There are a few types of home freezers. The most common type of freezer is one that is part of the refrigerator, taking up not quite half the size of the unit. Other styles include the chest freezer and upright freezer, both of which typically stand alone in the garage or basement.
Freezer setups for restaurants are a bit different. Most are very large and made for people to walk around inside. Unlike home freezers, commercial walk-in freezers in Delaware hold food ingredients for paying customers. With this in mind, it’s your job to ensure a clean, very well-organized freezer, as cross-contamination is a very real possibility.
A well-organized walk-in freezer is the key to maintaining a hygienic dining establishment and cutting down on food waste. Here are five helpful tips for organizing your restaurant’s walk-in freezer:
- Keep it clean and well maintained: A restaurant without the ingredients to make food and a kitchen walk-in freezer to store it simply cannot survive as a business. Before organizing your walk-in freezer, you need to clean it and make sure it’s working. Check that all freezer parts are functional and working the way they’re supposed to. Schedule routine maintenance, and create (and stick to) a daily care and cleaning schedule.
- Use quality storage containers: One of the best gifts you can give your walk-in freezer is quality storage containers. They need to be the right types and sizes so they stack together better on freezer shelves. Many professional kitchens are still using old containers for food storage that may not even comply with today’s food safety regulations. When picking out new food storage containers, be sure they are rated for commercial freezer use and the type of foods you typically need to store in them.
- Label everything: Every restaurant kitchen should want to cut down on food waste, and the easiest way to do this (besides using ingredients in a timely manner) is to label everything. Slap labels on every single food container—its contents, when the food was purchased and the day it went into the freezer, was prepared or was opened. Just so there’s no excuse, keep painter’s tape and permanent markers readily available near the walk-in freezer for quick labeling.
- Separate meats and produce: Even in the freezer, meats (whether cooked or raw) need to be stored away from vegetables and other ingredients. Prevent cross-contamination by placing meat products on the lowest shelf. If any other foods come in contact with meat or meat juices, you might have to toss the contaminated food.
- Organize by use-by dates: When new food items get delivered, take a few minutes to organize what’s already in the freezer. Putting use-by dates on old and new items can prevent food loss, as can shuffling items around to push foods with shorter shelf lives to the front and items that will keep longer to the back.
If the walk-in freezer in your Delaware restaurant kitchen is on the fritz and needs repairs, don’t hesitate to call Commercial Equipment Service Inc. We are the most reliable commercial refrigeration equipment service provider in the area!