Taking steps to keep your freezer operating

Dear Readers: When you bring frozen food home from the supermarket, it's important to make sure your freezer is working properly in order to keep frozen food frozen. Here are things you should know, from the American Frozen Food Institute:
Maintain your freezer at 0 degrees F. If the temperature fluctuates, it will cause frozen foods to lose moisture faster, and they will become dry and rough.
Keep your freezer full to maintain the temperature.
Don't add too many items to the freezer at one time, because the heat given off by nonfrozen food can cause the freezer temperature to rise.
Store food in moisture-proof containers with airtight seals, so it will retain nutritional value and good taste.
Place the items you use the most in the front or on the door so you don't have to dig around -- which will cause the freezer temperature to increase.
Dear Heloise: Whenever I bread things like cutlets or eggplant, I always use a piece of aluminum foil so I can just fold it up and toss it away for easy cleanup. Because it tends to slide around on the countertop, I spray a little bit of water on the counter first and then place the foil on top. No more sliding around! Meg Trischitta, Staten Island, N.Y.
Dear Heloise: While baking a cake, I realized I had no toothpicks (to test the cake -- Heloise). I used a dry piece of spaghetti, and when batter appeared on the strand, I simply broke it off at the end, reset the timer and tried it again. When the spaghetti came out clean, the cake was done perfectly! I always seem to have more dried spaghetti on hand than toothpicks anyway. Karin Braun, via e-mail
Karin, you can also use a metal skewer to check for cake doneness. And here's a tasty tidbit: Cakes with creamy frostings can be left out on a counter in a covered container, but cakes with cream cheese, whipped cream or cream fillings should be kept in the refrigerator. Heloise
Dear Heloise: When stacking small items in the dishwasher that might knock against each other and chip or break, I place plastic lids from coffee cans between them.
I also use the lids as coffee-cup covers to keep the heat in longer. Carol Ott, Oak Hill, Va.
Carol, be sure that the plastic lids are secured so that they won't come loose and make their way to the bottom of the washer, where they could melt and cause damage. Heloise
Dear Heloise: I loved the idea of making giant ice cubes using the plastic containers from margarine and also your idea of adding a maraschino cherry or other fruit to make the cubes unique and colorful. If you're serving punch, I'd also suggest making these giant ice cubes out of the punch itself, rather than water, so that when they do melt, the punch isn't watered down. Lily in Alabama
King Features Syndicate