Weird and wonderful ways to put your freezer to work

There’s only one problem with that – it’s yours.

If you’ve had to throw out your baking ingredients before, one step you can take to protect precious flour is to freeze it about one week before use. That’ll kill any bugs that might have taken up residence and keep it fresher for longer.

And next time you buy some flour, try freezing it for a couple of days when you get it home before transferring it to an air-tight container. It will kill any flour bug eggs that may be lurking inside.

Cling film that doesn’t stick to itself 

Plastic cling wrap is truly infuriating when it sticks to itself and tangles up.

Sometimes you end up spending more time wrapping the sandwich than you did making it. But there’s a simple fix: Stick the plastic wrap in your freezer for a few minutes, perhaps while you’re preparing lunch, and the cold will reduce the clinging action so it’s easier to handle.

Don’t store it in the freezer though, or it’ll lose its hold altogether.

No-wash jeans wash 

Repeated washing shortens the life of a good pair of jeans and the drying can also fade what was once the perfect shade of blue, or mess with the shape.

Denim is a heavy fabric that doesn’t actually need to be washed after every use.

Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh claims machine washing is completely unnecessary, but after one wear your jeans are covered in technically harmless microbes, including bacteria, skin cells and your natural oils.

We’re not suggesting that you stop washing your jeans, but if you’re throwing them through a cycle only for a quick freshen-up mid-week, try the freezer instead.

Roll your jeans up, seal them in a zip-lock bag and leave them in the freezer overnight. The low temperature will kill any odour-causing bacteria, leaving them smelling cleaner.

Be gone dust mites 

Dust mites are a microscopic creature that lives wherever we do and causes asthma and skin irritations.

They breed by the billions under your sleeping head, in soft toys and in sheets, feeding off your shed skin cells.

“What you can do is freeze your pillow or dust cover,” said Allergy NZ spokesperson Mark Dixon. “Put them in a bag and put them in your freezer overnight and that will kill all the dust mites that are present and stop that breeding process.

“If you can squish down your pillow and get that in the freezer, that’s another way of terminating the breeding process.”

Open and reseal a closed envelope 

Have you ever sealed an envelope, only to discover that you left out something crucial?

To make the situation better, it was probably a special birthday card that only fit the envelope it came with. There was no choice but to tear it up, right?

Not quite. Place the letter inside a sealed zip-lock bag and leave it in the freezer for one to two hours. Open it immediately with a blunt knife or letter opener when you pull it out, then let the envelope thaw to room temperature.

Make your changes and seal again.

Sharpen an old eyeliner 

Five minutes in the freezer will film up an old eyeliner so it doesn’t crumble when you sharpen it. It should come out of the freezer harder than it was before. If you have a thicker eyeliner pencil, you may need to leave it for 10-15 minutes.

Test the eyeliner on the back of your hand by drawing a small line. If it’s too thick, sharpen the pencil more. If it’s too thin, draw on your hand or a piece of paper until the tip becomes more blunt.

Plant seeds next year 

If you’re one of the people who panic bought seeds during quarantine and then weren’t able to plant them, all is not lost.

Dry out the seeds you want to keep and place them in an airtight container. Pop them in the freezer and leave them there until it’s time to plant.

Just remember to give the seeds plenty of time to thaw before planting.

Save any leftover wine 

Don’t let a half-drunk bottle of red go to waste. Pour any remaining wine into an ice cube tray (if you’re not going to drink it, that is).

Lots of recipes call for a bit of wine and both red and white can be frozen exactly for this purpose.

Nigella says it should be fine for up to three months and maybe a little longer. The wine will not freeze completely solid because of its alcohol content, so it needs to be somewhere secure, or sealed.

Clean op shop finds 

Op shops are full of antique treasures. If you were lucky enough to find the perfect wooden spoon or old jewellery box, put it on ice for a few weeks before you add it to the shelf.

Many antique wooden items are infested with woodworm, a voracious pest that lays eggs and chews holes throughout wooden items.

A spell in the freezer will kill off any woodworms and their eggs.

Sauces, herbs and more 

The freezer is the final barrier between you and unnecessary food waste. Yes, you can freeze chicken and ham for another day, but you can also freeze bananas, avocados, potatoes, coffee and sauces and herbs.

You can even extend the shelf life of dairy products like butter, egg whites, and milk by freezing them for future use. If your block of cheese is on the verge of going bad, grate it and store it in plastic freezer bags.

If you’re making your own pesto or chutney and end up with too much, don’t throw it away and waste all that effort. Freezing should be your first consideration, not the last.

This article originally appeared on stuff.co.nz