# Check your freezers often!



## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Raw feeding tip #87: if you have a chest freezer to keep extra food in...check it every day or so! ](*,)

I keep one bag of bones in the house freezer for use, but leave the rest of it in the garage chest freezer. I went out to get another bag out of the chest freezer and the outlet it was plugged into had randomly stopped working. Looks like everything had thawed and had sat for nearly a week, blech...quite ripe! :-& It was the day after trash day, so I plugged it into a new outlet and let everything refreeze to make the clean up a little less gross. Spent the last 45 minutes cleaning it up since it's the day before trash day. I reached the bottom and some of the bags weren't pulling free because apparently a bag or two had a leak and the refrozen blood had basically cemented some of them to the floor. I'm letting it thaw the rest of the way this evening so I can pull the last bags out for the trash tomorrow. So over 100+ lbs of beef, lamb, bison, goat, pork, and chicken all thrown away... :-({|= 

The only time I had probably smelled something worse (other than in the pathology lab) was when I bought some lamb liver from the farmer's market last summer. One of the packages must have fallen out of the bag and sat in my car trunk in the hot sun for a week. I had no idea where the smell was coming from until I found the rotting liver jammed under my collapsible crate in the trunk. :-o BLECH. :razz:


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

I had a freezer half full of beavers (whole guts and all) decide to die and it was a while before we noticed - :-o
We ended up strapping the lid down really, really tightly and loading it onto the trailer and hauling it waaaaay down wind on the property, unstrapping the lid, gave the freezer a push and peeled out of there in the truck - we had a really good show of vultures for while :-D !


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

I kinda gave scrapping the whole freezer a thought...did you dump the freezer too or just the beavers? 

What also makes me mad at myself was the snake food rats I had bred myself were also lost and I don't currently even have a good breeding female to replace them. And my snake is well over due for her next meal. Ugh, I hate buying pet store rats...


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

Must be going around. I just had to dump about 200 pounds this past weekend....way past even feeding it to the dogs.....3 freezers. 

UGH....the stupid electrician put in GFI outlets, the DUMBASS!!! 

Our main electrician is out there as I type switching them all out. Not to mention I just dropped several hundred ordering food to replace all of the dog food AND our meat!!! THAT makes me want to puke more than opening the freezers doors and finding all that rotten meat.

I cleaned the freezers out then power washed the inside with bleach in the sprayer attachment....so far so good that they don't just wreak like nasty meat.


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## Konnie Hein (Jun 14, 2006)

I had that happen to me once too. My ex and his buddy unplugged our chest freezer to plug in a power tool and forgot to plug the freezer back in. Imagine my surprise when I opened it, expected to feel cool air coming up from it, but instead had warm, stinky air smack me in the face. 

It was vile. I will never forget that smell. My ex couldn't tolerate the smell without puking (wuss), so I ended up cleaning up the entire mess.

I washed it out and bleached the heck out of it. That seemed to get rid of the nasty odor.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Same problem here. One of the "others" in the household unplugged the freezer an I lost a couple hundred pounds of venison. I was not happy!


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

They have audio and visual alarms for freezer failure:

http://www.amazon.com/CDN-Audio-Visual-Freezer-Alarm/dp/B00012K6GA

http://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Controls-THP207-Failure-Flashlight/dp/B000IF8QDK/ref=pd_bxgy_k_text_b


I haven't tried either kind, but it sure seems like a good idea after reading about these horrendous experiences.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Me too! 

My ex had the house during the divorce. The power was off for months. I had a chest freezer 1/2 full of raw diet. Oh it was god-awful.

But even worse....

There was a bag of raw chicken I had been feeding from in the fridge. 8 months later..... and the power being off for several of those months.

Here was a pot of soup. So you can imagine what the raw chicken was like....














:evil:


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Makes me kinda glad to be living in the frozen north where if there is a loss of power, most stuff (in my shed anyway where my freezer is) would likely still be frozen by the time it was discovered. Now you guys have me paranoid. I have about 50 lbs of ground chicken in my shed outside... hmmmmmm


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Anne Vaini said:


>


You must be quite the little cook, was that cream of mushroom ?


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## Anne Jones (Mar 27, 2006)

Now you all have me praying that my old freezer doesn't fail. I always have the bad feeling that if it happens, it will be after I just bring home 100 lbs of meet for the dogs. I try to keep an eye on it & keep the generator at the ready. We lost our power a couple of weeks ago for several days during the bad storm in the northeast....all I had plugged into the generator was the freezer, kitchen frig, 2 sump pumps & 1 light. All I cared about was not loosing the food & not flooding my whole totally fininshed lower level. LOL


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Oh God, Anne, that takes the cake...I swear, that's why no horror movie can shock me any more. Blood, guts, gore are all things you see in vet school. Plus no horror movie can give you that smell. Even the smell of a lot of fresh blood and bodily fluids can be nauseating while the sight itself doesn't really bother me. 

Connie, that's an interesting idea! That's honestly one reason why I'd be a little hesitant to offer either fresh cooked or frozen raw/cooked in any kind of retail setting (either in a pet store or in front of a vet office). You could lose a ton of product and money if the power went out over the weekend and if it didn't come right back on for some reason.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Gerry Grimwood said:


> You must be quite the little cook, was that cream of mushroom ?


