You Might Need TO Defrost The Basement Freezer When...

I love my freezer. When you shop for groceries like we do, a freezer is a necessity. If there is a good sale on widgets, I might by one widget. If there is a great sale, I might by three. When there is a flippin phenomenal sale, I buy them all, and put em in the freezer. Sometimes my widget might be a boneless skinless thigh, sometimes it might be popsicles, sometimes, it's choice top sirloin. I love being able to store my widgets long term when the price is too good to pass up. Sometimes, however, I buy a few too many widgets.

I planned on defrosting this thing probably three years ago, but life happened. A complete gut kitchen remodel here, a new son there, before you know it, where does the time go? Anyway, Ginger Zee told me that Saturday it would be around 36 degrees all day long (LIAR!!!!!!) so, I sucked it up, and dove in, figuring I could just put the stuff outside the side door in coolers while the old girl warmed up a bit. The only casualty was a half gallon of sugar free ice cream, so I won't complain too much about Ginger being a liar. The camera was charged, so I thought it would be fun to take a few snaps of what I found...

Here she is - really not that old, maybe six years:


I'll spare you the before picture of how things were stuffed in there, but just know that after the door being left open a crack overnight a few times over the past few years, the top shelf looked like this after removing the contents:


Oh look, I KNEW I had some more skirt steak!


Looks a little freezer burned, but maybe I'll thaw it out, cut off the bad parts, and then, um, wait...WHAT does the date say???


Buried in the ruins, a lone croissant that's 4 years old if it's a day:


That bucket of pre-made tamale masa I found at Jewel on sale for 2.99 in '07 that I could just never bring myself to use. (If you're gonna make em, why not make the masa from scratch??)


Ever been to an Eli's Factory "dock sale?" These 5 inch cheesecakes were 1.00 each. I bought like 10 of them (along with plenty of other other cheesecakes.) I overdid the whole cheesecake thing. Don't think I've even had any cheesecake since I bought all those. Probably '07. I found another one on a diff shelf bringing the toll to three of these:


Honestly, I'm pretty sure I bought this sheet of chow fun noodles from the International Mart thing that used to be on I-55 and Pulaski. I bought two, used one right away, and figured I'd see how the other pkg would freeze. They just got lost in the fray. LOL - When did that place close?


Did you guys know that popsicles are not packaged to last for three years? I took one out, and it was shriveled up, I bit into it, it was not even cold. I think all of the moisture had seeped out, and I was just left with the chemical binding agents.


Love how the Yooper butchers label their cuts of venison:




This pie has to be 4 years old, and I didn't even open it to look at it:


All in all, there was surprisinlgy not too much to throw away. In the past few years, I've gotten much more diligent in my method of getting things ready for long term storage (vaccum sealing, proper packaging, etc.) It wasn't all old, freezer burned stuff at all. In fact, I'd say 90% of everything looked great. I stuck it outside in coolers, and let the freezer drip dry for the better part of the day:


The end result? A happy, semi-organized freezer!!


Tee, hee -
Hi, my name is seebee, and I'm a butterholic:


Maybe this will inspire the other procrastinators out there. Do it while mother nature provides you with some help outside. It's gonna be 85 degrees and humid before you know it!!

[quote="seebee"]
Did you guys know that popsicles are not packaged to last for three years? I took one out, and it was shriveled up, I bit into it, it was not even cold. I think all of the moisture had seeped out, and I was just left with the chemical binding agents.


Yes, and I found out the same way you did - except that we've been defrosting our freezer (otherwise we run out of room when the new cow comes) regularly every year, so the popsicles (or in my case, sugar-free fudgesicles) have a much shorter freezer-life than one would think. If you have a slightly-too-small freezer, that two inches or so that you lose to frost really means something.

Hi,

I once had a freezer needing defrosting once a quarter. I would take a few hours, then we would inventory everything as it was put back. My family finally declared this was a ridiculous situation. They demanded I buy a self-defrosting freezer.

The new one does freezer burn food more than then old, though I do gain nine hours a year to myself.

Regards,

Though I have no idea if this one is "self-defrosting," I know that it only frosts badly if we accidently leave the door open overnight. I think we've only had to defrost it two, maybe three times in the six years we've had it.

