This is the best weather for defrosting. Everything inside was loaded into carry bags (good grief that little freezer holds a lot of stuff!) and then hauled upstairs. Originally I was going to stow everyone out on the deck, but then I saw that it was only 27F in the breezeway (and out of the wind) I decided to save myself a few steps and stashed everything there for the duration.
I don't defrost the freezer nearly often enough, maybe every 18 mos. The freezer itself (a 30+ year-old JCPenney model - back when USA made heavy-duty, long-lasting appliances) works great and builds up very little ice, so I pretty much leave it alone and let it do its thing.
Anyway, once unloaded and the ice removed, it was no trouble to give the insides a good wipe with warm water and baking soda. There. Nice and clean and ready for reload.
The downside of this freezer is that there is no real easy access to anything on the bottom. So I decided to actually sort the food (by items), leave them in the carry bags, and just lowered them into the freezer. Now at least I can pull out the bags and fish through THEM instead of pushing through a lot of loose piles of stuff.
I ended up with nearly a full bag of some freezer-burned cooked meats (not much) and vegs from 2010/2011. I don't mind about the veg - frozen veg make great starter for spring compost piles.
Bottom line - I'm good to go for another year or so.
Say, do YOU have any tricks to help you find stuff in the freezer?
Great minds! You might recall we got a new chest freezer before Christmas and I am doing exactly the same - using carrier bags to store similar' items in order to save the "digging in the bottom' antics.
ReplyDeleteWorking so far . . .
Heh. Must have something to do with the weather. Have you cleaned out all the lint in your dryer vent tube yet? *hint hint* ;-D
DeleteI do carrier bags or boxes for both chest freezers. Thankfully the new upright doesn't require them.
ReplyDeleteGee, apparently I'm the last to 'invent' this storage technique. LOL
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