Ready your weapons!

Today we are waging war .... alright it's a small war, but at least it will rake back several hours of a day for you. Still interested?






Some people waste a lot of time and energy doing things the hard way... I like to pass on my tips about "easy" ... we can all use more time for the fun things in life.

Defrosting your freezer the quick and easy way. Today this took 45 minutes.



Assemble your "gear" .... a kettle, a few pots, some dry towels and dishcloths, a plastic or wooden spatula (Don't use metal in case you scratch the sides of the freezer - scratches can rust) Also if there is no sink nearby, a large container of some kind for the big chunks of frosty ice ... I only do my freezer once a year or so and it gets that way... of course, it is older and probably that is the reason. I don't even know if that happens with new freezers. But...it still keeps things at the correct temperature.... and so I am not getting rid of it 'til it conks out.











Either turn it off or pull electrical plug, and empty the contents into double plastic bags. If you have room in the freezer portion of your 'fridge, put them in there... if you have to put some into the fridge part it will also probably stay totally frozen. Remember, this should not take more than 45 minutes to an hour..so no big deal for most things to stay frozen. The hardest part of this whole job is being too short to easily reach the bottom of my freezer... lol .....

Boil water; pour into pots and carefully place them in bottom of each corner of freezer.


Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and by the time you are back...the first of the bits of ice near the bottom will already be moving on its own, sliding down... or you can pull it off by hand. It just slides off in big chunks and I like to take it out right away so that it does not melt and make a puddle on the bottom of the freezer...it is just more work to mop that up. Change the water when it feels like it is not hot enough to create some melting of the ice. I only get a chance to boil one more kettle full and by that time I have all the ice off. If it is slightly stubborn, and is only half moveable ... use a spatula to coax it off the sidewalls.


















I keep wiping up bits of moisture and ice as I go along and as soon as the ice is off the sidewalls, take out the pots of water and continue with dry cloths to remove any moisture from sides and bottom of the freezer. As soon as it is bone dry... shut lid and turn it on. Wait an hour or so til it is cold enough to begin to replace frozen items from your fridge.

This time I did well.... only one little baggie of a few frozen cobs of corn to toss. Sometimes there is more waste than that ... but not often, as I do tend to rotate purchases, and try to use first what has been there the longest amount of time. If I find a few things I don't know what to do with...... soup is always a good answer.

Well, there you go..... now it is time for a second cup of tea and a little sit down with your feet up and a good book...or stab a bit on a needle felted bear or something fun .... you have extra hours to burn~!