Our chest freezer is dying. We’ve known this day would come, as it’s only . . . ummmm . . . at least 40 years old. Yes, that thing is older than I am.
But it was free! And we’ve had it for almost 7 years.
Last night, I opened it up to put a few things in, and noticed that the fish my husband had put in the day before were only partially frozen. It had been over 24 hours and they should have been frozen solid.
So, today we went on the adventure of finding a new freezer, and I wasn’t terribly upset since I’ve been wanting a new one, an upright, for a very long time.
It’s being delivered tomorrow, so we took the rest of the stuff that we “can’t lose” (that didn’t get moved into the fridge-freezer last night) over to a friend’s house. Then we looked down in the depths to see what was there.
One large package of crawfish, special ordered for my husband’s 40th birthday party . . . but no one ate much of it, because it is an acquired taste not yet acquired by most of our friends. Very expensive stuff. He will be 44 this fall.
One package of imitation crab meat, purchased at a grocery store unique to the town where we used to live . . . five years ago.
A package of pork something-or-others, also purchased at aforementioned grocery store from five years ago. We don’t eat much pork, so I’m thinking it was “too good of a deal” to pass up.
2 bags of ice, different kinds. Evidently, we bought a bag of ice for a party, not knowing that we already had a bag from a previous party, and didn’t need either.
Huge package of giant freezer pops purchased as a “moneymaker” at CVS at the end of summer two years ago. Since I bought 4 boxes, I’m now very thankful that I had the wisdom to give the other three away. Not the wisdom to remember to eat the ones I kept . . .
A turkey purchased for really cheap last Thanksgiving, with the noble intention of donating it. Obviously, I’m not that noble.
I’m sure that my new upright freezer will solve all of my “what’s in there?” problems and I’ll never again lose or waste a thing.
Sure.
Sure! :>) What I did when we got our freezer was to purchase some plastic storage tubs that are as close as possible to the size of the shelves. Yes, I lose a little space that way, but it's worth it to be able to pull the tub forward so I can get to what's in the back. I still have a couple of cardboard boxes in there, too, for holding things.
I swear, nothing gut-checks my wasteful tendencies like having to throw out food. "Stuff" can be donated for someone else to use, at least. So I tend to leave it in the freezer (or pantry or whatever) so I don't have to face throwing it out. Yeah, that's a really successful strategy.
You mean everything in your freezer was under 5 years old? I cleaned mine out last week and found things from before I moved into my house too – 17 years ago! In my defense, until I started couponing this last winter, I never really used it. I'd stick a frozen pizza on top & those never last long around here since a way out of cooking is always the most attractive meal plan. I was very proud to not only get rid of anything scary old, but I also purchased some baskets to organize the stuff, AND I defrosted it. You can only guess that had never happened either. But I needed the space the ice was taking up 🙂
Lisa in Hixson
Hahaha! Lisa, we only got the freezer less than 7 years ago, so most likely that pork is around that age as well! I'm sure if we'd had ours for 17 years, I could compete with you!
Lenetta, yes it is incredibly frustrating to throw out food!
(a Nony loving senior) You would be proud of us …our dear friend was moving to a senior assisted apartment with a little tony frig/freezer combo…she called us to come and take some freezer stuff…she was upset because she didn’t want to waste the food from her husbands funeral a week before..and all the nice stuff she had wrapped in foil…I was thrilled at the idea of free food… my better half and I went right over with some boxes and bags…. she started pulling out week old containers of potato salad, and old sandwiches and flat soda…and 6 month old chicken ..nothing was good and as I was about to say I ‘don’t think food last that long …..she was getting so happy empting it…I said Lil I can look on the paper on my frig that says how long to keep freezer and frig stuff…and probably can make some nice soup….she got more excited.. .I said..WE”LL TAKE IT ALL.. and the three of frantically emptied her big freezer/refrigerator…On the way home DH said. .that was different…but do we have any room…I said…I have special place for all these treasures… He laughed as we put it all in our treasure chest…now if the raccons don’t get some the snacks tonight I’m sure tomorrow the trash collectors will enjoy find a good place for this in their big truck….
