Single life can get interesting quickly when you need to  use a hammer on some frozen articles in the freezer.

Spot checking the refrigerator and freezer for grocery list items, I noticed an issue in my freezer in which 4 zip-locked marinara sauces (I made a big batch last weekend) were stuck to one another and through the freezer shelf. 

Here’s where physics comes in, these sauces were originally frozen after cooling were in a liquid state at the time. As a result, some of the bags hung through the grates on the top shelf.  When liquids/sauces/etc freeze, they sometimes expand a little as well which definitely happened here. <Physics lesson over>

I first tried to remove (they are adjustable) the top shelf and couldn’t because everything was quite stuck. I tried and tried and was able to pry off one of the sauces without breaking the bag (extra points for that effort). The other three sauces, however were very much lodged into the grated shelf and against the side of the freezer. 

I tried, I pushed, I tugged (not too hard or I’d rip the ziplocks) I swore every bad word I could think of in English, Spanish, and Italian (we are multicultural at Anthony’s Place) but they wouldn’t budge. Then I thought to myself, “what will MacGyver do?”

Opening my tool drawer, I found my toolbox, took out a hammer and proceeded to hammer up (under the grate) on the frozen bags of marinara (I’m sure my neighbors love me 😝) until finally I was able to pop the shelf out. I then removed it from the freezer with the sauces still stuck to it. 

We have a second  challenge again of physics and common sense. I want to defrost these sauces just enough to get them clear of the shelving grate so I can place them back in the freezer without needing to cook them all. 

I placed the grated shelf and my lambadad (I’m not sure if the forbidden dance has ever been applied in this manner 😂😂😂) marinara sauces in the sink and ran cold water until the portions that were expanded and stuck, shrunk down enough for me to pull them out. I then immediately placed everything back in the freezer more easily as everything was still frozen (for the most part). 

To not have a future repeat of this adventure, I’ll place something flat on top of the grading next time. Lesson learned, and it was truly a cultural event with multiple language swearing, a refresher in thermodynamics, and a little MacGyver, for good measure…😂😂😂

-aaa