Challenge: Cook your way through your freezer (part 2)

[SLB]

On 4/18/2019 at 2:46 PM, Shelby said:

 

Then again, how can you ever trust a freezer again after it's betrayed you like mine did?

 

You can't.  Don't do it.  I mean, how could you sleep??? 

 

[<gasp> Shelby, are you one of these people who can do all you do on no sleep?!?  Wait, that's a different thread . . . Becoming Disabled from Not Sleeping Well . . . .]

[Margaret Pilgrim]

On 4/18/2019 at 7:27 AM, Shelby said:

A forced purge happened yesterday. 

 

Shelby, do I ever understand.   We have a weekend place in the country.    Last year we arrived to open the door onto a horrific stench.    Like a dozen rotting corpses.    An electrical problem had left the refrigerator without power for at least a week in 100 degree temps.    We opened every door and window and started hauling unspeakable things out to the "back 40".    Cut to the chase, we totally dismantled the refrigerator.   I mean took it completely apart, washed the insulation, left all parts out in the sun for two days..   Left it disassembled for a month, but it still reeked.     A total loss.

 

New refrigerator now, but we  NEVER leave meat products in the freezer compartment.   

[Shelby]

30 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

Shelby, do I ever understand.   We have a weekend place in the country.    Last year we arrived to open the door onto a horrific stench.    Like a dozen rotting corpses.    An electrical problem had left the refrigerator without power for at least a week in 100 degree temps.    We opened every door and window and started hauling unspeakable things out to the "back 40".    Cut to the chase, we totally dismantled the refrigerator.   I mean took it completely apart, washed the insulation, left all parts out in the sun for two days..   Left it disassembled for a month, but it still reeked.     A total loss.

 

New refrigerator now, but we  NEVER leave meat products in the freezer compartment.   

Oh that is awful!  I'm so sorry you lost all of that.  You sure gave it a good college try by taking the fridge apart.

[gulfporter]

Condolences, @Shelby

We sashay between Mexico and Florida.  Electricity in Mexico can be a crapshoot.  We live in Centro where the restaurants, shops, businesses are, and this usually ensures rare and short power outages.  We do however suffer from "brownouts" where half of our house electricity is "on" while the other is "off."  Oh...and which half is on versus off, changes every time, and even changes during brownouts. We have a closet full of extension cords to handle this when we are home and we also always have  a 10 kilo bag of ice in the freezer part of the fridge. 

 

I keep very little protein in our MXN freezer for these reasons.  Maybe 4 or 5 meals worth of fish/shrimp that during an outage I can grill to feed ourselves and a few neighbors.  Prior to any trip, we  eat our way through our freezer.  Not a scintilla of protein is allowed in there while we are away.  I do the same at the FL house (where the grid is much more stable), however after Hurricane Irma hit us in September 2017, the home was without power for 5 days.  We were away during Irma; and while we have an excellent FL property manager, he was unable to get to our home for 3 days due to road closures.  

 

We are in the better safe than sorry camp. Even those of you without 2nd homes may want to consider eating your way through your freezer before you go on vacation.  

Edited June 7, 2019 by gulfporter (log)

[kayb]

During my recent move, an ice chest full of the contents of my refrigerator freezer inadvertently sat in the garage and didn't get unloaded -- for three days.

 

It was not worth the cost of the ice chest to clean the thing out. I threw the whole mess out.

[ElsieD]

I finally cooked the beef cheeks that had been in my freezer for two years.  It was the first time I had cooked beef cheeks and I would happily do it again.  Now I need to cook the pork cheeks I bought at the same time.

[robirdstx]

Getting down to the nitty gritty! No beef, no poultry, no lamb, no seafood! Determined to use up and refresh all of the proteins. Down to just pork:

 

Tenderloin - out

Roast - 1@4  lb

Ground - 1@1/2 lb

Garlic sausages - 4@2

Breakfast Patties - 2

Pepperoni - 1/3 pkg.

Prosciutto

Longaniza

Pork Butt Meaty Bone - for broth - 2

Hot Italian Sausage - 1@2, 1@3

 

I know that I will purchase and use other proteins before I use up all of the current stock of pork, but my thoughts are that there is no good reason to just keep this food in the freezer. Either use it or dispose of it! So I am going to use it!

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

3 minutes ago, robirdstx said:

Getting down to the nitty gritty! No beef, no poultry, no lamb, no seafood! Determined to use up and refresh all of the proteins. Down to just pork:

 

Tenderloin - out

Roast - 1@4  lb

Ground - 1@1/2 lb

Garlic sausages - 4@2

Breakfast Patties - 2

Pepperoni - 1/3 pkg.

Prosciutto

Longaniza

Pork Butt Meaty Bone - for broth - 2

Hot Italian Sausage - 1@2, 1@3

 

I know that I will purchase and use other proteins before I use up all of the current stock of pork, but my thoughts are that there is no good reason to just keep this food in the freezer. Either use it or dispose of it! So I am going to use it!

 

Reality checks are good.     Let us hear how your treat this bounty.

[kayb]

@robirdstx, is it a shoulder roast/Boston butt? If so, pernil is always a good choice. I have a NYT recipe I swear by....