Hi,

In my kitchen, I have an all-refrigerator and all-freezer, which is opened more than it should. If I had my druthers, I keep the all-refrigerator, get an undercounter freezer for daily stuff and take the big freezer to the basement. There the freezer would be opened occasionally instead of daily.

If and when my wishes on this ever happen, hell will likely freeze over first.

Regards,

We have a chest freezer in our basement. We have great success with keeping a dry-erase board on the door where we write the freezer's inventory. If something goes in, it goes on the board. If you take it out, you remove it.

It has gone a long way toward keeping us on top of what we have and what we should eat. I've not thrown anything out from that freezer yet. In fact, I'm much more likely to find old junk in my fridge that needs to go.

Best,
Michael

I think I have an identical freezer - at least the shelving and door looks the same.
It is most certainly not self-defrosting. Most deep freezers aren't, because they have to warm to near freezing, and the life of the food goes down fast.

Mine needs defrosting about once a year. I think in moving the door has gotten misaligned or something, as it does not seal well at the top, and frosts up pretty badly, to the point where the ice forces the door open, causing more frost, ad infinitum.

The solution to keeping it sealed is a nylon web strap, like you'd use to keep a kayak on the roof of your car, around the whole freezer. It still frosts up, but luckily it's right next to the back door, so once every spring I haul it outside and hose out the frost.

Now that you have all that extra room, seebee (at least until you fill it up again!) you may want to consider putting some gallon jugs filled with water to fill in the empty space and take them out as you need more room.

Freezers and refrigerators run much more efficiently when the space inside is filled with stuff, preserving the coldness so the motor doesn't have to fill that space with cold air anymore.

You might want to consider a Food Saver as well. I love the one I have. Food Saver

abe_froeman wrote:Freezers and refrigerators run much more efficiently when the space inside is filled with stuff, preserving the coldness so the motor doesn't have to fill that space with cold air anymore.

Freezers - yes. And rather than water, one can use cold/gel packs (that can be used in coolers). Otherwise - and this is more efficient than having to freeze the water or gel pack - simple styrofoam blocks or something else that uses up the (air)space that the freezer would have to cool and that can be lost (which is why chest freezers are more efficient - less cold sir is spilled out when it is opened) my apologies for stating the obvious.

I thought this sounded familiar: link to an old discussion on freezers

Refrigerators though should not be too full - it relies on air circulation to keep things chilled.

There's not too much frost buildup on my refrigerator but I know it is rather full. I do have a habit of labeling and dating packages I put in the freezer/fridge. Still, one of these days I'll listen to my A2Fay and take inventory. No really, I will. I even found a neat little form [link to PDF] on a home organization website that seems quite, uh, organized. Hey look, I'm even printing the form now.

My freezer is in pretty good shape, but my pantry could use a little work.

Found on 3.11.10

So how does it taste?

Hi,

You can save the Koop's for me.

Regards,

seebee, Hi...my name is Dee and I am a butter-a-holic. I counted 15 pounds of Plugra, 4 pounds of LOL and 4 pounds of store brand butter in my freezer. Plugra is packed up in gallon zip top bags to prevent cross contamination....Plugra is ever so precious now that TJs stopped carrying it.

I have a chest freezer and use baskets to stay organized. I only defrost it once every two years. The freezer in the SxS refrigerator is the messy one. I'm sure I've got some ice cream bars that have shriveled up like your popsicles....but I'm not going to look!!!

LOL - dees, I go crazy with butter when it's on sale around Christmas, but I just bought two bricks of Plugra for Pi day and stuck them in; I prefer to use butter in a frozen state for most of my pastry making (FWIW, Plugra is almost always available at Whole Foods, and it does occasionally go on sale ther.)

Cathy2 wrote:You can save the Koop's for me.

5-years past the expiration date, are you kidding?

I'd have to fish it out of the garbage, and not the kitchen can, but the pick up by the truck garbage cans in the garage.

G Wiv wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:You can save the Koop's for me.

5-years past the expiration date, are you kidding?

I'd have to fish it out of the garbage, and not the kitchen can, but the pick up by the truck garbage cans in the garage.