LOL!!!!!!
I feel like we could be sisters – I really do. You're doing so well you inspire me 🙂
As for that upright freezer enjoy it – I have TWO – and the tub thing doesn't work for me at all – tried again and again – having a checkoff list on the front doesn't work for me . . . having sensible places where like things should gather doesn't work for me either . . .
I think I've finally hit on method I can keep up with though – I have a freezer inventory [both on one sheet] on google docs [so if I forget and remember that I forgot when I'm out I can add it by phone LOL] that I have kept pretty up to date.
1. I like that I can have no sense whatsoever in there and still find what I need – I know I have frozen chicken thighs – but don't see them – because I can only see what's in front . . . ahhh, outside freezer, shelf d! and there they were. Also when I'm meal planning and stuck I just look at my inventory to see what looks like it's been there forever. [I always reorganized the freezer with a grand plan of chicken here, beef there, cooked items there, but it's too much work to keep up with sensibly for ME]
2. I try to put big stuff towards the back – because the little packages of stuff are probably things to get used up first
3. try [so hard! it's SO HARD!] to leave at least one tiny space to fit a cookie sheet so you can flash freeze stuff! [so HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!]
Good luck!
Having an upright freezer will make a world of difference for keeping things in order and knowing what's in there.
This goes back many years, but a friend of mine has a son who was a big time Star Wars fan. She was cleaning out her chest freezer and found a tupperware square in there. She had no idea what was in it, so she let it defrost to look. It was a Han Solo action figure, apparently frozen in carbonite.
It had been in there at least 7 or 8 years, because her son was off to college.
Got any suggestions for shopping for one of those babies? We've been looking for over a year in the estate sale/yard sale circuit for one under a hundred dollars that won't cost as much money to run (because ti's so ancient) as we would save being able to freeze and stock up on food.
Becky in KC
So…the community thingy won't work for me. It won't let me type anything in the reply box. So the strangest thing I've found in my freezer was a baggie of that Amish friendship bread starter or a baggie of shrimp shells. I know I've got one in there now. I used to make shrimp bisque all the time (before diapers and children when we could afford shrimp as a regular protein). I needed to buy them raw so that I could make stock out of the shells. I always ended up with a pound of shrimp's worth more shells than I needed, so I'd freeze them all the time…
Becky, again.
ps still, LOVE your blog!
I have an upright freezer and I still lose things in it. especially the very bottom. But enjoy your freezer
Becky, I'm sorry it isn't working for you. Hmmmm. I'll have to see if I can find anything about that happening to people. I know when I first registered, I had the hardest time getting my picture on there because of the placement of the browse button.
Cherie, I so get your meaning on all the great ideas that just don't work for you. I'm there! As for getting one, we had to spend more than we wanted because we needed it right then. If you're looking for a really old one, you might just ask around. I mentioned it to just a few people at church yesterday morning, and there were two who said, "I think I know someone . . . " Neither panned out, but if you had the time to keep asking, you might come up with something.
Hypnobarb, that is the funniest story, and one I can totally imagine happening in our house!
i defrost mine in the winter. Put everything in clothes baskets in the garage, open it, and let the heat from the wood burner loosen the frost build up in no time.
Hint: it’s easier to use a dustpan to scoop up big pieces of frost/ice than to mop up the entire melted mess.
We needed a replacement chest freezer. Since I was starting over fresh I googled How to organize a chest deep freeze. One idea I used was four insulated grocery bags with handles on one side of the freezer on the bottom. I put all ground beef in one, pork tenderloins in another, steaks in another and frozen corn in another. I used a couple of storage baskets too. I didn’t want the new freezer to ever end up the mess my old one was! Reading your blog regularly for quite a while now has really helped me begin to rewire my slob brain. I thought I was the only one in the whole wide world.
This reminded me about my father complaining about the “new” chest freezer dying. It was 35 years old. They bought before my sister was born.