 

[robirdstx]

59 minutes ago, kayb said:

@robirdstx, is it a shoulder roast/Boston butt? If so, pernil is always a good choice. I have a NYT recipe I swear by....

 

 

Yes! Sounds like something I would like to try. Thanks!

[SLB]

I can't really eat my way through my deep freezer -- it's more of a revolving-door theory, last-in/first-out -- but I was moving the chops up toward the top since it's warming up and that's what I eat during the hot weather, and I found some pork chops from 2016.  

 

So, summer begins.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

11 hours ago, SLB said:

I can't really eat my way through my deep freezer -- it's more of a revolving-door theory, last-in/first-out -- but I was moving the chops up toward the top since it's warming up and that's what I eat during the hot weather, and I found some pork chops from 2016.  

 

So, summer begins.  

 

You label your freezer contents??  Or was this from DNA sequencing and radiocarbon dating?

 

[SLB]

omg, LABEL!  I am CHEAP!

[liuzhou]

I  am delighted to officially announce that as of today, both my freezers are totally empty apart from air. Ditto fridges.

I have decided to adopt the Chinese model and only have fridges to show I can afford a fridge - or even two. And adopt the Chinese freezer policy and pretend I don't know what they're for.

Edited September 8, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[ElsieD]

Well, it's that time again.  Today I am going to try and put some order in my stand-up freezer.  No doubt some stuff will get turfed, I'll neatly group like items together, make a list of what is in there, and try to keep it that way for, oh, I don't know, a week?  I will then start cooking what's in there.   I'm planning on doing the same with my fridge freezer, but maybe not today.  We'll see.  

[Shelby]

3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Well, it's that time again.  Today I am going to try and put some order in my stand-up freezer.  No doubt some stuff will get turfed, I'll neatly group like items together, make a list of what is in there, and try to keep it that way for, oh, I don't know, a week?  I will then start cooking what's in there.   I'm planning on doing the same with my fridge freezer, but maybe not today.  We'll see.  

 

 

😳

 

This is what mine looks like after I've organized.  I think you should wait until it's a lot worse.

[ElsieD]

16 minutes ago, Shelby said:

 

 

😳

 

This is what mine looks like after I've organized.  I think you should wait until it's a lot worse.

 

😄😁😁

[suzilightning]

When putting some packs of chicken thighs into the poultry bin I noticed a container of ground turkey - OOPS!!!

Thawed out and decided to make a meatloaf.   Just binned it - I still have no sense of smell but the bit I tasted leads me to believe it was freezer burned.  Oh, well.

[Okanagancook]

It really makes the freezer more efficient when the air pathways are not blocked off.  

If my upright gets jammed up, I transfer food to the chest freezer.

😍

 

tonight’s dinner is mostly from the freezers...lamb chops, chive butter, bacon, sous vide baby onions and roasted mixed mushrooms.  Baked potato being cooked and some sautéed snap peas.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Okanagancook (log)

[Smithy]

From the badly-stuffed freezer: 4 boneless/skinless chicken thighs, a bag of oven-dried tomatoes that had originally been packed in oil (the mess in the fridge was horrid when it leaked), and a pint of chicken broth. The dish was assisted by 2 crowns of broccoli from the refrigerator, rice from the pantry and basil rescued from my ailing, now decapitated deck plant. In retrospect ginger would have been a nice addition; that's also in the freezer.

 

 

Who else is trying to work through, or at least turn over, the contents of their freezers now that the holidays are over?

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'd just be happy if I could defrost mine.

 

[chromedome]

6 hours ago, Smithy said:

Who else is trying to work through, or at least turn over, the contents of their freezers now that the holidays are over?

 

 

 

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I'd just be happy if I could defrost mine.

 

 

This guy, and ditto.

[lindag]

8 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I'd just be happy if I could defrost mine.

 

Me too.  I have two that are bulging.  The task of emptying and defrosting them is simply beyond me without help.

I can't find anything because they're so full.  As I see it I have two options:

One is to simply take everything out and toss it.

Two is to buy a new upright that is frost-free and load what I want to save into that and then eliminate one of the others.

Tell me I'm crazy.

[ElsieD]

I have been trying to eat my way through the freezer since mid November.  It is still stuffed although I did re-organize it which lasted about 3 days because I still can't find anything, at least not readily.  Even worse, my next door neighbour has moved and her condo is forsale.  I now have stuff in her freezer.😱

[Okanagancook]

I am pleased to report that we are delving into the freezers everyday.  Made several crisps from the fruit in the freezer...yes it went back in but at least easy to grab a crisp and chuck it into the CSO for 20 minutes to cook......eaten three already.

The sauces and marinades in the upstairs fridge are now getting my attention.  All really tasty stuff but I forget it's there.   Need to look at my "carefully maintained inventory" (this is the key to this whole process)....got some Jerk sauce for my fresh port tenderloin along with some spiced West Indies peas and rice (peas from freezer).

  We are working on the soups and other prepared meals...a fresh meal thrown in every two days.  The other thing I have been doing is not going into the 'meat' section of the grocery store....stuff will always come on sale..no real need to stock at the moment.