Freezer Is Done!

Finally!  The chest freezer in the garage has been defrosted and cleaned!  Whoo hooooo!

See all that ice cream? 
The girls weren't eating it so I sent it all home with a friend of my oldest daughter.

I am so glad to finally have that checked off my "To Do" list.  It seemed like it took me forever to get to this point.  Holy cow!

I put the frozen food into our cooler with some ice blocks

Sunday morning I moved everything that was left inside the chest freezer into our big cooler along with some ice blocks with the exception of two turkey breasts that wouldn't fit.  Those ended up in the fridge.

This was the frost that I was most concerned with, 
See how it is starting to curl up over the edge?

This particular freezer has wheels so I unplugged it and moved it right outside onto the driveway and into the sun.  Then I lifted the lid and let nature do its thing.

The driveway is the best place to defrost a freezer, didn't take long at all!

Because I normally keep this thing stuffed to the gills there wasn't a lot of frost accumulation.  Just near the top on each side.  My big concern was how the frost was building up and wrapping itself over the edge.  I knew it wouldn't be too long before it encroached the seal and hampered my ability to properly close the lid.

While the freezer defrosted I got busy cleaning up the corner where it sits

I was anxious to get this project completed before the end of the month so I could start restocking the freezer in time for winter.  I always prefer to have a nice stockpile of meats before the cold weather hits and our heat bills go up.

That's better and Stella gave her approval as well.
She then promptly wanted back in the house.  She is not a fan of the heat.

While the freezer defrosted I got busy and cleaned up that entire side of the garage and did a little reorganizing.  It was a pretty hot day so after an hour of sitting in the driveway all the ice had loosened enough that I was able to pull it off and toss it into the yard.  I got a bucket of soapy water and a rag and thoroughly scrubbed it inside and out.  With a towel I dried it all off and it was ready to move back into place.

I washed the rack that came in the freezer along with two other plastic containers I like to use to organize the items I keep inside.  It helps me a lot so I don't "lose" items in the bottom of the freezer as well as with moving items around when I need to.

All scrubbed clean!

I plugged the freezer back in and let it run for a good hour and a half before I put the frozen food back inside.  It really feels good to have this little freezer all defrosted, clean and organized.  Now I am sufficiently ready to stock up for the winter ahead.

I am so very happy to finally have this done!

Hard to believe, as it hit 94° by noon that day, that I'm even thinking about winter.  But, I am and now I'll be working to restock this puppy.