Looks like there was some fungus among us even if it didn't start out that way! :-o


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Ewwwwww! :-&

Well, I am sure the dogs would not mind so much, as just recently my guys had a little dead beastie plaything hidden in the backyard for a week or two. They would roll in it occasionaly (the smell was incredible, you can't imagine), but kept it so well hidden that I could not find it. When they finally hauled the thing out to the back steps it was pretty much unrecognisable, my best guess is it used to be a possum... Gosh I sure hope it wasn't anybody's cat... They were pretty heartbroken when I threw it out. :lol:

My freezer is in the front room for this very reason. It went off for 3 days once, but it was packed full and frozen solid, so only some stuff thawed around the edges. No losses. 

I don't mind the thoroughly rotten smell too much. I volunteered at college, making roadkill into museum specimens, so I am immune to all that - it's when the meat is just starting to turn, and still looks ok, but has that sickly sweet smell, that gets to me. Ugh.


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## Michael Wise (Sep 14, 2008)

Connie Sutherland said:


> They have audio and visual alarms for freezer failure:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/CDN-Audio-Visual-Freezer-Alarm/dp/B00012K6GA
> 
> ...


I've lost freezers full in the past, and I feel for you guys having to deal with it now.

My new freezer has an alarm and a digital temp control on the front in big green numbers. I'm still gun shy and keep a thermometer in there and check it often. [-o<


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Anna Kasho said:


> I don't mind the thoroughly rotten smell too much. I volunteered at college, making roadkill into museum specimens, so I am immune to all that - it's when the meat is just starting to turn, and still looks ok, but has that sickly sweet smell, that gets to me. Ugh.


Yeah, that's the smell that was in my freezer... :-&:-&:-& I did a necropsy on an aborted calf fetus with hydrancephalus with a hugely domed misshapen skull with no brain and about two liters of cerebral spinal fluid in its skull about a month ago and as bad as it smelled (and looked, it was FREAKY!!! :-o), it still wasn't quite as bad.


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Anna Kasho said:


> it's when the meat is just starting to turn, and still looks ok, but has that sickly sweet smell, that gets to me. Ugh.


That's funny, I get triple a ribeyes and leave them in the fridge until they get just a tinge of green on the edges, the bbq them rare..that's when they are the best, just like very old cheeze.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Gerry Grimwood said:


> That's funny, I get triple a ribeyes and leave them in the fridge until they get just a tinge of green on the edges, the bbq them rare..that's when they are the best, just like very old cheeze.


Remind me never to eat when you're cooking. :lol:


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Anna Kasho said:


> Remind me never to eat when you're cooking. :lol:


I'm thinking the same. That's really gross. :-$


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

When I moved into this house 3yrs ago I found out there was a lot of halfa$$ wiring added to it. I fixed it all ( I thought) but found out the hard way that the outlet I put my basement freezer on was tied into the basement steps light switch. WTF!!
I must say that I bought this freezer used right after I bought my first house in 1969 and it was 20 yrs old then.
Still going strong but I know it spins the e-meter like a top.


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Nicole Stark said:


> I'm thinking the same. That's really gross. :-$


That's lame, You live in Alaska and have never tried thinly sliced, partially frozen, Caribou liver or fresh Char ?

It's Mcdonalds for you is it :razz:


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Naw, I'd try most anything once but rotten food, veiled by a little flame to burn off the stink doesn't sound all that appetizing.


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

Bob Scott said:


> When I moved into this house 3yrs ago I found out there was a lot of halfa$$ wiring added to it. I fixed it all ( I thought) but found out the hard way that the outlet I put my basement freezer on was tied into the basement steps light switch. WTF!!


I don't think I have ever seen you "say" WTF before.....Thanks Bob, I needed to laugh out loud....only it woke Ash up and now she thinks she needs to go outside.....:mrgreen:


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

LOL that was funny. Reminded me of when I'd catch my grandpa saying those naughty words he used to say only around his friends and after a few beers.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Carol Boche said:


> I don't think I have ever seen you "say" WTF before.....Thanks Bob, I needed to laugh out loud....only it woke Ash up and now she thinks she needs to go outside.....:mrgreen:


I thought up a few new ones when I opened the freezer door. 
Nice old granpa that I am! :twisted:


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Nicole Stark said:


> Naw, I'd try most anything once but rotten food, veiled by a little flame to burn off the stink doesn't sound all that appetizing.


 

It's far from rotten but, I guess you can't talk bbq to someone who's life revovles around pantyhose :lol:


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Oh Gerry, I hope you're not saying women aren't good at BBQing. I live for it! If it's 40 F in January, get those hickory chips soaked and fire up the charcoal cause it's warm enough to grill! :twisted: I even have an photo album on Facebook of a few good meals I've grilled. :-D

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2386135&id=15907030&l=f8e3a0dce5


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Is that what he meant? #-o


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

I hope so...? But grilling is an awesome topic. So I'll stick to that. :smile: Had some good pork chops tonight, but I fast thawed them in cold water in the package instead of leaving them in the refrigerator overnight. Never as good that way. My husband did ask me before I put them on the grill if that was some of the bad meat in the chest freezer... :-$ Just kidding... ;-)


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## Dan Long (Jan 10, 2008)

Gerry Grimwood said:


> You must be quite the little cook, was that cream of mushroom ?


It is now! Wild mushroom!


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## Becky Shilling (Jul 11, 2006)

We have to check our freezer almost daily. This time of year, we get so much wind and thunderstorm activity, it could go out at any time. I have given up on re-setting the timers on everything until the end of June or so! As long as the alarm clock is right, it's all good!


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