Hello all. Over the past few years my wife and I have amassed quite a collection of those soft gel freezer packs. They range from fairly small, around beanbag size, to around ten inches across. We use a few of them to keep her lunch cold at work, and for picnics, but I'm torn with what to do with the rest of them. We have around thirty total. I hate throwing them away, but I can't figure out anything useful to do with the rest of them. Any idea from recycling to reusing to donating them would be welcome. Thanks!
What to do with lots of leftover freezer packs?
byu/ProfessorThom inFrugal
Posted by ProfessorThom
9 Comments
Do you have a Buy Nothing group that is active? How is your local food pantry? Both might be places to consider donating/sharing them.
Post in a buy nothing group. Lots of people like to use them when camping.
Wife gets refrigerated meds delivered regularly so we end up with a ton. We give them away to anyone that will take them. I tend to hang on to more than we need but they eventually start leaking then I’ll toss them.
Same situation here. I also have the styrofoam coolers they came in and I hate just throwing them all away. I keep a few in the freezer for use in my regular coolers and have given some away as well. The bags say recyclable but not sure if that’s just the bag or the contents as well.
I’m glad I kept the few I had. I gave shingles right now and they are a life saver for calming down nerve pain. They sat in the freezer for a couple years and now they are in rotation every 20 minutes.
Do you have a little free pantry (they’re like little free libraries) nearby? I would put one in there and revisit in a week and see if anyone took it. If so I’d drop feed it (one or two at a time tops). We amass a lot of plastic wear we don’t use and ours gobbles that up.
So, I put some on a cooler when I go shopping to keep cold foods cold. It really helps if you have multiple stores you need to visit.
Also, freezers and fridges are more efficient if they are full. Do even if you just have them taking up space, they will still save you money.
It may be weird, but if you have pets and a good relationship with your vet, call to ask if they could use them. I live about an hour away from the nearest vet and on occasion have to pick up refrigerated meds. I usually bring my own ice pack, but have forgotten it and had to stop for a bag of ice.
Ask your local fire department. They could keep some on hand for injuries, or to hand out at cooling stations during events.