Defrosting the freezer

Hi there

No help for the defrosting this time, but when you have defrosted it -wipe the inside over with either glycerine (in the baking aisles) or neat fabric softener and then on to freeze up before re-filling it. Next time you have to defrost it you will be amazed how quickly any ice will come away -in sheets. I can empty my freezer, defrost it and have it switched back on in under 30 mins now
ohhhh an the smell of the fabric softener has never passed to anything in the freezer either -it seems to "freeze the smell in"

huh - there are chemicals for this?! I had no idea.

We just put in a washing up bowl of bowling water, top it up regularly, lay towels and newspapers everywhere to catch the flood

clutterydrawer wrote: »

huh - there are chemicals for this?! I had no idea.

Nor me!

When I had 2 small freezers instead of the enormous one I have now I used to drag them into the garden to defrost. It didn't speed it up particularly but it avoided floods;)

I really need to defrost the freezer. I've been running it down, but there are some odds and sods in there (and more food coming later today). What I'd like to do is turn the odds and sods into some home-made meals, and then once the freezer is clean and tidy, stash them back in there. We could certainly do with some easy meals for the next couple of weeks. But I'm not sure what to do with all of it. Here are the items:

1 lamb steak [thinking of a tagine with chickpeas and apricots? it only needs to serve 2]
3 tuna steaks
2 trout fillets
4 chicken thighs [thinking of hugh f-w's baked chicken curry for these]
6 sausages [pasta sauce with half? a sausage casserole with the others?]
1 piece of what looks like fillet steak!
a pack of bacon
frozen broad beans
frozen sweetcorn
puff pastry

There are somethings I definitely can't use in cooking such as fish fingers, but they will make a nice lunch today with some brioche fingers I've got.

I keep a pretty good storecupboard, with plenty of tinned beans and tomatoes, bread making stuff, and will get cream, potatoes, cheese,etc with the shopping being delivered this morning. Other things I have floating around and need using include:

3 slightly old beetroot [add this to the beef and turn into borsch?]
1 aubergine [perhaps this should be done with the lamb somehow?]
a whole spaghetti squash
celery
1 chicken breast that MUST be eaten today as I opened the packet on Thursday [hmm ... something combining it with the thighs?]
feta
ricotta
peppers
a lot of eggs

I don't want to alter the plan for tea tonight - a beef suet pudding, mash & carrots] but nothing else is set in stone.

As you can see, I have some ideas, but will be delighted for some more inspiration. I can get a few bits and pieces if it will end up with a better set of meals. Things that serve 1 or 2 are possible, especially as only three of us four eat meat, although we all eat fish. Nothing has started to defrost yet, but I want to get on with it, I only have the weekend, so may use the oven on defrost to speed some of them up.