Hello everyone,
I am new here and I have to admit when I googled and saw there was an entire message board dedicated to people that love to chew ice, I thought it was a joke. To my delight, it isn't! I can't believe there are other people out there who share my strange addiction.
I've always like to chew ice. About 10 years ago I noticed that at the gym I worked at, LA Fitness, they had great pelletized ice in the smoothie bar. I liked the ice more than the smoothies, and it got to where I liked the ice more than the smoothie. At that time I was also diagnosed severely anemic (with a hemoglobin of 8, where as I think it is supposed to be 12 at the lowest). I was told to take iron supplements. I know ice craving is a huge indicator of anemia, and I notice that my cravings go away when I take my iron supplements regularly.
How many of you are also anemic?
Nowadays I crave ice so much I can't leave the house without my ice cup. Sometimes I take 2 cups... or if I know I will be gone all day, I take 3 or 4 and cover them with foil and put them in a little cooler bag in the car! I smuggle ice into the movies, and I hate going to movies where it's quiet all the time because then I can't crunch crunch crunch.
My family thinks I am crazy.
However, my husband helps me... he knows I prefer a certain type ice (McDonald's ice! In the bag, their thin squares are the perfect mix of crunch and are small enough to be easily eaten, yet not too small, so I feel like I have something to really bite into... and they are clear, with an indented hole in one end, which makes for perfect melting ice.
I am probably unique in that the Sonic type, pelletized ice, or hospital type ice is my least favorite. For me, it's too soft. When crunched, it just kind of crumbles, and I don't like that. I want some shards to break off. But not TOO big or it's hard to eat.
In my fridge, I have cups of ice waiting to be eaten. I take the ice out, breaking it up with a meat mallet if there are pieces stuck together, and put it in a big 32 oz plastic cup. I then cover it with foil and put it in the fridge. Then it sits- I try to have them sit for about 24 hours before i eat them, so they get "tenderized". They don't melt, (well a little does, I drink that water from the bottem when I take a cup out) but it gets a nice softeness to it, so the big chunks are easy to eat. I usually have 4-5 cups "marinating" in the fridge at any one time. It is a terribly day if I run out of ice. My husband knows to pick up ice for me.
Sometimes I even eat so much ice my tongue hurts the next day. Right now I have a frostbitten tongue and it's killing me but I cannot stop.
I am curious. How much is a regular 10 lb bag of ice where you live? In Phoenix, AZ, I used to get McDonald's ice for .99 a bag, and when I moved up north to Prescott, AZ, the same bag is now $1.99! I am so mad. All bags of ice here are $2, when in Phoenix they are $1.
So nice to meet other ice chewers.