Yesterday I vacuum sealed the duck and two of the chickens that were just butchered, then went downstairs to where we keep the chest freezer. The chest freezer is only used for overflow storage and since we barely eat meat in the summer we hardly open it. I just get in it whenever I have something to add to my winter stores.
I opened the lid. This is exactly what I remember thinking "huh. Something smells? That's odd. A freezer shouldn't... Why are those eggs that color? OHHOLYSHIT" Before slamming the lid shut.
The smell is.... Horrifying. I had it open for no more than three seconds and nearly was sick. The freezer had been unplugged at some point. I'm thinking one of us unplugged in order to plug in the de-humidifier. I get so absent minded some times I could see myself doing this. And if I WAS the one who did it, well, that was like three weeks ago. It's July and we don't have central air.
I can't even wrap my head around how upsetting this is. The freezer was mostly empty but I probably lost a couple gallons of homemade stock, the 12 dozen eggs stored for winter and 3 or 4 parted up chickens. That's a lot of time and work wasted. And there is no way to re-stock the lost eggs since the ducks all got killed so we are going to be without eggs.
We're not going to starve but it is just so, so sad.
Then there's the physical mess of it. Hours later, when the stench had finally dissipated, I plugged the freezer back in. If refreezing all of the spoiled products doesn't take care of the smell we are going to rachet strap the freezer shut and call the garbage collection company to get it.
As far as being self-sufficient goes, sometimes it just really feels like an exercise in getting my ass handed to me. Maybe I should just go shop for meat and vegetables and bread at Wal-Mart like everyone else. Why not. There's nothing wrong with that and some times I wonder why I even bother.
Maybe I'll go crazy and pick up some of this while I'm there. Wal-Mart sent me this flier in the mail today. Pretty sure I CAN believe it's not butter.
Has this happened to anyone else? I've read that the smell gets into the insulation of the freezer and just never comes out?
Nah, your freezer should clean up fine. Just chuck all the contents asap, defrost again and wipe down inside with neat vinegar - or diluted bleach - before switching it on again.
ReplyDeleteIt was such a mess we just called it a loss. Ugh.
DeleteI've been devotedly following your blog for a while now (via a mention on Kev Aliti's blog http://www.englishhomestead.com/). Very sorry to hear the news! I wonder if a freezer alarm (~ $20-30) would be a good idea to alert you in the future? Good luck and keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Charles! Thanks for commenting! I can't tell you how many times I thought "oh I should buy a freezer alarm" and then just didn't. My dad has an upright freezer with a built in alarm and that might be in our future. Yep, this whole mess could have been avoided.
DeleteI think I might invest in some of those freezer alarms, I've got three freezers here and a lot of meat stored up in them!
ReplyDeleteDon't give up on it all (I know you won't) but it shows how hard it is to be self sufficient, at least you won't starve, imagine how bad it would have been in the past to discover things gone off that was stored for a long cold winter.
I know, it's not like we're going to starve. Just so frustrating!
Deletethanks for sharing the nice information.
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