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lovetogarden2008

HUGE Freezer

lovetogarden2008
14 years ago

I bought it through Craig's List. It's 32 cubic feet and it needs a cleaning. How in the world do I clean it? It's big enough to fit a body. I don't want to get into it to clean it, but how else? Maybe a mop on the bottom and sides? I'm at a loss.

Comments (8)

  • oilpainter
    14 years ago

    That's the trouble with chest freezers. Food gets lost and they are hard to clean. I hate mine. I wish I had an upright. That is next on my to buy list when I can get it on sale for a good price. Any way as to cleaning.

    I do use a mop dedicated to the freezer that I have cut the handle down on so it's not so unwieldly. I bought it at the dollar store. It comes in handy for mopping the water out after defrosting. I also use a stepstool to get up higher and a folded towel to protect my middle. Then I can reach to the bottom to scrub. Be careful of the head rush.

    A tip for organizing this freezer. Repackage meat in meal sized packages, when you bring it home and mark the date on the packages.

    I use totes inside. Measure the inside and see what size you can get to make the most efficient use of the space. Don't get most of them too big. I have one big one and the rest are smaller. Smaller ones can stack on top of each other. I have 2 for each sort of meat that we use often. The older packages go in one and the newer ones in the other. That way you use the old first. Steak and hamburger goes in one, pork cuts in another and chicken pieces in another.

    The big one sits at one end with a space at the very end. The space at the very end holds roasts and whole chickens. The big tote holds our garden vegetables and some fruit.

    My baskets on top hold my baked goods and maybe some vegetables or fruit, depending what I have in it.

    If you don't have it full stuff the totes with paper or rags so you don't waste hydro cooling empty space.

  • jannie
    14 years ago

    I put meats in large freezer bags, beef together, chicken together and lay them on the bottom. Vegetables and smaller items in baskets that stack. Keep an inventory list available, so you're not digging in for nothing. Keep the lid closed as much as possible. I defrost and clean mine once a year.Just did it January 31. I wash it out with any good all-purpose cleaner (Spic and Span, TopJob,etc.) and dry fully before re-packing with food. Don't leave a lot of empty space. Frozen items touching keep each other from thawing. Think smart. Again, best thing, once it's full, keep the lid closed. My mom once left the lid on her chest freezer open just a crack. Everything spoiled and had to be thrown away. And she couldn't even take it as an insurance claim for loss.

  • lovetogarden2008
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks for the tips. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I don't know that I would ever fill it. Well, at least the price was good and I guess I can re-sell it.

  • lazy_gardens
    14 years ago

    Lovetogarden, some things you can do with a huge freezer:

    1 - Buy or make bread in bulk and freeze it for later.
    2 - Buy ingredients when it's cheap and use for later - turkey, for example is seasonal, as is beef. Ditto for convenience foods like pizzas, TV dinners.
    3 - Make huge quantities of spaghetti sauce, lasagna and other entrees that freeze well.
    4 - Freeze and save garden produce to use later (baked eggplant, pesto, chopped onions)

    Look at a few websites or books about preserving by freezing and see it it would fit your life style.

    With a family of 6, my parents had a 30-something cubic foot freezer and it was wonderful. With 2 peple in this house, we have the freezer half of a side-by-side AND a 14 cubic foot upright and it's just about right. I can bulk shop when things are on sale and eat off it for months. I can chop and freeze 10 lb of onions in one session and have a couple months worth of them for faster dinner prep.

  • greenbean08_gw
    14 years ago

    You can make ice to keep it full if you won't have enough food to fill it. Freeze jugs of water (I'd use milk jugs) or if you have a container that would work, you can make ice blocks. I used to make ice blocks with an old Tupperware container that was about 15" square and made from the old soft plastic that I could just push the ice out.

  • rozilla
    14 years ago

    I love my big ol freezers. They're the upright variety however. Stuff gets lost in there too. All freezers are more efficient if kept full, of course. If you don't want to fill milk jugs to make ice, there is always that body, lol. A well-placed body, say an ex-husband, could fill up space in the bottom and elevate more usable items to the the accessible area near the top.

  • graywings123
    14 years ago

    Newspaper or packing peanuts can also be used to raise the bottom of the freezer.

  • amerillove
    14 years ago

    Well, if you have a container that would work, you can make ice blocks.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Appliance Repair in Los Angeles