What To Do If Your Crisper Is Freezing Your Produce

Imagine stocking your fridge with beautiful fresh produce, only to find it all frozen and mostly ruined just a day or two later. Heads of lettuce, cartons of fruit, or even cucumbers can freeze through entirely or, if you're kind of lucky, just around the edges. While a crisper drawer that freezes its contents is certainly not a pleasing discovery to make, it's not all bad. This is a problem that is easily remedied in most situations.

The first thing you should always do is also probably the most obvious step, but it needs to be said. Always double-check your temperature settings are inside the fridge — and the freezer too, while you're at it. As Reviewed explains, the temperature settings inside the fridge are far from accurate, but the temperature should at least be set somewhere between 38 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit. If you're within that range and are still experiencing issues with frozen food, you can bump it up toward the higher end of the range.

Another issue that could cause freezing to happen within the crisper drawer is airflow, says Tiger Mechanical. In your fridge, there are vents that allow for the movement of cold air into and out of the crisper drawer. However, when too many items are packed into the fridge or the crisper drawer, those vents could become blocked. This will often cause the air to blow in just one area of the fridge, bringing too much chill to a stuffed crisper.

Again, this problem is solved with an easy fix. All you have to do here is move some of your produce or other items that have been stored in the drawer. With more space around the produce now instead of a jam-packed crisper drawer, the cold air should have room to move through the space and properly chill the food without freezing it.