Machka 

Since it is summer in the northern hemisphere where most of you are ...

If you are car-free, how do you deal with bringing home the ice cream?



When I was car-free, I mostly ate ice cream and other frozen desserts in the autumn, winter and spring. Most of the time, I walked 0.5 km up to the grocery store, bought whatever food I could carry, and walked home. A 0.5 km walk in autumn, winter, or spring was usually cool enough for me to get home with my frozen goods still intact. But things would start to melt on a hot day in summer.

So, if I wanted ice cream, frozen veg, or other frozen goods into the summer, I stocked up throughout spring and put it into the freezer. My freezer was one of the best purchases I made!!

Scummer

There are gelato hole in the walls in almost every town here. So I can basically stop anywhere within a few km and have some of that cold deliciousness. Matter of fact, I just had a scoop of Orange and Hazelnut after my hill repeats yesterday.

wolfchild

It's a very short ride for me from home to the grocery store, I ride fast and never had a problem with ice cream melting in hot weather. Ice cream is one of my diet staples so I make sure to always keep a box of it in my freezer.

Roody

In the summer, we like to head out after dinner, just as the sun is setting and the air is cooling off a little. We stroll together as a family to the local soft serve place about 10 minutes away. The ice cream is great, and even the dog gets her own special little dish. Usually we lick off the drips while we walk a couple minutes to the river bank, overlooking the dam and fish ladder. it's a beautiful experience, and although very leisurely, we even walk off a couple of the calories! It's such a beautiful and peaceful time of day, and so nice to spend a few undistracted minutes with the family.

Tundra_Man 

I bring it home in my tummy.

rhm

On a recent shopping expedition I brought along a bunch of used mailing envelopes, the kind with a lining of bubblewrap. We put the ice cream and other frozen stuff in those, and packed it all so the frozen stuff was surrounded by boxes of dry stuff like pasta and cereal. When we got home, it's only 3 miles, it was all still frozen.

CliffordK

I usually shop about 8 or 10 miles from home.

Groceries are always the last stop on the way back home. Then I ride like greased lightening...
Ummm... well... at least I can normally beat the snails and tortoises on a good day.

Usually my ice cream comes in 5 qt tubs. My hard ice cream is often soft ice cream when I get home, but chuck it in the freezer and it is fine. I don't use any special insulation.

And, since I'm trying to loose a little weight, and always overeat the ice cream, it is rare that I buy it.

2manybikes

I know where you got the idea for this thread. Well played.

This is what I thought the other thread was going to be.

I have discovered if you put something cold into a normal pannier, surrounding it with your windbreaker losely packed is very good insulation. I can keep a cold drink cold for hours this way. My grocery store is only 1.5 miles away, but I have not tried ice cream yet.

I don't get my food dessert in a food desert.

I-Like-To-Bike

The Dairy Queen is less than a mile from my house, while the closest supermarket is just over a mile. Thank goodness I still have the wherewithal to get beyond the limits of the food desert boundary otherwise I would be forced to eat ice cream all day.

MikeRides

We have these things called insulated coolers. They keep hot food hot, and cold stuff ... umm cold.

It's 10 miles to the nearest grocery store but we never get ice cream there because they only sell utterly disgusting national brands. Its only about 6 miles to the nearest dairy /convenience store which has the best ice cream in the state. The ice cream is packed tight in a full half gallon container and is actually frozen/hard unlike what is sold at most grocery stores these days. I can get two cartons home within 15 min, and they won't be soft even on a 100*+ summer afternoon.

Otherwise we eat ice cream while out riding. Two years ago we started a traditional "Tour de Ice Cream" ride where we ride 50+ miles on the rail trail and stop in towns along the way for ice cream. Last year we did this ride twice, this year we've already done it twice and are planning at least one more in August. Nothing tastes better than ice cream after a bike ride on a hot summer day.

Roody

And that would be bad because...

I-Like-To-Bike

I'd become obese and feel sorry for myself.

Roody

And drown your sorrows in ice cream!

Artkansas 

Lactose intolerance carries the day for me.

chewybrian 

^Someone's new sig line...

I just don't eat any sweets. I needed to lose a lot of weight and that was a corner stone. It is not difficult to go without them, and you lose your taste for them after a while.

After losing 100 pounds, I decided to 'celebrate' with a piece of cheesecake. It didn't seem as good as it did years before, and the hangover I got put me off sweets forever.

Dahon.Steve

I live 1 block away from the supermarket. However, I perfer soft ice cream from the trucks.!

gerv 

I bought some ice cream yesterday. The clerk discovered I was riding a bike and asked how I would get home with a frozen treat (since it's in the 90s).

Now I live about a 4 minutes ride (which includes loading up the panniers) from the grocery store.

Does anyone ask car drivers this question?

Machka 

Probably not because cars have air conditioning.

Machka 

It doesn't have to be ice cream. It could be other frozen products too ... like frozen veg, meat, dinners, pizza, strawberries, or whatever you like.

Sixty Fiver

I use an insulated cooler, my wife and I don't eat ice cream but the girls enjoy it.

Scummer

Yesterday's dessert was quite the size. I ordered the Banana Cup and it came with a scoop of chocolate, lemon and straciatella. The cream on top was covered with chocolate bits, chocolate sauce, slices of banana and egg liquor on top. So yummy... Good thing I rode my bike there to burn off at least a few of the calories.

I-Like-To-Bike

Maybe some of the carfree purists don't like using "environmentally unfriendly electricity" using devices like freezers.

Roody

I guess they use their steam powered computers to post here on the forum.

wolfchild

When it's very hot I've used those cooler ice packs and insulated bag for carrying fresh meat and frozen berries.

wipekitty

One of the grocery stores sells these amazing hot/cold bags. I put the cold stuff in, snap it up, and it's good to go!

It also works well to keep things from freezing in the winter. I had some problems with greens getting frozen, and it solved that issue as well.