frost free vs. manual defrost

chanasmom

Mon, Jan 30 2012, 7:14 pm

I am in the process of buying a new freezer. My current one is manual defrost, and I have been thrilled with it, I find it keeps things very well, even if I'm not fanatical about how well its wrapped. I wanted to get another one like it, but the salesladies at the appliance store say that in the last five years, they have been recommending the frost free as being just as good with the longevity of the food. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the newer frost free freezers. Need feedback soon, delivery is happening this week!

TranquilityAndPeace

Mon, Jan 30 2012, 7:35 pm

Frost free sucks the moisture out of your food over time, if it isn't wrapped well. That's why frost free freezers don't get a build up of frost, as the moisture constantly is being sucked out.

If you wrap foods well, there shouldn't be much difference for short term (less than 3 months) storage, IME, as I have both types.

lollygirl

Mon, Jan 30 2012, 7:56 pm

I have frost-free for the last 2 years. My meats and chicken stay perfectly good even after 6 months. I think it's all about how you store it when you freeze it, I.e. airtight containers, foil and ziploc, etc.

Tova

Mon, Jan 30 2012, 8:33 pm

I have a Kenmore manual freezer. I chose it over the manual one because it came in a larger size (ie - the largest manual was larger than the larger frost free in this brand - I wanted Kenmore specifically due to good feedback and great deal at that time). The frost build up is pretty easy to deal with - once every two years or so in my experience. Also, they tend to last and last and last (not a lot of parts that can break).

NYmommy

Mon, Jan 30 2012, 8:39 pm

I have a frost free freezer for a couple of years now & I'm very happy with it. I keep food in containers or bags & it lasts up to a year without any smell or yucky taste.

chocolate moose

Mon, Jan 30 2012, 10:28 pm

I just threw out our manual defrost; our backs and legs would ache for days after defrosting it.

We love our frost free unit.

chanasmom

Tue, Jan 31 2012, 7:07 am

Thanks for all of your input ladies, especially the info about how the fr. free actually works. Although it seems that some of you have great experiences with the frost free, I just don't want to take a chance when I know how well the manual has worked for me and some of my friends. Esp. since I do keep things for a while. I'm buying it so that I can cook for my sons bar mitzva shabbos which is right after Purim-I figure since we're not paying for a caterer. I may as well make some investment that will make my life easier-and not go stressing Erev Shabbos collecting my cooked food from random neighbor's freezers! Wish me luck!

Tova

Tue, Jan 31 2012, 8:26 am

chocolate moose wrote:

I just threw out our manual defrost; our backs and legs would ache for days after defrosting it.

We love our frost free unit.

How did you defrost yours?

For ours we just take out all of the food (I do it when I have very little food there anyways), set a towel with an aluminum pan or two down on the floor, and unplug.

willow

Tue, Jan 31 2012, 1:01 pm

Tova wrote:

chocolate moose wrote:

I just threw out our manual defrost; our backs and legs would ache for days after defrosting it.

We love our frost free unit.

How did you defrost yours?

For ours we just take out all of the food (I do it when I have very little food there anyways), set a towel with an aluminum pan or two down on the floor, and unplug.

I wanted to know this too. Ours is dripping water for months but I don't have 24 hours that I can go without the freezer working so it can defrost.

chocolate moose

Tue, Jan 31 2012, 7:50 pm

I always defrosted it Sunday of the 9 days. We'd take everything out, then spend the rest of the day hacking off the ice. And washing it, of course.

When the thing would freeze up, the ice would be thick so I used to keep it locked so the kids wouldn't be inside yom velaylah, sine the more it's opened the icier it gets.

It was seriously a disaster. The food always had a lot of ice on it and I could never tell what was what.

observer

Tue, Jan 31 2012, 8:42 pm

I've read that the way a frost free freezer works is that it has a timer and every few hours, it warms up a little so the ice melts and then it resumes its freezing. So basically the food is constantly being ever so slightly defrosted and then refrozen, and that contributes to the reduced freshness.

Levtov

Tue, Jan 31 2012, 11:50 pm

That was years ago, on frost free freezers that they refroze again and again. Today's frost free are excellent in keeping stuff as fressh as could be without the hassle of defrosting and ice build-up. Come on, if you are buying a new one now, GO FROST FREE!!!