Defrosting the Freezer

If you are like me, there are some kitchen chores that you like better than others.  I absolutely love baking, but cleaning up the kitchen is another story!  I never liked washing dishes when I was young, and, although I don’t mind it now, it is still not a favorite chore.  Another chore I don’t like is defrosting my big chest freezer.  This freezer is probably about 20  years old and still running well, but it is not a frost-free freezer.  While I am immensely thankful to have such a freezer at all, I do wish it were frost-free!  I usually end up just putting it off until it looks something like this:

That ice is all the way around the freezer!  If you look on the right you will see a blue dot.  There is not supposed to be any ice above that dot! You can tell I’ve not defrosted in awhile!

Actually, this time of year is a good time to defrost the freezer since it is getting empty of all the fruits and other produce that I froze last year from our orchard and garden.  I usually remove what is left and put it all in coolers or my fridge freezer, throwing out what might be freezer burned.  Then I unplug the freezer and let it sit for about an hour and a half.  After that, it’s pretty easy to remove any ice and wipe it down.  Replace all the foods, plug it back in and you are set until the next time!