Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving…seeing family, friends and of course, the food! But, what some people may not love is the lack of refrigerator and freezer space they have to store all of their holiday ingredients. Prepping your Thanksgiving refrigerator is important to have a stress-free day filled with family, fun and food. It takes a real pro to make enough room in a small refrigerator to fit a 10 lb. turkey. If you have a big refrigerator, you will enjoy our fridge prepping tips and ideas to fit the most in your refrigerator. If you don’t have a large capacity refrigerator, you’ll enjoy learning about the newer, larger and more efficient refrigerators on the market.
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Getting Your Thanksgiving Refrigerator in Tip Top Shape
- Clean It Out! You know what they say, “Out with the old and in with the new.” If you haven’t used it, get rid of it. Check for foods that are past their expiration date, may have molded or just look rotten. Repackaging foods into stackable containers will free up some space as well. Give your refrigerator a deep cleaning, too. Take out the shelves and give them a good cleaning. Wipe down the insides and outsides of the fridge. Now you have a clean start and a fridge that you can restock.
- Thaw, Don’t Stall! Plan ahead, and defrost your turkey safely in your refrigerator. Thawing it on your countertop is a bad and unsafe way to defrost a turkey. Instead, clear out the bottom shelf of your fridge, and place your bird on a cookie sheet. Place that sheet on the bottom shelf of the fridge. This is a good method because any thawing turkey drippings rest in the cookie sheet and won’t drip down to contaminate any other food in the refrigerator. Figure it will take at least 5 hours per pound to defrost your bird. So, a 10 – 12lb. turkey can take two and half days or more.
- Make Room for the Extras. Remember to stock the fridge with the items your guests may want, like cream for their coffee and real butter or the heart healthy margarine for your health conscience family members. The little things go a long way.
Fridges You Can Flaunt
Perhaps, reality has set in and you realize you need a larger refrigerator. There are several excellent larger capacity fridges available at Home-Tech. We have three we highly recommend for space, efficiency and overall performance.
- LG Super-Capacity 3 Door French Door Refrigerator with Smart Cooling technology. With LG’s largest capacity French door refrigerator at 31 cu. ft., you get 20% more usable space so you can store more food than ever before. What is really unique about this LG, the LFX31925ST, is the Slim SpacePlus Ice System. It provides more shelf space and even more space for door bins, which surely frees up more usable fridge space. Also, the Smart Cooling Plus technology keeps your food fresher, longer. There are strategically-placed vents in every section help to surround your food with cool, fresh air no matter where you put it.
- Samsung 31.6 cu. ft. French Door Refrigerator. Samsung’s largest french door refrigerator , the RF323TEDBBC, has enough room to fit up to 32 bags of groceries. With an expansive 32 cu. ft. inside, this refrigerator features the largest capacity of all french door refrigerators in its class. It produces up to 12 lbs. of ice daily, and stores up to 10 lbs. of ice, which is perfect for large families and entertaining. Some other features we like are the humidity controlled crispers, the 6 gallon-size door bins and the cool select pantry that allows you to control the temperature for produce, meat and cheese.
- KitchenAid Standard-Depth French Door 29 Cu. Ft. 36-Inch Width Architect® Series II. Keep food longer with KitchenAid’s KFIS29PBMS. This refrigerator maximizes the freshness of produce with their Preserva Food Care System, which combines dual evaporators to maintain optimum humidity, an air filter to reduce odors and an ethylene-absorption cartridge to keep produce crisp. Not to be missed is the 3-tier freezer drawer which makes it easy to organize and find items and glides out smoothly, even when fully loaded.
Holiday Help from Home-Tech
Can’t decide which fridge is the best for you? Let our Appliance Specialists help you. We will even come out to your house and measure to make sure you purchase the right refrigerator for your home. Come and try these fridges out for yourself in one of our Member Appliance Centers. The holidays are a happening time at Home-Tech, and we are thankful for your business. Call today to schedule a one-on-one with us or call us to chat about your appliance questions at 800-800-8356.