My mom told me to freeze my veggie scraps before composting and I rolled my eyes, 4 months in my freezer smells like nothing

Simon Lee · 2026-09-25T14:15:07.224974+00:00

So back in January my mom came over to my 500 sq ft studio in Portland and saw the little bucket I keep on the counter for food scraps. She told me to stop dumping them straight in and to freeze them in a gallon bag instead. I thought she was being extra because she has a big backyard pile and I'm just working with a 5 gallon bucket on my fire escape. Well, I tried it anyway. I keep a ziplock in the door of my freezer and toss banana peels, coffee grounds, and onion skins in there all week. On Sunday I dump the bag into the bucket, add some shredded paper from my junk mail, and give it a stir. Four months later and I'm honestly shocked. My kitchen bin doesn't stink anymore, no fruit flies, and the scraps break down way faster because freezing bursts the cell walls. The only downside is my freezer is now half full of frozen kale stems. Has anyone tried this with citrus peels? I heard they take forever either way but I'm not sure if freezing helps or not.

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My mom told me to freeze my veggie scraps before composting and I rolled my eyes, 4 months in my freezer smells like nothing | Apartment Composting - Topic Shares