Good luck. When we had the bar, I used to hold the ice cubes in the palm of my hand and whack them with a small wooden "bat". Those were the little square "bar sized" cubes, though. I tried it with my bigger cubes that come from the ice maker and about ruined my hand!

Annie

How crushed do you want it? I'd use my blender for a frozen drink, and short of that I'd ask why bother to crush it.

At the cottage we have a plain jane fridge so I use my blender. .....noisy but effective

I am now situated like pkramer60, but I also have a couple of those old hand crushers like THIS. I liked them because they made odd broken shapes that were very useful in making Ice Candles. I got mine at second hand stores or garage sales. Depending on your hand strength you might find them convenient, or not.

The best I've done at home without specialized equipment was in a Cuisinart, but it dulls the blade. My mother's Nutone had an ice crusher...

I have a couple of vintage hand crank ice crusher. Lots of them on eBay. I found mine at estate/ rummage sales.

I have a "machine" that crushes ice and spits bits and pieces all over the kitchen..
I think the easiest is ice in a bag and whack whack with a rolling pin....unless you have a magic refrigerator

I have this hand crank. Work good, needs a little effort.

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Crank-Crusher-VICTORIO-VKP1126/dp/B00AVRZEFS/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1497663612&sr=1-2&keywords=ice+crusher

You can also use this:

https://www.amazon.com/Mexicana-Raspador-Raspados-Metallic-Shaver/dp/B00AFYMRCA/ref=sr_1_7?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1497663661&sr=1-7&keywords=ice+shaver

dcarch

Annie, I was hoping you might have some secret from your bar ownership days. I don't think I'll be trying your method with my large cubes. ;)

Peppi, lucky you!

FOAS, I don't like big cubes. I get some visceral enjoyment from crushed ice.

Chase, I'm trying to avoid pulling out the blender.

Chas, that looks interesting, but one cube at a time?

Linda, what kind of bag do you use?

Dcarch, I saw that Victoria. Mike said they had one when he was a kid. The Amazon reviews talk about rust forming and the plastic breaking. How long have you had yours?

I wouldn't want to bother with the whack method on a daily basis, but this is what I do for a small amount: Put ice in a gallon ziploc bag so that it still lays flat on the cutting board. The cutting board is to keep the misses from whacking the counter which is more for my elbows than the counter. Cover with a terrycloth rag or several thinner ones. Whack with the pointy side of an old meat mallet that has a peeling finish and lives in the junk drawer. The grid of points speeds the cracking. A bad old heavy frying pan works really well, at least to take it from big to small, as well. I won't do that with my good pans, though, mostly due to superstition. Sometimes there are some small holes in the up side of the bag, but in general the cloth pads it well enough. The cloth and board also insulate the ice a little and keep it from melting quite so fast.

CindyMac, re ' one cube at a time?: I had thought it did four at a time. Perhaps that was true for old trey cubes, but for our fridg ice machine 'cubes' it does two at a time. I would think four cubes would be right for an iced coffee, and I see that indeed most pics of iced coffee show solid pieces rather than truly crushed ice in their presentations. I only drink fresh hot coffee, so no actual experience.

The two gadgets I linked above will give you uniform pice particle sizes.

The shaver will let you make "Italian Ice"

dcarch

I go to the gas station and buy a bag of crushed. It goes in the freezer drop bin where the ice maker (inside the drawer not outside like new ones) makes big ol' crescent shapes that don't fit nicely in my iced coffee to go mug.

I have a mini food processor that I use for just a glass of crushed ice. I think it cost me less than $10 years ago. If you do pull out the big one I bet you could make a ziplock full of ice and keep it in the freezer, a couple of whacks should break it back up.

Like Nancy, I buy it. I love the clear, beautiful ice in bags and really dislike refrigerator ice, especially that made BY the refrigerator. I do have great water here, so it's not my water, it's the air/dehydrating of the freezer that ruins home made cubes. Bagged ice is quite inexpensive and so convenient!

Plllog, that's the method I currently use. Six cubes in a plastic bag. I don't cover the bag with anything. I use the flat side of a meat mallet to pound the cubes. I reuse the bag a couple times before tossing.

Never thought of buying crushed ice. I sometimes grab a free bag at Whole Foods. From now on I'll keep it instead of dumping in the bird bath or using to chill a bottle of wine.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Just had a thought - not perfect but it's a start.

