A friend's apartment in Portland taught me to freeze scraps first

I was helping a friend move last month and opened their freezer to pack it. Inside was a full gallon bag of frozen veggie scraps and coffee grounds, not a single smell. They said they started doing it after their countertop bin got fruit flies one hot week. Now I keep a container in my freezer too and only add to the worm bin once a week. Has anyone else switched to freezing their scraps to cut down on bugs?

3 comments

3 Comments

zara_hill462mo ago

My old apartment in Seattle had a tiny freezer, so that gallon bag trick would have taken up all my ice cream space. I just used a sealed ceramic bin on the counter and never had a fruit fly issue. It feels like an extra step unless you're dealing with a serious infestation already.

cameron9632mo ago

Actually thought that too until @zara_hill46 changed my mind.

carr.james1mo ago

Wait, but doesn't the sealed ceramic bin still let air in when you open it? I've tried those bins before and they still got gnats after a few days, especially in summer. Freezing scraps is a game changer for me, it totally stops the smell and bugs without having to run the compost out every other day. Plus in Portland the fruit flies are honestly brutal during that warm stretch, so that gallon bag trick feels like a no-brainer once you see how bad it can get. To each their own though, but I'll take the freezer space over a counter full of flies.