Deep Freezer Best Practices

Darin Busey, Appliance Specialist

Posted on April 24th, 2020

With deep freezer purchases on the rise, we want to make sure all of our first-time freezer users know the best way to their new unit. Recognizing how to properly use your new freezer will make life a lot easier, from your initial purchase to using your frozen foods. Today’s modern deep freezer has basic, yet important features that allow you to easily organize and maintain both your foods and the unit. Here we review some important know-hows for using your deep freezer to its full potential.

Choose The Right Freezer

The first step in living the deep freezer life is making sure you choose the right deep freezer to meet your family’s needs. In our recent blog “Deep Freezer Buying Guide”, we discuss the different things to consider when purchasing a freezer, from capacity to configuration to placement in your home. Check it out here.

Freezing Food Properly

There are many uses for a deep freezer, including keeping premade frozen foods on hand for quick meals, storing large quantities of bulk food to save money, and preserving essential foods in case of emergency. It’s important to recognize how you want to use your freezer before filling it up. Most people use their freezer for all of these reasons but in different proportions. If you’re looking to purchase a quarter of a cow in the upcoming weeks, consider how much space it will take up before filling your freezer to the brim with frozen vegetables. It’s also a good idea to keep some space for those premade frozen meals in case your refrigerator’s freezer starts to overflow from all that ice cream you can’t get enough of.

Know How To Store Your Food

There isn’t much worse than biting into a spoonful of cooked veggies and suddenly tasting the inside your freezer, or realizing your packs of chicken have freezer burn. Specific foods in specific conditions require specific storing methods. Solid foods like large cuts of meat and breads do best in a paper or plastic wrap, liquids do better in Ziploc freezer bags, and vacuum sealers are good for just about anything. Do a little research before you even buy your foods so you can be prepared for storing it the right way.The fan assists drying in front of the unit pulls ambient air out of the unit for an effective and extremely efficient drying cycle. The SmartDrive technology is a new brushless DC motor that acts as a wash pump and drain pump, which means fewer moving parts for greater reliability. The Double DishDrawer™ Dishwasher uses just barely 276 kwh/year or about $33 a year to operate based on using 4 wash loads a week. Each drawer uses as little as 2.4 gallons of water per drawer. A normal cycle duration is 128 minutes, but a fast cycle can be as quick as 55 minutes.

Organize Food Tips

One of the most common issues with deep freezers is food waste from forgetting about frozen foods and allowing them to go over their expiration date. This can be avoided by strategically organizing your freezer by how and when you plan to use your foods. For example, premade meals or food items you use regularly shouldn’t be packed under large cuts of meat you don’t plan to use for months. By being strategic in stocking your freezer, you can keep track of foods and replenish them as needed. Since specific foods only last for so long in a freezer, it’s also important to label food items by the day they were frozen and when they will expire.

Don't Overpack

Freezers work by moving cold air throughout the unit. While you want to keep your freezer full, you don’t want to overpack it and restrict the airflow. Blocking air vents can overtax your freezer and lead to a burnout. It’s also difficult to access important foods if your freezer is overpacked.

Check out our selection of deep freezers and refrigerator-freezers here!