How To Defrost A Freezer in Under 30 Minutes

When you think about defrosting a freezer, you probably picture a pile of thawing food, hours upon hours of waiting around for the ice to melt, and lots of jabbing at the icy build-up with a wallpaper scraper. These thoughts are probably what drive most of us to put off defrosting the freezer for as long as possible. But, thanks to a really simple trick I discovered recently, defrosting a freezer will never seem like a daunting task again; you’ll defrost it thoroughly in no time at all.

The golden tip

So what is my golden tip for defrosting your freezer? It’s a fan. An electrical cooling fan – the type you use to keep cool in the summer. Dig it out of the attic, it’ll come in very handy in the defrosting process, which is outlined below.

The method

1. Empty the freezer

When defrosting your freezer, you’re going to want it to be empty. There are two ways to go about this. You can either be tactical – plan ahead, know you’re aiming to defrost it, and stop replenishing your frozen goods as you cook your way through them. This will land you with minimal items in the freezer.

Alternatively, if you’re like me and you decide to do it last thing, spur of the moment, and you still have a freezer full of goodies, then don’t worry – just pile them all into box, and put them in a cool place.

2. Turn the freezer off

Once the freezer is empty, it’s time to shut off the power! If you have a fridge freezer, there is usually a switch to only turn the freezer off, and not the fridge (which is very handy).

3. Prepare for a flood

It goes without saying that, once the ice starts to melt, there’s going to be quite a lot of water making its way towards the bottom of the freezer. To catch as much of it as possible, cram some old towels into the bottom shelf and on the floor around the base, and slide a washing up or mixing bowl in there, too – belt and braces!

4. Set the fan up

In the slow old days, this next step would take ages, and would consist of hours upon hours of sitting around watching your food thaw whilst the ice melted away one drip at a time. But not with my golden tip!

Get that fan I told you to dig out of the attic or the cupboard. Plug it in, and point it towards the fan. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that water and electricity don’t mix – so be sure to put the fan in a safe place, where it’s not going to be in immediate contact with any puddles – but ensure it’s pointing into the cavity of the freezer.

Turn it on, and crank it up to 11 (or its highest setting). Then simply watch the ice melt away. It will knock hours off the regular defrosting time. My

Why should I defrost my freezer?

There are two main reasons why it’s good practice to defrost your freezer. Firstly, the ice will take up a lot of valuable storage space – this is a particular nuisance when you don’t have a large freezer to begin with. Any icy build up can also hinder drawers from