"freezer" news and stories

I have found that the more storage space I have for the food, the more food I'll keep socked away. For example, we got a new refrigerator last summer. I was giddy with excitement when we bought it, thrilled that I would finally have a fridge that wasn't stuff to the gills. However, in very short order, it was just as packed with food as the previous fridge had been despite being a full 1/3 bigger.

Recently, I've been trying to be more diligent about using up the things we have instead of purchasing food on a whim, and this week, there are a number of home cooks and food bloggers specifically endeavoring to do the same thing. A Mighty Appetite's Kim O'Donnell is keeping things organized and she has more than 100 households across five countries participating in the Eat Down the Fridge Challenge (there's even a honor roll and a Facebook group devoted to the effort).

If you've got a number of things tucked away in your fridge, freezer and pantry, consider playing along this week and see how many meals you can make from the food that you already have.

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Alright, Slashfoodies. I have another strange occurrence for you to explain, one that makes the butterscotch cookie mishap seem like nothing -- one that makes me wonder if I've stepped into the kitchen version of the Twilight Zone.

Above, you can check out a slightly blurry (sorry!) picture of my freezer. Since I recently roasted up a chicken, I also made myself some delicious stock. The other day, I got to packaging it for the freezer, and threw most of it into three zip lock bags. I stacked them on the base of my freezer, as shown, so that they could freeze flat and then be moved around.

A day later, the bottom bag was hard as a rock, and the other two were merely very cold and jiggly -- no ice. Confused, I rejigged the setup -- the bottom went on the top, and the door was closed. When I checked again, the new bottom one was now frozen, and the other two were jiggly. Aggravated, I took the picture you see above, and then rearranged a bit and moved one of the bags up to the second shelf. As of now, the one jiggly bag is starting to slush and freeze.

What on earth could cause this? It sure isn't thawing -- the rest of the inhabitants are solid. It's not over or under-packing the freezer, because I've done similar before in emptier and more full freezers.

Please solve this mystery and save my sanity!

Wondering why your refrigerator and freezer or using so much energy? Follow some quick and easy instructions to keep these machines running more efficiently, even during a power outage.

Want an easy way to keep stock on hand at all times? Freeze it like ice cubes.