Yesterday morning, I went downstairs to the basement and there was a puddle of blood on the cement (the basement is unfinished, thank goodness). The freezer had been accidentally turned off for a week. Everything was spoiled.
It was a full freezer because my brother-in-law and his wife are in between houses (their old house closes this week, their new house closes in October) and we were storing all their food, mostly costly meat.
Were, because all of it is spoiled. Compost. The frugal gal in me shudders.
There are a few lessons coming out of this.
1) I have a wonderful husband.
An elderly woman in a senior citizen residence once told me that every 'disaster' a couple survives together tightens the bond. We each had our little freak out and got over it. No blame (regret though). No pointing fingers. No anger. Simply a shrug and a roll up of sleeves as we cleaned up (the hubby mopped).
2) There is a risk in doing favors.
Most of the food spoiled belonged to my brother-in-law and his wife. We tried to do a good thing by lending them our freezer space. It turned out not-so-good. They didn't say anything to us but I'm sure they said a few choice things to each other (I feel terrible about it).
3) As with my investments, I should check on the freezer more often.
I don't cook all that often so I didn't notice the freezer was off until the food was spoiled. If I had checked early, we could have saved some food.
4)Canned goods beat freezer food.
I have yet to have canned goods spoil (I never store bent cans for long, eating their contents right away). Every few years, some 'disaster' happens to my freezer contents.