defrosting and organizing the freezer

For this part of the the Cooking With My Freezer series I am going to discuss how to defrost your stand alone freezer and how to organize the food when you put everything back.

The first thing you want to do is clean out the freezer. Toss out anything that is freezer burnt, unrecognizable, or that doesn’t have a date and you can’t remember how long ago it was that you put it in the freezer. Then move all of the food that you possibly can into the freezer in your refrigerator. Store the rest in coolers (but not for more than a couple of hours). I had quite a few items in my freezer so a few weeks ago I started using up several of those items since I knew my freezer was in need of defrosting. This really helped a lot when it came to storing the food during the defrost and it was good to get things used up that had been in there for awhile.

After you have the food safely packed away, unplug your freezer, leave the door open and let the defrosting begin. Put a couple of towels in the bottom of the freezer to soak up the water. My freezer is in an unfinished basement so I didn't have to worry about the floor but if your floor is finished it would be a good idea to put a couple of towels around the base of the freezer as well.

After 30 minutes or so check on the progress. When the ice starts to get soft you can take a wooden spoon and start breaking it up and pushing it off of the shelves to speed the process along. This step isn't necessary but it is a great stress reliever! :) At some point you will probably need to take out the towels because they will be sopping wet and replace them with some dry ones.

When the defrosting is done wipe down the walls and shelves and then dry everything really well. Stand back and admire your work for a minute. :) Then plug the freezer back in, close the door and let it get cold again.

One of the ways that I like to organize my freezer is with washtubs. They are very inexpensive and are great for holding small packages and things that can easily get lost. I have 3 in my freezer. One is labeled 'chicken', another 'pork' and the last is 'beef'. Smaller items and things that I don't have several of go into these tubs. I try to keep like items on each shelf. Since taking these pictures I bought 18 pounds of ground beef that went on special at the grocery store. All of those packages are stored on the shelf next to the 'beef' tub. We don't have near as much pork as we do chicken and beef so the other half of the pork shelf is used for storing frozen fruits. This system makes it easy for me and my family to find exactly what we are looking for.

Be sure to put the items that need to be used first at the top and towards the front of the shelf. I find it helpful to even move the items that need to be used quickly into the freezer in my refrigerator. When planning the week's meals I be sure to include those things.

Next I plan to share ways to stock up the freezer (and pantry) and save money at the same time!

cooking with my freezer series

I've been working at cleaning out our freezer the past couple of weeks and thought that it might be fun to do a series here on my blog about how to utilize this important appliance in your home.

I remember as a young girl going to visit my Great Grandma Pearl and always having such good food to eat. Her favorite meal to make, and our favorite to eat, was beef and noodles over mashed potatoes (always made with her homemade noodles), warm homemade buns with butter, green beans, pickles and usually a jello type salad. There was always something yummy like a pie or an angel food cake for dessert too. It didn't matter when we stopped in, we could always count on being treated to that meal around the table in her kitchen. I got to spend the night there a couple of times and once I remember looking in her freezer and seeing bags of her homemade noodles in there. I've been thinking about that lately. I think her secret to being able to put out such a spread was in the preparation ahead of time and having things ready to go in her freezer. Had I dug deeper into the freezer I probably would've found homemade pie dough ready to be thawed and baked into a pie, breads and buns that were already baked and just ready to be defrosted and then warmed in the oven.

This is the atmosphere and memories I want to create in my home. I don't want dinner to seem like a big overwhelming task that will take me all afternoon to do. There are so many things that can be done ahead of time and stored in the freezer that will make the task so much easier and enjoyable. Even small things, like chopping onions ahead of time and keeping them in the freezer, are beneficial because it's one less step to do while you are preparing the meal and a couple less dishes to wash later.

So this series isn't going to be about a once a month cooking marathon to fill up our freezers. I wouldn't know how to do something like that and I enjoy cooking too much to even want to. A few meals prepared completely ahead of time are great for those super busy days for sure. This series is going to be more about little things that we can do to make meal preparation easier, how to save money in our grocery budgets and stock up our freezers at the same time, and recipes and methods to make the most of the food in them. I hope you will enjoy it!