The W&P Everyday Ice Tray Is a Lifesaver for Frozen Meal Prep and Cocktail Cubes

W&P Peak Silicone Everyday Ice Tray With Protective Lid

4.6

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For years, I stored all sorts of foods in the stiff plastic ice cube trays that came with my over-the-fridge freezer. The white surface easily stained if I froze tomato sauce or anything featuring turmeric. The long rectangles took up a fair bit of space, stacked awkwardly, and required serious twisting and cracking to loosen and remove all of the cubes.

The W&P Peak Everyday tray behaves differently in almost every way. Cubes release easily, and it resists stains and odors. Its squarish frame takes up less room, and the protective, BPA-free lid makes it easy to stack with other freezer items.

I reach first for this tray because of its unique features. The 1.25-inch cubes hold a fluid ounce (or 2 tablespoons) when filled just shy of the rim, so I can freeze exact amounts of fresh-squeezed juice or minced fresh herbs for recipes. The reinforced perimeter stabilizes the tray, so liquids rarely slop across cubes as I walk to the freezer; if I do jostle it, the raised edge keeps sticky contents from sloshing onto the floor. Even better, the individually molded cubes easily pop free one at a time, without any twisting or cracking.

This last feature makes the W&P Peak tray my favorite. You can imagine the mess I made when separating, say, cubes of raspberry puree from a hard plastic tray: I had to flip the tray over and twist repeatedly to release the cubes onto a cutting board, speckling it with red seeds and ice crystals. Stubborn cubes would loosen if I ran hot water over the base, but I always dropped some into the sink and, once softened, they refroze in awkward clumps when bagged for long-term storage.

With W&P’s molded silicone cubes, the mess and struggle are gone. I simply press up on the bottom of each cube until the silicone turns itself inside out and the cube rests on top. Then I pluck off the cubes, slide them into a freezer bag, and return them to the freezer, where they keep their perfect shape.

The individually molded cubes also let me freeze different foods in one go. Say I’m making barley vegetable soup: I pop open a can of tomato paste and squeeze a lemon, using a little of each in the recipe, and then freeze the leftovers in separate spaces in the W&P Peak Everyday tray. If I chopped too much parsley or garlic, I can put the extra in other cubes, topping them with water or oil to freeze solid. Once frozen, I can store them in separate freezer bags—or combine them in one premeasured soup-prep bag for my next meal.

Gardening season keeps my W&P Peak Everyday tray in constant use. This season, for a pesto variety pack, purple-stemmed Thai basil with lime and chili, Blue Spice basil with orange zest and ginger, and sweet Genovese basil with the classic pine nuts and parmesan tuck tidily into individual cubes—without spilling into their neighbors.

After freezing grilled tomatillo juice cubes for margaritas, I filled the tray with home-smoked chipotles topped with homemade adobo. Next came the homegrown garlic I nicked when harvesting or separating cloves to replant as next year’s crop. A quick whiz through the food processor minced them to divide among the cube molds with oil and freeze solid.

I’m so fond of the Everyday tray that I bought another model in W&P’s Peak collection: the Cup Cubes Freezer Tray. I chose the 6-cup version, not thinking about overall size, but it is worth the space it takes up in my freezer. It handily holds a batch of homemade stock in 1-cup portions, just what I need to flavor a pot of steamed rice for an evening meal. The clear plastic lid locks onto the tray, an even better design than the soft silicone lid that rests atop the smaller Everyday model.

The Cup Cubes model has portions marked inside each cube mold, in cup increments and milliliters, so I use it for smaller volumes, too. I just filled both trays with grilled tomato pasta sauce. With the Everyday tray holding small portions to spread on sourdough pizzas and the Cup Cubes packed with larger ones to toss with fresh pasta, I’ll have an easy-to-grab supply for many months.