Your freezer is a cold and desolate place that’s home to forgotten, icy food in unlabelled containers and every so often it needs a little TLC.
Easier said than done but try and get into the habit of labelling your left overs and placing them into stack-able containers when you add them to your freezer to give it more structure.
When it comes to defrosting
Empty out your freezer and have a really good sort through the foods. Food that you are keeping put into ice boxes to keep them cold.
Most modern freezers have anti defrost so the build up of frost and ice doesn’t occur but it you have still got frost and ice build up you will need to defrost a few times a year.
Make sure you turn off the power to the freezer before defrosting.
Leave the freezer door open for a while to melt the ice, this can take a while make sure you leave a few old towels on the floor to really soak up the water. If you haven’t got time to stand around and wait for the freezer to melt naturally place in a few pans filled up with boiling water to help speed up the ice melting.
Once all the ice has gone it’s a good idea to give the freezer case a really good clean, I find warm water and washing up liquid works really well. If you have nasty food smells spray some white vinegar all around and then leave for approx 30 minutes to allow the vinegar to break down the odours.
Clean all the shelves and any drawers the same way and ensure full dry before you put your freezer back together.
Once its all clean you can switch back on, leave a while for it chill and then add the food back in nice and neatly and in order.
If you don’t have the hassle of having to defrost your freezer then give you freezer a good clean using warm soapy water and then dry really well before the food goes back.
Freezer organisation
Make sure you add onto your frozen left overs freezer labels , then you can add the contents, as it is not always easy to tell what it is and the date you added to the freezer.
Categorise your shelves. Have a shelf for fish, one for meat and one for left over portions so you know exactly what you have and can clearly see what meals you have in for the week.
Keep frozen vegetables, bread and chips in the freezer drawers and use bag clips to save food from spilling out.
Use square food containers for freezing left overs so they fit together well and take up less room.
Keep a regular inventory of what you have in your freezer by either using a list which you can stick into the inside of one of your kitchen cupboards.
Dump the packaging many of the foods we buy in the frozen section come in large bulky boxes. Get rid of those as quick as you can, and use a plastic food bags to help you save space.
Remove Shelves If you don’t need them, take them out, just because your freezer comes with shelves doesn’t mean you have to use them. Many of the shelves and drawers are removable, which opens up the space to be able to make it your own.
