Turning off the freezer?

[rabbithorns]

Has anyone ever turned off the freezer part of their refrigerator/freezer? And does that save on the electric bill?

Our freezer is on top but I just looked in mine and there's almost nothing in it. I know if I fill old milk jugs with water and fill the freezer, they will freeze and it will work more efficiently, but what I'm saying is: if I don't have anything that needs to be frozen, can I just shut off that part and save the money from running it?

Does it affect the fridge if you don't have the freezer air venting down into it? Will it now cost twice as much to run because the fridge will have to run more?

All questions and no answers!

[USAmma]

Your freezer/fridge may be different than mine, but in ours you can't turn off one or the other. Last year our fridge wasn't working right and the repairman showed me how ours works. The freezer is where the cold air is made for both the freezer and the fridge. The air is then blown into the fridge to make it cool.

You know, if you make double batches of some dishes and freeze half it, you'll have a lot less cooking to do each week. I use my freezer for that, plus if I find stuff on sale I will freeze it. Cheese, bread, all kinds of stuff.

[rabbithorns]

I know all about cooking batches of food and I don't mean to be argumentative, but it just doesn't work for us. If I freeze portions enough for all of us, then the teens aren't home half the time. If I freeze smaller portions, then I haven't thawed enough if they do stay home. The fact that nothing is in our freezer right now it testament to the fact that doesn't work for us.

Also it's a problem of "no one eats the same thing anymore" syndrome. This one hates curry; that one hates cooked onions; this one hates white bread; that one hates wheat bread; that one wants meat in the lasagna or won't eat it, but the next one is a vegetarian.....oh, and the 16 year old now balks at spaghetti sauce that has chunks - although I'm not quite sure what that even means! LOL

It's just much easier to make fresh vegies and protein every night and have some different breads and grains around for the choosing. I find I cook LESS doing that since all I'm doing is steaming a vegie, broiling meat, making rice, pasta, or setting out bread. It sounds like alot, but I'm not making Kiev Chicken or Salmon Bisque or anything like that! But thanks for the advice and I will check to see if the cold air from the freezer is cooling the fridge as well.