How Often Should You Really Clean Your Freezer?

Take a good long look inside your freezer. Some of you may have a lot of stuff in there — frozen vegetables, leftovers, pizza. Maybe some of you pride yourself on keeping your freezer relatively empty to prevent clutter and keep space open. But whether or not your freeze is jam-packed or empty, there's one question you should be asking yourself: How often should I actually clean it out?

You don't need to clean your freezer as often as you would clean your floor or your oven, but it's important to build up a habit of doing it every so often. Real Simple, for example, recommends doing a deep clean of your freezer four times a year (which equates to every three months). You don't have to obsessively clean your freezer each and every day — all you need to do is clean it out on a schedule, whether it's one particular day of the month or once every three or four months.

It's important to get into the habit of cleaning your freezer every so often. Even if the food within it is frozen, there can still be a chance that bacteria and other germs can thrive if your freezer doesn't receive proper care and maintenance.  

Normally, when you think of frozen foods, you usually expect them to be free from any bacteria or germs. While the process of freezing food may preserve it, just because it's in the freezer doesn't always mean it's safe from any spoilage or bacteria. A freezer, much like your cabinet, is still a space for holding food. And if anything were to contaminate that space, you should take immediate action.

If you find that your freezer has any sort of damaged, spoiled, or otherwise foul-smelling foods, immediately remove everything from the freezer alongside any ice cube trays or racks, if possible. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends thoroughly washing any trays and racks in hot water and detergent before rinsing in a sanitizing solution of chlorine bleach and water. Wash the interior — door and gasket included — down with hot water and baking soda before once again finishing with the rinsing solution. Another good cleaning solution is hot water and vinegar, which can help remove any stains or discolored spots caused by the spoiled food in question.

Even if your freezer is meant to preserve food for as long as possible, it's all the more important you make sure everything inside of it is fresh and undamaged. A little bit of hard cleaning goes a long way to keeping your food safe. 

Just as you turn off other appliances to clean them, you may also think that it's necessary to unplug your freezer before cleaning it. While you're free to do that if you so desire, others may worry about having to wait for the freezer to "restart," or get back to its normal cold temperature. Fortunately, it is possible to clean your freezer without having to shut it off.

After you move the items from the freezer to a cooler or other receptacle out of the way, you're going to want to use plenty of hot water — not just for general cleaning, but to remove any chunks of ice that may build up on the sides or floor of the freezer. Hot water is also key to removing any sort of sticky puddles — think melted ice cream and spilled drinks — as normal sponges may not be able to "melt" through the half-frozen substance as effectively. You can use whatever sort of cleaning solution you like, just so long as the water remains hot.

If you have an enormous amount of ice build-up, such as in a basement freezer you don't use as often, you may want to let it defrost first to help the ice melt faster. If you don't have too much ice, a quick scrub with hot water, detergent or soap, and cleaning solution will do the job just fine