Project Deep Freeze Has BEGUN!

Today is D-Day in my home – that’s D for Defrost! My upright freezer is the love of my life right now. I got this one, a GE, about 7 years ago, from a neighbor who was moving to another state.

My old monkey-ward freezer was almost dead-on-its-feet. This friend and her DH were finishing the final pack on their U-Haul and could not fit this in. She walked up and down my street in our senior mobile home park, knocking on doors, asking for a buyer. By the time she hit my place, she was only asking $50! At the time, I had that available and jumped at the deal. The freezer was already two years old, Her next door neighbor got it over here on his dolly.

Now, it must be said, and probably understood, that I truly, truly hate to defrost.

I was going to use a tip one of my friends gave me. She said turn it off before you go to bed but keep the door shut. The food will stay cold overnight. When you open it in the morning, remove the food until later. The inside will be sweating from the inside out, loosening the thick layer of ice and making it very easy to further defrost and remove.

When it came time to do that last night, I was afraid to try that alone in here. I didn’t want to chance water all over my floor, or water gushing out of the freezer when I opened it this morning. I know, I know – I’m chicken. Wanna hear me cluck?

So at 6:15 this morning, I began. I removed everything. I didn’t have much in there because I was preparing slowly for this. I put everything into cooler chests. I turned it off. Then I looked for the plug. 

Ooooooookay – that was behind it, and way down at the bottom. Couldn’t just pull it out a smidgeon and pull the plug. So I wrestled that big puppy out from the wall. I know how to “walk” a big piece. My pantry floor is linoleum, so it slid easily. That wasn’t difficult. I pulled the plug. I swept with a dust brush and dustpan.

Then I tried to push it back because I couldn’t get out of the pantry. The freezer is right behind the pantry door and I have to close the pantry door to open the freezer. The freezer didn’t want to go back. It didn’t want to “walk.” I finally realized that “walking” was okay to get it out but I had to really use some hip and back strength to push it back. I found a loose screw along the way – aside from my own. 

So, now it is 6:30 – the first pots of water are heating on the stove and I am ready for this. Towel on bottom of freezer, inside, with a wide plastic shoe-box type bin to catch most of the water. Newspaper on the floor. Bucket by the freezer door. And now we play the waiting, sloshy, messy game. 

This is the Lord’s Day and I try to avoid manual labor. I am doing this nice and easy. For the first time ever, I am only going in there once an hour to check it, chip at it, etc., etc., etc. 

Unless, of course, I see a Mississippi-like river gushing from that doorway.

I’ll let you know later how it went. Over and out.