Sunday, June 03, 2007

An open freezer is NOT frugal

A few of my blogger friends have posted about freezers popping open, or electricity going out. Sorry, I can't remember who they were...but it happens to all of us at some point. Me...it's happened 3 times in the last few years. Last year, in the heat of July, the freezer top of the garage fridge (you know how an old fridge gets put in the garage or the basement) popped open and no one knew for 3 days. So...there went about $85 worth of meat, including half-priced ribeyes. The food was warm so it all had to be thrown out. Sad, sad, sad.
The time before that, I caught it at the point where most of the stuff at the back was still frozen solid and the stuff in the front was still cold. I just had to cook up what had thawed.
Yesterday, it was all thawed, but at least still ice cold. I had some pre-made dinners in there, and some ground pork tenderloin to add to beef for meatballs. Fortunately, most of my meat is upstairs now. But I had to cook the dinners. I had two crockpots going all day. The pork for burritos, now that it is cooked, will be refrozen. We'll have the sesame pork and chicken enchiladas for dinner this week. I'll get the ground beef, make meatballs, and either freeze the cooked ones or we'll have spaghetti and meatballs or heroes one night.
The big dish I made is called "Western Hospitality Casserole." It is a family favorite. You cook meat in a wine sauce for several hours, then you put it over noodles and bake it for another hour. And then you add cheese until it melts! That's more of a special occasion dish...but I guess I'll make up a special occasion this week, LOL!
Most of what is thawed out is vegetables, so we'll polish those off all week long. The only real loss is a box of Texas Toast and some Jamaican beef patties.
Oh! And melted Breyer's Coffee Ice Cream makes a great milkshake.

4 comments:

Maggie said...

Having gone through this twice, I found a alarm online that is battery operated so it works even if you lose electricity, I am ordering 2 today, hopefully between that and the regular freezer alarm, I can stop losing food! So frustrating!

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

Oh, sorry - that's really terrible! I've heard of those alarms that maggie is talking about. Those are a worthwhile investment. My freezer is filled to the rim right now. I always keep a couple of bottled waters (gallon size) in the freezer. That way I have water on hand in case of an emergency and it helps keep things at least cool until the electricity goes back on.

Manuela

Kim said...

That stinks, since it's in the basement can you put a strap around it girth wise as a backup? Something like a big belt that you can tighten. I've heard if you loose power for a day you won't loose food if it's tightly closed.

Chelsea said...

I can so relate to that! We now have a piece of duct tape on the side of the fridge and have to remember to tape the door shut for extra security. The tape has been on there for six months and it's still sticky -- amazing stuff!