How to stop food from freezing in your crisper. An easy DIY fix.

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Iceberg lettuce got its name in the 1920s when farmers packed it in ice to keep it fresh during shipping. Unfortunately, if your crisper drawer is turning every head of lettuce into an actual iceberg, you’ve got a problem. Here’s how to stop your fridge from freezing your vegetables.

I used to have one of those refrigerators with the freezer on the bottom, that were fancy about 20 years ago. You know ... the kind you have to press your face onto the kitchen floor to get the ice cube tray out of. Yeah .... one of those.

Well the other problem with having the freezer directly below the fridge is that everything in the crisper drawers freeze. You open the crisper drawer vents and everything freezes. You close the vents and everything freezes. I tried every combination in between and still ... everything would freeze solid.

The next bit of information I am about to give you is to be held in complete confidence because it is both embarrassing and stressful. Once I say it, we are never to mention it again for the sake of my mental health.

I estimated I wasted about $10 worth of produce a week with this crisper problem. That works out to $520 a year, which is bad. But not nearly as bad as the $6,240 over the lifetime of that STUPID, STINKING, MONEY SUCKING, LETTUCE FREEZING FRIDGE.

Now do that twisty motion at your pursed mouth and throw away the key.

I came up with a solution. And in case you too are losing thousands of dollars in frozen celery, here it is:

How to stop a crisper from freezing

Materials:

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Styrofoam-type insulation - $7.50 (You could try to use regular packing styrofoam that you have around.)
X-Acto Knife
Measuring Tape

Measure the bottom and back of your drawer. Mine measured 11.25" X 8.25" and 11.25" X 5.25". In case you were wondering.

Measure and cut your styrofoam. Obviously I cut my 2 pieces to be 11.25 X 8.25 and 11.25 X 5.25. Duh. Use your X-Acto knife for this. Just score the board and then snap it. You'll get the cleanest cuts this way. Cutting lengthwise your cuts will be perfect. Cutting horizontally, across the grain the cuts will look rougher. You can try sawing with the X-Acto knife for the horizontal cuts if the snapping thing is making too messy of a break.

Stick your cut pieces into the bottom and back of the drawer. See where this is going now? The insulation prevents the super-cold radiating from the freezer below from freezing the food in your crisper. I know! I was pretty impressed with myself when I thought of this. After 12 years. Is it pretty? Not so very much, but neither is a frozen solid leek 4 minutes before you're about to make soup.

As long as your first 2 pieces fit, use them as a pattern to cut the pieces for your other crisper drawer.

Pink insulation board isn't supposed to be toxic, but neither was thalidomide so I cover it with waxed paper just in case. Just change it out once it starts to get gross. How often this is depends on how much tolerance you have to slimy things at the bottom of your crisper drawer.

Load the crispers back up and stick them back in the fridge. (am I oversimplifying here?)

I've upgraded to a single column fridge with a glass door which you can see in this post that shows the whole kitchen. The freezer I use is a small upright which is next to the kitchen in the unheated mudroom - which also freezes things.

Looking back at the photos from when I first wrote this post it's funny to see all the store bought vegetables in the crisper. At the moment my crisper (really fridge drawers) has homegrown carrots, lettuce, beets and cabbage from the garden and I have ginger growing in the basement.

The lettuce I am growing under lights in a big tray that I just cut as I want it. If that's something you'd like to learn more about let me know and I'll do a post on how to grow your own lettuce in the winter - without an Aerogarden.

Might as well, now that you know how to put it in your crisper without it turning into an iceberg.