Thrifty Family Fun: 5 Minute Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

July 17, 2012 at 7:09 am , by Lydia Beiler

We’re like any other family and love to have fun together but we don’t love spending lots of money to accomplish that.  So I’m always on the lookout for fun, thrifty things that we can do.  So when I recently saw this recipe for Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag and knew that I had to try it.  We all love ice cream here and I knew we’d have fun watching the milk turn into ice cream almost right before our eyes.  And we did!  Here’s how to do in case you want to have some frugal and yummy family fun.

Combine 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1 cup milk or half and half in a small quart sized Ziploc bag and seal tightly.

Then place 1/2 c. salt and enough ice cubes to fill a half gallon sized Ziploc bag half full.  Place the smaller bag inside the larger bag and seal the large bag tightly.

Then shake the bag.  (The gloves help keep your hands from freezing!)

And shake it some more.

And some more—hold on to it, it likes to try to slip out of your hands!

And yet some more until you’ve shaken it for 5 minutes and it gets ice cream consistency.

(If your child gets tired of shaking it, you might have to help them out like my husband did here.)

And then you can open it up and see your ice cream!

Eat it in the bag or do like we did and dump it out into a bowl.

Ours was a little soupy still but we got tired of shaking it.  I’m pretty sure it would have gotten a little bit firmer had we just kept at it.  But we were impatient and it was good anyway.

This little guy loved it.

Can’t you tell by that grin?

Okay, so here’s the recipe and instructions in an easier to read format.

 5 Minute Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup half and half or milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better. Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)
Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)
1 pint-size ziplock bag
1 gallon-size ziplock bag

Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.  Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it’s done.  Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Serves 1.

Recipe via Family Fun

Linking up at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green’s Tasty Tuesday, and Blessed with Grace’s Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Add a Comment

1. by Katie E

   On July 17, 2012 at 9:21 am

   This would be so much fun for my girls!

2. by Joanna

   On July 17, 2012 at 1:52 pm

   Love the pictures of Logan. He looks very determined. It looks like a fun idea, but I’m afraid I would get a little impatient with the shaking!

3. by Lydia Beiler

   On July 17, 2012 at 2:55 pm

   Joanna, he was determined! As you read, we got impatient too and ate it before it was really, really firm. But I read that some people set it on a trampoline and jumped with it instead. Or you could put it in an empty coffee can and kick it around too. Really, you all should try it. The kids would love it!

4. by kayla

   On July 18, 2012 at 6:14 pm

   My parents have a commercial version of this..it is a ball with the ingredients on the inside, then you throw it back and forth like a game. As long as your bag stays intact, that should work for this too

5. by Lydia Beiler

   On July 18, 2012 at 8:59 pm

   Kayla, sounds fun! I think if you used freezer bags it should work. And maybe then your hands wouldn’t freeze while you were making it.