Your freezer is a hard working appliance, busy consuming lots of electricity to work miracles in preserving food. So how can you get the most out of it, and save yourself energy and money? Follow these tips to ensure that you get maximum performance and use out of your freezer.

Keep it full

Your freezer does not have to work so hard to keep its temperature down when it is full, so when your food stocks are low, put a couple of loaves of bread in an empty drawer to fill it up. If you do not have any spare bread then fill up a couple of plastic bottles with water. This works just as well as the water freezers, providing giant ice cubes.

Move it

Make sure that the condenser coils at the back of your freezer are not obstructed and have a couple of inches of space around them so that the air can circulate. Think also about where in your house would be the best place for the freezer. Cookers and boilers are the most obvious sources of heat in a kitchen, but don’t overlook your tumble dryer or washing machine. These appliances emit heat from their everyday use which could make your freezer’s job harder.

Check the seal

If you can get a piece of paper between the door and the seal, you need to do some repair work. Replacing or repairing a broken seal is a quick job that will save you money, as your freezer will not need to use as much electricity to keep the temperature down.

Defrost it

If there is more than a quarter of an inch of frost on the freezer, it needs to be defrosted. Even if your appliance is a frost free freezer, your freezer will still benefit from being emptied and cleaned at least every six months to avoid a build up of unpleasant odours.

Use it more

The best way to get the most out of your freezer is simply to use it more. Most people only have things in their freezer that they bought already frozen at the supermarket. But given that, as a nation, Brits throw away a staggering one third of our food shopping away, surely we can do more to stop this waste and save food from the bin. Food that is close to its “use by” date can be put straight into the freezer, as long as it is stored properly. Here are some hints and tips about convenient freezer storage.

• Meat – Ground or minced meat is easiest to store and defrost. Instead of placing a whole pack into the freezer, try dividing it into smaller portions in freezer bags, or marking lines across a bigger bag so that you can snap off segments to defrost as much or as little as you need.
• Herbs – Fresh herbs are expensive to buy from the supermarket, and growing Mediterranean herbs in your own garden is difficult in the winter. So why not freeze fresh herbs in ice cube trays, for an instant hit of flavour for casseroles, soups and stews? Simply pop out a cube of the frozen herb as needed and let it dissolve into your food.
• Milk – Milk can be frozen for a few weeks. Just remember to take it out in advance to use it up later.
• Bread – Bread can become misshapen if you freeze whole loaves at a time. Instead, portion into bags three or four slices at a time so that you can easily separate them, and toast from frozen.

Imagine not having a dishwasher. It’s just too awful to contemplate. And yet, like the other appliances in our households, we just flick the on switch without considering how to get optimum performance. But with a little thought, follow these steps and your dishwasher can be cheaper to run, and more energy efficient.

Make sure that the filters are clean

If you scrape off any excess food from plates and bowls before you put them in the dishwasher, then the filters will always be clean. However, in our busy lives we often forget these details, which leads to a build up of food in the filters. It is important to clean dishwasher filters regularly because a dirty filter means that your dishwasher will develop an unpleasant odour, and will not perform as well.

Check the temperature

It’s tempting to think that the hotter you wash things, the cleaner they must be. However, although dishwasher manufacturers recommend that you run the highest wash from time to time to flush the system through, there is no need to boil wash everything.

For most loads, 50 to 55˚C is perfectly adequate, and saves water and electricity. In fact, according to research carried out by appliance manufacturer Hotpoint, switching to this low temperature can save up to 84kWh per year and 19 bath loads of water per year. In more measurable terms, that is equivalent to another 3 months worth of dishwashing.

Load the machine properly

Loading the machine properly is essential to make sure that the jets of water reach the places that they need to in order to rinse every item, and that the detergent is spread around to clean every piece of crockery, cutlery or glassware.

Stack your dishwasher in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure that the more heavily soiled items are on the lower shelf, and check that plates do not touch each other. If they do, then the dishwasher’s cleaning action will not reach every part of the plate.

If you point all of the handles of mugs and cups in the same direction, you will be able to fit more into the dishwasher. Finally, make sure that there is nothing in the path of the spray arm, as if anything is stopping it from rotating freely then nothing inside will get a proper wash.

Check that everything is dishwashable

It’s tempting to try things that you know are not suitable in the dishwasher, because it seems like less hassle than washing them up. However, neither lead crystal nor antique china should ever be found in your dishwasher machine – the risk is too great that they might get broken or damaged. Silver is also best left to be washed up by hand, as it will tarnish if it comes into contact with certain detergents.

If you are looking to buy a dishwasher, some of the best dishwasher models that are popular include:

1. Indesit IDF125
2. Hotpoint Aquarius FDL570G
3. Bosch Classixx SGS45C02GB
4. Zanussi ZDF3020
5. Hoover Nextra HED6612

Media centres have been around a while, but they’re only really starting to take off now. There are a couple of main reasons for this. Firstly, up until recently, the operating systems designed for media centres simply weren’t reliable enough to do the job they were created for. Secondly, home entertainment enthusiasts already had devices that they understood. They knew how the CD players and DVD recorders that they already had in place worked. So why go to all the expense and time of buying a new system and learning a new technology, when what they had already seemed perfectly adequate? Read the rest of this entry »