A Mostly Empty Freezer Can Cause More Harm To Food Than You Think

We get it — you're tired of opening your freezer and having things fall out onto your bare feet. So you do a little freezer clear-out, and end up tossing, well, most of what was in there, actually. Not a huge loss since most of it was freezer-burnt or totally unrecognizable. You look inside your now-clean freezer with joy. However, don't get too carried away with decluttering. A half-empty freezer is worse for the food that it does contain.

Keeping your freezer mostly empty is bad for the overall efficiency of the appliance. Space around the items inside allows for more warm air to collect inside the chamber every time you open the door. Over time, this not only causes dangerous temperature fluctuations but can also cause the freezer to work harder to keep the space cold (something you should also watch out for with your fridge). The optimal amount of leftover space in a freezer is about 25% – not so empty that it has to work extra hard to keep a large space cold, yet with enough room for air to flow between the items.

So, if you've already done your freezer purge and you're at less than 75% capacity, you can actually fill the space with a variety of placeholder items until you go grocery shopping again. The easiest and cheapest method for doing this is to fill plastic-lidded containers with water and put them inside. Just make sure you leave a little room at the top as the water will expand as it freezes. These containers tend to stack neatly one on top of the other, so they're easy to move around or remove. If you'd rather keep your plastic containers empty for leftovers, plastic zip-top bags filled with water will work just as well. Plus, you can store pantry items in your freezer, as well.

It's also important not to place hot, warm, or even room-temperature foods alongside already-frozen foods in the freezer, as this can raise the temperature and promote serious bacterial growth. This is why the 75% rule is important — if there's too much stuff packed into your freezer you can't keep the non-frozen food safely away from the already-frozen stuff. Temperature changes can also alter the texture of the food after it's defrosted, making it mushy, gummy, or chewy, just a few of the textures Americans dislike most.