Maybe yes, maybe no but love your pestle

Probably maybe no. I was taking out the recycling when I came up with that idea. :)

My other (probably unhelpful) thought goes back to the blender. Cindy, do you have a blender you like? I mean really like? A high end blender may seem hard to justify, but once I finally got one I wished I had sprung for it earlier. My Vitamix is one of the few countertop appliances that stays out.

FOAS, I have an old Waring. Last time I used it it smelled like the motor might be going. I did a brief Google search, but couldn't justify the price for something I rarely use(d). I'm thinking those free bags of Whole Foods crushed ice might be the way to go. ;)

You wouldn't use it daily for your coffee drinks? :) j/k (kinda!)

Just to crush ice? No.

When I was sick as a child, my mother would take a few ice cubes and wrap them well in a cloth dish towel and then use the meat tenderizer mallet to crust the ice. It worked!

I have a couple of these that I found @ a local church thrift store - still work pretty good too:

& we had this for our Osterizer blender, growing up. It made a horrendous racket & was so fun to use. I think they still make such things:

I've also used this (mine is aluminum) in a stainless steel bowl like the one shown above. (I'd be a bit wary of using glass, myself). A towel over it all can help contain the shrapnel :

Cracked / Crushed Ice! Love it. We're too far away from stores and our freezer space is limited these days.

I have a variety of cracking and crushing gizmos and gadgets.

1. I sometimes use the meat hammer and thick plastic bags, on counter, and as someone suggested, use an old cloth, denim over that. Don't use nice dish towels bc the will get "hammered", breaking the fibers. Cracked ice cubes.

2. Note: for CLEAR ice, make the cubes with water which you've boiled and cooled. That removes the trapped air.

3. Note: You can buy trays for tiny squares or other shaped cubes. I love looking at small clear ice cubes in pretty, cleared iced tea ;-)

4. I have an older Oster blender for which I bought two ICE crushing blades. Affordable at online, including that Big monster order house. This can give me finely crushed ice. Earplugs recommended. You can also make the drink in the blender and add ice cubes.

5. At some thrift/used store I picked up a countertop electric ice crusher. Gives me quite a bit of crushed ice cubes/ice. If you find one, clean it well ;)

6. I have a nice countertop hand crank as shown above. Like the Metrokline. Found at yard sale. Easy to use & doesn't take up much room. Use at sink.

7. There is this little hand-held gizmo that I've dubbed the thwacker. Online auctions for original or Amaz. See.

https://www.amazon.com/TAPPER-Breaker-Break-Cracker-Crusher/dp/B017T20CS6

No more super helpful tips from me, just back to say thanks for the inspiration. Some cold brewed coffee, cream, Nutella, ice... pretty happy with my first attempt.

Ooh, FOAS! That looks so good! Your bottle smashing ice crusher was creative.

Say, do you grow or forage mushrooms? I would love some pan roasted chanterelles on pan fried potatoes right about now.

Can you believe I've never tried Nutella?

I've been making my drink with skim milk, TJ's coffee syrup and a splash of half 'n half.

Never tried Nutella? Oh, the shame. (grin) I love the stuff but it sure is not health food.

FOAS, that drink looks good, I'm betting the Monkey Princess would LOVE it, I'll have to give that a try.

Annie

Cindy - Many decades ago Nutella was a delicacy that my relatives would send from Germany, and we'd send back peanut butter in return. Back then both were unavailable or rare in our respective countries. Once I got older I didn't have it for years, and the next time I tried it (after reading about here on CF) I was disgusted. Unfortunately that didn't last long. Anyway if you have low self control like I do, I say don't try it. Either you'll like it or you won't, and neither is a desirable result.

Petalique - I've long wanted to try growing mushrooms. Never thought how that could give me an excuse for my name. What a great idea!

Whole Foods gives away ice? That would be so handy for cooling the veggies I'm going to freeze.

FOAS, how can you initially be disgusted and then addicted? HA!

Suzanne, it's a courtesy for shoppers. I don't know if all stores do it, but I'm in the deep south and I can tell you it's much appreciated, especially those times I forget to bring my ice packs.

ETA: Turns out the free crushed ice at Whole Foods is not for human consumption.