Green tip of the day - Quick tips for defrosting your freezer

Ice and frost can build up in your freezer, particularly if you tend to leave the freezer door open for long periods at a time.

Energy output of the freezer can increase due to the build-up of frost inside the freezer and your energy bills increase as a result because your freezer has to work almost twice as hard with all the frost encrustations inside it.

Defrosting your freezer often will keep it as energy efficient as possible. If you have to buy a new freezer or fridge freezer, look for the frost free variety which either defrosts itself or does not collect frost at all. This will also save you a lot of your valuable time.

Quick defrosting methods

• Turn off your freezer
• Get a big bowl and fill it with hot water and then leave it inside the freezer so that it loosens the frost inside the freezer
• Wear some rubber gloves
• Use an ice pick (usually provided with your fridge/freezer) to pick off the ice and frost in the freezer, which should be loose as a result of the steam from the hot water.
• Alternatively, switch off the freezer and leave it overnight to defrost. Make sure you have some rags ready to soak up any water that would leak all over the kitchen floor due to all the built up frost in the freezer.