Clean Interior of a Freezer - PEP BB nest.straw.interiorfreezer

I defrosted and cleaned out the freezer today.

I've included a before photo with a tea-towel showing the defrosting. It doesn't show the drawers in all of their dirty glory so I've also included a second shot with some defrosted peas and other gunk - yuck!

There are several photos showing ice build-up (one of the drawers was hard to open!) and how that has been defrosted. I think these should suffice for the action/in-progress photos. I have also included a photo of the freshly-cleaned drawers drying.

I used water and towels to clean the inside, which wasn't too dirty - just icy. I rinsed out the drawers and left them to dry on the drainer before re-installing them. No chemicals or cleaners needed.

I now buy all my meat from Waldon Local Meat instead of organic from the supermarket. I started this last month. I decided to go down this road because their meat is “100% grass-fed beef, pasture-raised meat, and wild-caught fish – raised right here in New England & New York”. I did some research and they’re the closest to regenerative farming I could find and their meat is soooo much tastier than anything else I’ve found since moving to the US. Why am I telling you this . . . Today was my second delivery. They come once a month, so last month I just guessed what I needed. Everything is frozen, so 90% goes straight in the freezer. I didn’t want to mix up what was left from last month, with the new stuff. A sort out and clean was required.

I used an empty freezer bag with bags of ice to store all the food while I cleaned.
I used hot water, a cloth, a tooth brush and baking soda.
I cleaned both draws, back and front, inside and out!

I consolidated chicken bone bags, combined two open bags of edamame beans and composted a long forgotten banana. I left out a ham and two packets of sausages which will get used today. I also threw out all the loose crushed ice which arrived with a friend and her cheesecake last weekend. The ice cream pot is also defrosting as it hasn’t been used for a while and I need the space.

I keep hold of ziplock bags and freezer food bags and store them in the freezer. I have found this is the best way to stop them going smelly and icky which is what happens no matter how hard I try and dry the insides. They get used for bones, growies, homemade gyoza and hollowed out citrus which is then used in large G&T’s on Friday night.

I’ll reduce my meat order for next month.

Here’s the evidence . . .

Hi! So I actually emptied, organised the contents of, defrosted and cleaned out three chest freezers not one. But I didn’t take that many action pictures, so I’ll only put the pictures for the first one. I used a half vinegar, half water and lemon juice cleaner I had just made to clean the freezer; and elbow grease, a spatula and a blow dryer to defrost two of them, (just elbow grease and various tools for the third one). I was able to organise the contents to fit in just two of the freezers, so one will be unplugged and stored away in our storage barn.

Most of the waste went into the compost, some to the chickens, the uncleaned berries went into the bird feeder and broken plastic went into the trash.



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So I apparently forgot to take a final picture of clean freezer. So here's a dirty freezer picture, a dirty fridge vs. clean fridge picture and a warning that vinegar can freeze in freezer for more slushy you need to remove. And we'll see if my friend turned in the key or if I can get a final picture.
Nope on apartment key. But I did need to clean my camper fridge/freezer so here's before and after of that. And bonus since it hasn't been on all winter the vinegar doesn't freeze.

For this BB, I cleaned the interior of my freezer. I also took the opportunity to re-organize everything and make it nice and neat. There was no waste as most of everything is relatively new meat. I used the general purpose cleaner from another BB, which consisted of water, lemon juice, and white vinegar.