Lettuce can keep for 2 weeks + Truth

Wrap it in tinfoil and lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and celery can last for much much longer than normal in the fridge.  Just be sure to keep it tightly wrapped.

I washed and dried lettuce leaves, stacked them and wrapped in tin foil on a Tuesday and used them 1 1/2 weeks later and they were still fresh & crisp.  Very cool.

Defrosting a stand up Freezer

Defrosting a stand up Freezer

It was this full last time it stopped... sigh.

Maybe the door wasn't shut tight, something was in the way & pushed it open, or somehow the freezer just stopped working, but at least once a year I've had my freezer die on me.  I've gotten it down to a science now.  Here is what you do.

1st buy a freezer alarm!  This would save me a lot of headache, and will from now on. After extensive research I bought the cheapest one I found and it works great. (CDN) When the freezer goes above or below zero by 15 degrees, it will start beeping and stop when it returns to zero.  This means when I'm loading the freezer from a big shopping trip it will probably beep before I'm done, but it will stop when it cools back down.  Love it.  Not loud enough to hear very well on upper level of house, but loud enough that I'll probably hear it in less than 20 min if I'm home.  This has been tested.   Volume was a universal complaint on all freezer alarms even the expensive ones, so I'm happy with the $17 I spent.

#2.  Now if you just found this and haven't yet done step #1 and you have dead freezer because door was left open, all is not lost.  At least mine has started back up every time so far.

Empty contents of freezer into coolers. If most things are still frozen, they should keep themselves cold in the cooler for the couple hours till things are working again. If not, maybe add some dry ice on top.  Be smart about what you re-freeze, if it's totally thawed and warm, you'll have to throw some things out. My large freezer can all fit into one giant white cooler, and 2 smaller ones.






#3.  Boil 2 large pots of water. Place a drip pan on bottom of freezer and 2 pans on shelves.  Now start chipping off the ice with a PLASTIC ice scraper or equivalent tool.

When you've got all the ice melted and out, dry it up with towels and close the freezer.  Let it sit for about 30 min-1 hr.  Plug it back in and if it starts up, you're in business.  It's optimal to wait for an hour to refill the freezer so it can cool down before adding the food back.  If it was all still frozen, it's not such a big deal.

This whole process  took me about 2hrs start to finish & reloaded.

Update: Now that I have a freezer alarm and a thermometer in my freezer, when it has gone off and I find it quickly, and temp hasn't dropped below 40 and most things are still frozen and not a lot of ice buildup. I've just locked the freezer door (This is the same effect as putting it all in a cooler), unplugged the freezer and put a fan facing the condenser (bottom side where it's really warm). Wait an hour or 2. When freezer feels cool to touch on outside where it used to be warm, plug it back in and see if the condenser starts back up. This has worked every time. It's just a matter of letting the condensor cool off and start back up. If a lot of ice has built up, it's best to to the cooler method and start fresh.

White Shirts White Again!

White Shirts White Again!  No more Yellow!

Method 1 - fast, spot cleaning, less expensive ingredients

Method 2 - Large load whitening

Method 1 

2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide (3%)

1 Part Dawn Liquid Dish Soap

1 Part Baking Soda

Mix well and put in a container with lots of head room because it will foam and settle during storage. Massage into stain with an old toothbrush. Let soak for 1 hr (caution on khaki, may lighten), wash normally. Repeat if necessary. I haven't tried this without the baking soda, but it may work good that way too and without foaming. 

Method #2

It really works.  I tried it on White Stafford Dress shirts 60/40 Poly/cotton blend.  Amazing!  Also great for getting out other stains, but I'm most impressed with removing the yellow stain in the armpit area.  Also worked on old yellowed white T-shirts.

Formula:   2 gallons HOT water 
                 4 small scoops oxy clean powder (about 2TBl each) 
                 (1 scoop if you have the large scoop that measures 4 at a time)
Fill 5 gallon bucket with 1 gallon HOT WATER.  In a smaller container (like old peanut butter jar) mix oxyclean powder and 1 qrt or so of HOT water.  The key here is to completely dissolve the powder! Add solution to 5 gallon bucket.  Add clothing, not too many.  Let sit for at least 24hrs if stains are old and set.  I let it go 1 1/2 days.  May take less time for fresher stains. (I use it on newborn yellow diaper stains that had been washed and dried, it worked in 1 hr)  I stir it and push clothing down occasionally when I happen to walk past it.  After soaking transfer clothing to washing machine and launder & dry as usual.

What's really funny is that this formula is right on the box in itty bitty print, but I've never followed instructions to a T, once I did it worked wonders.  The key really is to dissolve the powder before adding it.  Do this when you add it to laundry as well.

Grease Stains

For Greasy stains the best solution I've found is one from Humdrum Hero.  She's such a smart cookie. :)
1part Liquid detergent (Tide), 1/4 part water.  Mix this in a spray bottle.  Squirt it on stain and rub together, soak, or throw back in laundry basket.  Be careful on Khaki, it's prone to blotch if you let stain remover of any type dry on it.

This works great even on old laundry stains that have been washed and dried repeatedly.  It may take more than one application, but it will come out.