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Practically all of your food has a thaw point that’s below the thaw point of ice. The energy absorbed in the phase transition of ice to water massively eclipses the energy to heat up the same amount of water by one degree. In effect, all your food will protect your newly acquired ice from melting.

You want something that has a thaw point way below your foods thaw point - add salt t your ice.

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I had never thought about this but you're right. Big frozen water/soda bottles of ice still increase the overall thermal mass and will almost certainly slow full thawing. Otherwise, ice blocks in a cooler wouldn't work.

But you're really better off adding salt to those bottles so they absorb energy when melting below the freezing point of pure water (and frozen food).

While that's true, since the current topic of this conversation is about emergency preparedness, I think having potable water (in ice form) would be much preferable to salted water.

It’s substantially more efficient to store a pack of bottled water or two on top of your fridge - and keep your food at the same time. Water keeps well even if not frozen.

If you want to keep tap water, you can buy silver ion additives at any camping/outdoor store. If you’re really planning for preparedness, buy a ceramic water micro filter and additives. That can make nearly all water usable.

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