The flexible ice mat is great if you need flexibility, mold for medical applications, mold into space limitations in your lunch box. It is just a sheet of ice cubes separated by a plastic material that is still flexible when frozen. It perfectly fits my lunch box, but the fit will vary by your lunch box size. Because it fits like a glove in my lunch box, I suspect there is some standard sizes out there that this fits well for. It can fit on bottom or top without seeming to take up as much space as ice bricks. However, ice is ice and you must still be sure to chill with enough quantity over the duration you need to keep your lunch chilled.
This really works well for medial applications when you need to ice something. It can flex into different shapes where bags of ice turn into big globs of ice or are hard to spread out and keep it that way over time. We particularly needed to make an ice pillow to roll up, wrap in a kitchen towel, and use behind your neck while sitting on the couch. Bags of ice worked okay but wasn't uniform enough or comfortable. This was the perfect solution to make into a roll that fits just right behind your neck. As a sheet, you can more easily wrap areas if needed too.
It is pretty straight forward. It is just 18 ice cubes (or small pockets) connected into a plastic sheet. It chills the same as any other ice of the same volume, except that you can flex it and fit it as needed. I couldn't ask for much more out of it. You could try to cut the sheet to fit a different size, but be careful to not cut or compromise any of the pockets.
These ice mats from thermos work much better then those standard brick ice packs because they can wrap around the items you need to be cooled. Especially for awkwardly shaped items, sometimes only one side of the food touches the ice but the other side melts but you dont have this problem with this product since it touches all sides of your food.
At a little over two dollars, this product is a great deal and much cheaper then comparable "flexible ice mat" type products. It even has a silver lining on one side to help insulate, but make sure your food touches the actual "cold" side which is the blue side.
This 18 cube mat is probably better suited for a larger cooler or very large lunchbox. I think it would be too big for a regular child's lunchbox. If you are using it in a large cooler, I would purchase several, depending on how you plan to shape the ice packs. I can also see it being effective for a variety of uses including using as a medical ice pack for your body because of the flexibility. To me, it feels cooler to the touch then real ice, like ice packs usually do.
I use these to wrap frozen chocolate bananas and various snacks in. Before when I used regular ice packs, only one side would touch, and everything would still melt. With this ice mat, I no longer have that problem. After using this product ill never go back to the brick ever again!
Note: another reviewer complained he received only a 9 cube mat. I got the correct 18 cube mat as shown here. Not sure what the deal was with that. But at its cheap price, its worth having various sizes for different applications anyway. Im not sure, but if you are careful you might be able to cut in between the cubes and make a smaller mat.
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I ordered this 18-cube ice mat, selected over the 9-cube item because it was only 25 cents more expensive. Based on the description, i expected to receive 2 of the 9-cube sheets. I received the product and discovered only a single 9-cube mat. The factory label lists it as 18 cube, so I'm not certain what happened. Not going to return it, since it's only a 25 cent difference, but I was disappointed none the less.
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The ice mats are perfect for shopping bags to keep groceries cold while leaving insulated bags in the car. Wouldn't be without them anytime, especially in the summer. Great price and great convenience.
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They served a purpose. These do not last long. I have migraines and I keep an Ice pack on my head most of the time. The problem with this one is it is in a bunch of small cubes. It would probably be ok if used for something else. It just didn't suit my purpose. Thank You Amazon.
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We bought this shape sorter for my 11 month old daughter. Once she started playing with it, we realized the holes where the shapes go are the perfect size for tiny hands to become stuck in. In other words, her hand can just barely fit inside the square, triangle and letter shapes, but she needed our help to get it back out. Because this is made of a very hard plastic, I can see this easily leading to a trip to the emergency room to get your child's hand cut free. A total waste of money -we are throwing ours away, because I do not want another child to become stuck!
