Deep Dive Into Freezer Maintenance

Mark your calendars, as we are going to purge our freezers every 6 months and deep clean once a year.

Cleaning out freezers can be done pretty quickly and easily,  if you keep on top of them. But let’s be honest, don’t we all have a freezer burnt bag of something in the bottom of our freezers?

Yearly Maintenance

1. Unplug the freezer and put on some warm gloves.

2. Grab a garbage bag and start pulling everything out. If it’s over a year old, or badly freezer burnt – toss it. The good stuff can go into a cooler with ice while we deal with the freezer.

3. Take out any removable shelving, let it come to room temperature, then clean it in the sink with blue Dawn® dish soap and hot water.

4. Ice build up can impede the flow of air and make your freezer less efficient. Remove any ice by melting it with warm water, steam or wiping frost with rubbing alcohol and a cloth with hot water. It’s best to avoid chipping away at the ice as you could damage the interior.

5. Vacuum out any food crumbs and wipe the inside with hot water, bleach and powdered Tide® using our small batch recipe. Grab a scrub brush to tackle any stuck-on foods or spills.

6. Plug the freezer back in and replace any shelving. Now put back all your food in an organized way.

6 Month Purge

You don’t need to thaw the freezer to do some upkeep. Just get some warm gloves on and tackle that job. All you need to do here is go through your frozen items, take out what you don’t want and organize. Clean up any spilled messes and you’re done. It will make the yearly maintenance clean so much easier.

And a side note: If you’re going on vacation it’s a good idea to have someone check in on your place so that you don’t come home to spoiled food from a power outage. No one wants that nasty job after a trip away. However, if you find yourself in this situation, refer to this article. 

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