[Homer and Bart:] It's still good! It's still good! It's just a little dirty!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... D=34158635

Alas Mhays...no WF nearby. I can get 8oz bricks of Plugra (in the gold foil wrapper) at my local Kroger for the wallet-busting price of $4.69. We have Wild Oats in Memphis (about 2 hours away) but they're almost as expensive as Whole Paycheck.

I was so excited to get a TJs in Nashville (again about 2 hours away) but they go ahead and stop carrying Plugra. Lucky for me, I heard about it and stocked up. Plugra is the best for baking. I stock up on LOL and store brand when they're 2/$4.

Yikes!! Now I have to clean the freezer out and make seafood stock! I've got a boat load of shrimp and crab leg shells out there! I sense gumbo in my immediate future!

Yowsa! The 1-lb squares of unsalted Plugra are about $4 at WF. Ouch!

G Wiv wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:You can save the Koop's for me.

5-years past the expiration date, are you kidding?

Nope. It is hermetically sealed, it doesn't bother me a bit. I probably bought it at your request for the last St. Patrick's Day party before you gave it up.

I'd have to fish it out of the garbage, and not the kitchen can, but the pick up by the truck garbage cans in the garage.

Don't trouble yourself too much, I can wait til you clean your cupboards again someday.

Regards,

G Wiv wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:You can save the Koop's for me.

5-years past the expiration date, are you kidding?

That's not an expiration date; it's a "best-by" date. Mustard doesn't go bad, it just loses its oomph. It would certainly have been safe to taste it, and I bet it would have been fine.

I bought a two-pack of Grey Poupon at Costco, being the only eater of it in the house, and by the end of jar 2 (extra-large jars at that) it had certainly lost a lot of its pungency. I can't imagine anything that full of vinegar being a health hazard, but it was diminished culinarily.

Mike G wrote:by the end of jar 2 (extra-large jars at that) it had certainly lost a lot of its pungency.

It will lose strength more quickly once the jar is opened. Refrigeration helps.

Wife #1: RIIIIINNGG

Me: Hello

Wife #1: So, Jr wanted waffles for breakfast, and when I told him we were out, he said, "there's some in the freezer." I went down to the freezer, opened it up, and the waffles were soft. I started poking around, and some of the meat had juices dripping off. SOOOOOO, either the freezer is dead, or someone left the door open.

Me: (sigh) well, since the door's been left open before a few times, I guess that's probably what happened.

Wife #1: Stuff was still plenty cold, I only threw out a few things in front that had thawed, the stuff in back was still frozen and cold.

Me: I'll figure it out when I get home.

SO, I go down to check on the old Kenmore girl, and sure enuff, the stuff was cold, but seems like it should have been re-frozen if Wife #1 closed the door this am. So, I start thinking about what can be salvaged before checking out new freezers. She's a good ten years old, maybe it was her time -appliances these days, ya know? I start digging through the stuff I definitely don't care about (old deer parts, pre-made pie crusts, popsicles, and what not, and as I fill up the first trash bag, I start looking for the controller. I find it at a little below waist level - about shoulder level for Jr. And how did he know there were waffles in the downstairs freezer???

The setting? OFF

A very "parenting" moment in the seebee household this evening about tinkering with freezer controls.

Freezer was defrosted and is now sparkly clean again tho. Fired right up after turning it back on.

I have an old old freezer that has followed me from my home in Skokie where I lived in the l980s. It just keeps running. I do not defrost it that much but I should every year. I keep it in my garage. I never did like stockpiling food in freezer much, my mom would do it and then try to cook freezer burnt meat because she did not want to throw it away, or she would carelessly wrap things and they would take on a freezer air smell which I could detect in a shot. I think she could not because years of being a smoker damaged her taste buds. So my freezer always looks more like the organized version. I always double wrap things, store in sealed boxes and ziplocks and do not buy too much meat. I really do not care that much about stocking up and saving money I use my freezer more for convenience than to save money. I pulled a pound of butter out of her freezer today, I almost never freeze butter and am wondering if the cookies I planned to make will have that freezer taste I so detest.
I also have a refrigerator in my garage that is even older my mom had it in her basement when I was growing up and I moved from there when I was around 21 so that was over forty years ago. I am loathe to get rid of either of these appliances as I have spent the majority of my life with them.

I never replaced the freezer we lost in the flood. I would just buy too many things "on sale" to save money.
I knew I had a problem when there were 10 turkeys in it.