Defrosting the Freezer

11/21/2012

Defrosting the Freezer

Jeff and I own a chest freezer - a big one.  Unfortunately, our freezer doesn't defrost by herself.  Nope it's a manual job guaranteed to remind you of your childhood (at least for some of you).  Remember putting warm pans of water in the freezer and waiting for the thaw?  And sometimes when Mom wasn't looking poking at large chunks of ice with a knife?  Well our freezer is like that only on a bigger scale.  One of the problems is that it's a loooong way down to the bottom and on a more positive note - out of my reach.  Here's another one of those Jeff jobs.

The last time we defrosted the old girl was - well to be truthful - I can't even remember.  Clearly it's been more than a year or so.  Defrosting is one of those chores that gets put off time and time again.  While you delay the sides become thicker and thicker with ice.  We both know that the freezer must be defrosted THIS winter.

Here's how we do it. You have to wait for a super duper cold day or even better a lot of snow.  We put the food in boxes and stash them outside and/or in a snow bank.  At this point the dogs are captive inside the house so that we actually have something to put back inside the freezer when we're done.

What we discovered last time and will again is that cleaning out the freezer is akin to looking for buried treasure.  You never know what you'll find.  Food left in a freezer long enough takes on an appearance all it's own and bears no resemblance to what it once was.  This new look is a good indication that it's time to give the whatever it is or was the old heave-ho.  Once we get all the food out then we see all the runaways on the very bottom.  Vegetables, particularly peas, are virtual escape artists and end up rolling around on the bottom.  There is a defroster motto - it's okay to leave loose food at the bottom of the freezer as long as you don't KNOW it's there - but once you do - you gotta go in and pick up each little pea and carrot.

Once the freezer is defrosted and clean then the food is brought back in and each package receives my scrutiny.  Jeff and I have a back and forth discussion about what goes and what stays.  Needless to say I have the large black trash bags at the ready.  Once we have "discussed" the finer points of what we're tossing, we attempt to organize the remaining food.  You know veggies over here, meats over there and ice cream where you can find it!  At this point the freezer looks great - until the next run to the store.  Generally after grocery shopping we're tired so the frozen food gets unceremoniously dumped inside.  It takes no time at all for frozen dinners to begin commingling with the vegetables and ice cream cuddles up to the meat.  In short it's a mess - again.  Jeff and I have become masters of the search routine when trying to find something inside the freezer.  

So the next time you see a lot of snow in our area don't picture us skiing down some mountain (which would never happen ever by the way).  Nope think of us with our heads deep inside a freezer and our legs dangling over the side!

P