunt Lil and Uncle Arthur went on their annual two week holiday to the sea in Englan, mum found that was great as we looked after their place when they were away and we could profit from the ice cubes freezing away in their fridge. However, Aunt Lil informed mum that they were defrosting the fridge and it would be switched off whilst they were away, so that was the end of ice cube holidays.
As time went on, and prosperity arrived to the working classes of cockney East London, we bought our own fridge. At last the days of ice cubed drinks had arrived. However, it was all in the first development stages, and the ice box was small, made of metal and you had to submerge it into water to be able to remove the mini ice blocks, nothing special.
Today we all have a fridge, even a freezer and not just a small compartment in the main fridge. The unfrozen days have gone, we all get frozen with our cold drinks in Summer. And then this was invented.
Nothing special just a plastic bag, but what a super plastic bag. The inventors had thought of everything. Even if I had designed it myself, it could not have been better. The only small problem is filling the bag with water, but practice makes perfect. You can buy this plastic bags in packs of many and at the top there is a the entrance to fill it with water from the tap. Gradually you notice the bag filling and the water enters various cube shaped compartments. Afterwards you tie a knot at the top of the bag to stop the water draining away. There is even a choice. Some bags have round shapes, and some even small, decorative small forms: perhaps stars, little pyramids or mini squares. You can make your choice. The heavy metal boxes filled with water for a maximum of 10 ice cubes were now a thing of the past,although I believe we still have one in our cellar somewhere.
Not only this, but the square segments are lightly perforated. This means that after filling with water and freezing, you can give a tug at the bag, releasing the weak seams at the sides of the cubes and voilà you have a bag of loose ice cubes ready for the drink – see photo on the lefthand side. The days of sneaking into Aunt Lil’s home for an ice cube are gone, although Aunt Lil would turn off the fridge when she was away, probably to save on the electricity bill. We now have bags of ice cubes or other such shapes in our freezer.
The only problem today is to remember to fill up a new bag when you have finished the old one. Plain and simple, but who needs expensive inventions when you can do it all with a suitably perforated ice cube bag.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
Wow! I wonder if we have this wonderful invention in Canuck-land??? I’m going to look for it!
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We can buy them in any supermarket and at a reasonable price. So much easier than the meal or plastic ice boxes.
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I tend to use the word “ice box” because my father’s mother – who lived with us – started out with an “ice box” when she arrived in America in 1930. The ice man arrived every couple of days or so with a big block of ice to keep things as fresh. No electricity required. They got their first electric refrigerator in the forties, but that and all it’s descendants were always “ice boxes.” I remeber those awful metal trays. I have never seen bags like those in any of the stores. I’m currently using these flexible trays from Ikea. The water freezes in pretty shapes and the cubes pop out pretty well. I like the idea of disposable bags. They would be awesome for an ice chest.
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I remember when mum got our first fridge, it was great, I had ice cubes in everything. It must have been a problem before having one keeping everything fresh, but in those days you did not buy everything in advance probably, went shopping daily.
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When I lived in New York I tended to shop on a daily basis myself – lol – but now being in the country you learn to plan ahead.
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I do not remember the first refrigerator… but I do have great memories of the first color television we had. I became sick as a dog after watching it for the night. I think that the movie on that night was about a glass bottomed boat?
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When I arrived in Switzerland, 1966, colour televisions were beginning to arrive. When I married Mr. Swiss a few years later we had b-w, but our first colour TV soon followed. It was a novelty at the beginning, now it is fun to watch the old black and white movies.
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yes!
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Those magic ice cube making bags sound like the real thing. There is always a better mousetrap on the market. My grandparents had no electricity until the late 40s. They had one of the first propane operated refrigerators, that I recall, it worked just great. A full-size refrigerator. My grandparents, before they got their propane refrigerator had a deep post hole dug in the ground, I remember they would lower the milk jug and Finnish Bema on a long string. I would imagine the temperature was much cooler six feet down.
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It is quite simple really and a good idea. Just a plain plastic bag with perforations for the cube sizes. You can throw them away when finished, and you buy them in packs of many – no problem and they are reasonable in price. I remember the fridge that was run on gas, there were quite a few around in London.
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I haven’t seen those bags here, but I’d buy one in a heartbeat. What a better idea that those ice trays. We fill them, forget them, and when we want ice, it’s all gone, empty. I’ll have to see if I can find these.
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They are really good, ideal for ice. You can fill as many as you want, and always have enough ice. Also the perforated system of preparing them is good. Afterwards the ice cubes just fall loosely into the bag and are easy to take when needing them.
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My first fridge was a tiny little thing with the motor on the top , worked great sadly I moved from that apt and it was on the third floor and for all its tiny size it weighed a ton no way to move it . I love the bags , do they have a name ?
never seen anything like them here .
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I remember the first fridges, They had very thick walls, more wall than space inside and yes, they were very heavy. For me they are just plastic ice cube bags, made for our local supermarket, but here is a photo I just took with my phone
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for us poor souls who can’t get to your supermarket . I have found these or some very much the same on Amazone under plactic ice bags
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Had a quick look in Amazon, but they are very expensive, although for 100 pieces. we get 20 pieces at once.
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