I am so mad, I could spit!!

[cityfarmer]

That is to bad.

 

[ninnymary]

Now I'm really worried. I just bought a freezer off of craigslist. I know that some people prefer to can to eliminate having this problem. But I don't want to get into pressure canning. :/

Mary

 

[catjac1975]

I bought a freezer from my sister that came with her house 35 years ago. It is not frost free so needs to be emptied every couple of years. It has never failed. I don't think newer ones last as long. A warning alarm seems like a good idea.

 

[desertlady]

I hate that too ! last ,month my freezer went out too. I threw out over 300.00 worth of meats ! I was so upset !

 

[canesisters]

Oh Lesa, that is terribly disappointing. I have had a freezer go kaput too. The replacement I bought has a battery powered alarm that beeps if the power should go off.

I have a friend who has a light mounted outside his garage (where the freezer is) that is wired into the same circut as the freezer. If the light is out, the freezer is off.
... 'course, I don't suppose that would help any of the freezer itself died...

So sorry for all your hard work lesa. Are you sure it can't be re-frozen?
BTW, my chickens LOVE frozen corn on a hot day.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I'm sorry lesa. That is so dissapointing. I am thankful that at least you can turn what normally be lost into chicken food at least. Definately not the same as you eating. I understand.

 

[so lucky]

I am so sorry, lesa. I feel your pain. Power failure is such a big worry for us when we use the freezer for food storage. I use one, too, and worry about power outtages in the summer. We have so many around here. People who are concerned about a SHTF situation eventually go to canning and dehydration, just for this very reason. I am trying to go in that direction, but I have a long way to go. And I will never be convinced that canned peaches are as yummy as frozen peaches, with ice crystals still in them. OH! I need some NOW!

 

[ducks4you]

lesa, Check with your local energy company. Ours is paying $50/freezer to pick it up, if it works. See if you can get it to run at all. Also, there's a guy 20 miles from me who charges a small fee to pick up machines to recycle. He removes the engines and takes the rest to recycle. I'll bet somebody close to you does this, too.
SOOO sorry. I had another old freezer (free, from a family member) that gave up the ghost on me a couple of years ago. WHAT a mess to clean up, but I used a portable water pump to drain the liquid out, then dried it an used bleach to make my garage tolerable.
SO SORRY for the loss of all of that work.

 

[lesa]

Thanks guys! I am definitely getting that freezer alarm. I didn't know such a thing existed- thanks for sharing that! I checked with a NY state website about safe food temps- and they say as long as the corn hasn't become warmer than 45 degrees you can refreeze. Some of the bags were still mostly frozen- I went ahead and refroze them. So in the end, the loss was not as great as I imagined. I can tell you it was with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, when I saw those bags in the front unfrozen! A dozen bags of sausage from our pig, got defrosted. So, tomorrow I am going to cook it all up- and then refreeze it. Couple packages of pork chops thawed too. We ate some tonight - and I guess we will have the other pack tomorrow. Thank goodness we had already consumed most of our meat. All in all, it could have been much worse. Thanks again for the support!

 

[seedcrazy]

So glad it wasn't as bad as you originally felt it was. Mine went out last year, I lost SO much and just stood and cried at all the work that went into all that. It was hot inside by the time I realized it. So glad you caught yours in time to refreeze some stuff at least.