How do I defrost my freezer?

[SallyAsha]

I have a fridge freezer. My 5yo decided to leave the freezer door open last night without me realising (he was trying to make ice with a jelly mould I have just discovered which is quite cute... but, ugh!). I closed it this morning before i went out and have just got home. The bottom shelf is now completely frozen in and there is a thick layer of ice at the bottom, and now the door won't shut! I have taped it closed. There doesn't seem to be a way of turning just the freezer off. Do I just leave it open and flood the kitchen overnight 😅 what do I do with all the frozen stuff whilst it is defrosting? Help! Never had to do this before.

Scrape the ice off with a cutlery knife. Be careful though

Personally I use a hairdryer and an oven tray underneath my freezer to catch the water.

edited to add - obv don’t allow any water in / on the hairdryer

It's not possible because the whole under side of the bottom door is frozen solid with about 2cm of ice, right to the back of the fridge.

Does it take long?

What ever you do, don't use a sharp pointy knife like I did. The night before my Wife's driving test which was also 2 days before Christmas 🙄

I’m not sure if I do it the right way but I put all the food int he freezer in the garage (I know, not everyone has a spare one to do this) then I turn it off at the mains, boil the kettle and put the boiling water in dishes and leave them in the freezer until the ice melts, put a towel on the bottom shelf. I keep swapping the water for more boiling water and it only took about 20 minutes when I did it the other day. You could leave the frozen food on the side during this time or in the fridge, it shouldn’t take too long to do. I’m not sure if this is how you are meant to defrost a freeze but it works! Don’t be tempted with using a knife to chip the ice off, you could easily piece it! Good luck. A job for the morning maybe!

I use a wooden staputla to scrap it, with a washing up bowl, and a towel underneath.

You can just leave it overnight, but if you have no other freezer to put your stuff in then that isn't going to be an option. And if you can't separate then you'd be switching off the fridge too which doesn't seem ideal!

Pack your food in freezer bags, turn freezer off and leave the door open, lots and lots of towels on the floor and every so often see if any ice chips off in chunks as it melts! **

Also use the hairdryer method. Wrap the food in thick towels in a washing basket or robust shopping bags, and use more towels to mop up the water as it comes.

I've never found it takes that long so the food doesn't get chance to thaw out

I can't reach.my fridge/freezer plug so when I want to defrost it it I take all the food out and put in a bowl or on a towel on the floor. I then get a wooden spoon and bash the ice til it breaks off.

Be careful not to damage the pipes and walls as it can cause the gas to leak out and then it won't freeze. I keep scraping the ice out into another bowl. I get a tea towel and wipe/drag the little bits of ice out.
It takes about half an hour.

Hairdryer
Towels and bowls to collect the water

Usually takes me about 20 mins to do my whole freezer

I turn the whole thing off, then put all the frozen stuff in the fridge, if you leave the fridge shut it'll stay frozen for a few hours. I put saucepans of boiling water on to the freezer shelves, replacing the boiling water as it cools, along with a towel in the bottom to soak up the water. You do need to wring out the towel a few times but I find it only takes about an hour to fully defrost, then I dry it with some tea towels, pop the frozen food back in and switch it back on.

Do you have any cool bags or boxes? Put the frozen stuff in these and transfer to your fridge. Or wrap in towels/bags etc. Concentrate on meat/fish etc. Stuff like bread etc won't matter so much if it defrosts slightly and then freezes again.

I put loads of towels down in front of my freezer then put bowls of boiling hot (or near boiling) water near the freezer or on the freezer shelves. The steam quickly dislodges big chunks of ice. Mop up water as you go.

Be careful if you scrape the ice away as you could end up damaging the freezer.

I also swear by the (careful) use of a hairdryer.

OK. Going to throw a spanner in the works. There us NO WAY the bottom tray is coming out. It's frozen solid 😅

Take everything out and put it in the fridge, it won’t spoil but it might be a bit icy when it refreezes.

switch the freezer off overnight and put towels down and baking trays in the shelves, in the morning it will be water and completely defrosted.

When I defrost my freezer. I take out all the food. Put a few towels down. And I use a wall paper steamer. I can generally get rid of all the ice and dry it within a couple of hours

Extension lead so the hairdryer reaches the freezer and you can blast it from a distance?

If you're on good terms with your neighbours, maybe they could pop your stuff in their freezer while you defrost.

I have a coolbag and a couple of those blocks that you freeze, to keep stuff cold. As long as meat and fish is kept frozen I don't bother too much about bread and other stuff which can be refrozen.

Use a plastic scraper, or plastic fish slice or similar.

Lots of bath towels to spread over the floor - keep going back to change them as they get sodden.

Bowls of hot water and a hairdryer

i can get the freezer defrosted quicker than a drive home from the supermarket so don’t worry too much about the food defrosting

I use my steam cleaner with lots of towels on the floor. I do switch it off though

frozen stuff that's not damaged by having thawed already - any neighbours with freezer space or those bit keep-cold picnic boxes, failing that, those frozen food bags from a supermarket.
I usually do mine by putting bowls of boiling water, change them often, have loads of towels and bathmats etc to soak up the water.
As it starts to melt you'll be able to hack/pull chunks off (wear rubber gloves, maybe with an ordinary pair underneath) - as PPs have said, plastic implements. I've got a rigid plastic fish slice that works well.

Put food in a cool box or bag
If you don't pack it tightly into two carrier bags

Put a thick towels under the door
Bowls of hot water in The fridge leave for 5 minutes which's should help looses the chunks of ice
Hairdryer
Pallet knife or spatula

How long - Dependants how big you fridge is!!

Up to an hour for a big American one

Ice berg removed, thanks everyone!