Gerri's Perfect Cold Packs
From a school nurse who has tried everything from ice cubes to sponges
Ingredients:
Zip lock bags
Uncooked regular (not instant) rice
Steps
Fill the bags and sqeeze out the air. There should be enough rice so that when you lay the bag flat the rice is about an inch deep.
Put them in the freezer overnight.
Plusses
These cold packs are light weight, mold to the body part and do not get hard. They feel great over the eyes and forehead for headaches too. When you first handle the bag, you think it doesn't feel cold enough because it is not wet or frosty. But experiment by laying it on your own wrist for about 5 minutes, and you will find that not only is it nice and cold, but it stays cold for a long while.
Although the first batch needs a few hours to get cold, they seem to retain their coldness for a long time, even after use, and recool very quickly as you rotate through your supply thoughout the day.
After experimenting with smaller and greater amounts of rice, I found that having a little mass helped to retain the cold better, and the inch deep ones were perfect.
You can squash them into the freezer, they stay loose and maleable.
There is no condensation or dripping as they thaw because of the low moisture of the rice.
The snack size bags make great packs for fingers and for over eyes,
If you want to double bag in order to give each user a clean surface, use regular zipper bags instead of freezer weight and double bag the rice, changing just the outer bag.
I may make some fabric slip covers for mine, which I will slip on before use but not when in the freezer.
By the way, if you happen to have a microwave, fabric bags filled with rice microwave into great warm packs.