The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: cameldairy on October 04, 2009, 06:28:49 pm
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Ok, this morning I had decided on making a new recipe for pork chops. I had seen it in a magazine. It sounded so yummy, it's made with blackberries and soy sauce. Anyway, I told my hubby what I had planned and (because our two freezers are located out in the garage) he warned me that he thought a rat or something must be dead around there because of a bad smell. I didn't think much of this because this happens a lot with all the rat traps he has set. ::) So off I go to pull out some frozen chops for our dinner and DAMN, I opened up the bigger of the two freezers and I found out EXACTLY what was smelling so bad!!! :o >:( :'( :cow: :chook: :pig: It was all the frozen food in the freezer!!! The whole lot of it had thawed out and started to rot because the freezer had died! I haven't been cooking so much lately because my hubby has been out of town, and when I did, I was using food from the other freezer and hadn't noticed that one not working because I hadn't opened it in the last week or two. I couldn't hear it not running cause the other one which sits right next to it, makes such noise. I feel so bad, I had about 100 pounds of meat in there, 30 pounds of crab legs, plus corn and apples and a whole bunch more stuff. My hubby said, "well, it was over 20 years old". (the freezer, not the food) ;) I still feel bad.
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Have you got contents insurance for your house? sometimes people add on stuff in freezers and sheds etc, if not just prtend you both ate it all!!!! I know it's a horrid waste and now I shall keep an eye out as I have 2 freezers in the garage, one of them is very old but I usualy go into them fairly often. Theres always something going wrong here too!! :bouquet:
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I asked my hubby about the insurance covering this and he said he'd learned his lesson the hard way on turning in claims of this relatively low amount. That even after he pays the $1000. deductible, the insurance company will go up on your rates really bad. He said he would only turn in a claim if we had a catastrophic claim.
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I can understand that, I claimed for a burn in the carpet once and my insurance went up so it wasn't worth such a Small claim!!
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I have never had that experience and if my insurance company tries that one I switch companies. You still have to tell them about the claim but you will always find a cheaper one and you can also go back to the original one and tell them you have a better price and will they match it - quite often they do, because especially just now they are all fighting for the same contracts.
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Sorry about you losing all that food. I had a very large chest freezer, and that packed up......I was so grateful it was below half full of food. We sometimes do not realise how much moneysworth of food is in a freezer, until something goes wrong.
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I remember a money advice programme and they said buying loads of food is a poor use of your money, I can see what they mean but sometimes you get some good offers!!
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Can you remember why they said that? I buy things when they are on special offer too and freeze them that day. I can't see how that is poor use of my money?
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It made perfect sense at the time, the basics being the money is better being saved (forget the crash) or used for other things, I suppose some people stock thier food up and buy other things on credit cards, it makes more sense not to stockpile. I only have the fruit I picked, bread so I have enough for guests and other breakfast stuff pluss of course some meat and veg and any other things I have frozen.....I do not remember facts but the programme made a lot of sense
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ALL the meat (except the crab) was meat I had raised, not purchased, as well as the vegetables and fruit. :(
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That is devastating. Are you able to dig a big hole to dispose of it all or is it a case of going down to the tip?
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A smallholders nightmare. You must feel terrible. I found our freezer door open once, but luckily it must have been for a short while and nothing defrosted. But my heart skipped a beat at the thought of all that waste.
memo to self: check the freezers every time you pass them.
I do sometimes buy special offer food and freeze it. sometimes I discover it hiding in the freezer amongst the ufos ( unidentified frozen objects, ie cuts of meat where the label has rubbed off, and are frozen into unrecognisable shapes), and sometimes they don't get eaten in time, so it can be wasteful.
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It's horrible for you. My freezers are jam packed and we keep having power cuts! Once a month we have a dinner that is called "surprise Parcel". If I can guess what the knobbly parcel is then I can plan around it , but...I have had some spectacular failures!
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:'(loosing home grown stuff much more upsetting!!!! I keep checing mine also but only breakfast stuff and a few bits of meat...mind you, loads of stray sausages and peas at the bottom!!
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frezer amnesty weekend?
liberate all the trapped wonders hidden in our freezers.
bin the nasties and make things with the old but still edibles.
feast on forgotten cuts of meat.
free up space, and save a bit of power.
I guess thats me sorted this weekend.
except during day light hours, when I have to do chores. ;)
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I learnt my lesson some years ago when we had a robbery adn tehy were chased and dumped all,our food over a wall. the Police very kindly rought it back but as a lot of it wasn't labelled I couldn't really use it - I cooked loads of stuff and refroze it - well marked and dated, and labelled - DOGS!!!
So now I have labels and dates on all my stuff that can't come off easily.
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(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Nature/winter-015.gif)brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, we will all have frost bite, I'm sure all that I will get are bits of bread, peas and loads of different types of sausage that escaped thier bags!!(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Nature/snow.gif)