Well, today the inevitable happened...
One of those things that everyone knows can happen and prays it doesn’t. Well, it did...
With my second batch of tomato sauce today (after 2 batches yesterday) in the waterbath canner, I turned to the urgent need to blanch and freeze corn as I didn’t really feel like getting into canning that late in the day.
Only picked enough corn to make about 2 blanchers full - 4 full quart bags, and after they were safely put into the ziplock freezer bags, I went to put them into the freezer...
I have been working for about a week at processing leftovers from the freezer a bit at a time, and was about a third of the way through, and as I put the newly bagged corn in, there was a drip drip from the lid. Checking closely, I determined that the unit had quit about 3-4 hours ago. No harm done to any of the food, but the following hours would be make or break.
I separated the venison roasts and some of the steaks and put them in the regular part of our second refrigerator, cleared out the top freezer and put what was there in the upright side by side in the kitchen. Then those vegetables that either don’t can well - broccoli, squash, etc. were put into the second freezer, along with the venison steaks and ground venison, and the peas, limas, string beans, etc from where there was not enough room in the canner, so I froze the leftovers.
Now the freezer is down to a few scraps that will be thrown out 1999 piece of meat that every year I think I might use for dog food or something, and about 40 GALLONS (in zip lock bags) of frozen goats milk. It has got to be 9 years old, and the only thing I use it for is to add to the chicken feed, but I still had that much left. (OK, so I am a packrat.)
Now I am down to two whole huge chickens to cook and pick and can tomorrow and at least one whole 24 qt. pot of venison that I will cook,cut from the bone and dehydrate or maybe can (but probably dehydrate as it worked so well)
So, by tomorrow night, I will have everything empty, the chickens will have a feast with the milk (and the flies that it attracts and they eat), I should have many quart jars of dehydrated venison in cubes and slices, and should have a case and a half of chicken canned, and the freezer will be EMPTY!
Then I can move it out so I can get to the back and the right bottom so I can put my meter on to check the thermostat, overload switch, capacitor and comptrssor. Since the compressor is not running, I am assuming it is going to be in either the thermostat or the overload switch with possibly the capacitor as the last choice. Then I will have time to order the parts (2-4 weeks on some of them)
I am just so glad that I had already started going through and processing the food in more stable storage and only had this little bit left. Fixing it could be a $14 capacitor, a $26 overload protection relay or possibly the $92 thermostat and coil. If it is the compressor, forget it! @ $289 that is getting too close to the price I paid for it about 15 years ago when the old 25 year old one went out.
So, moral is that when you least expect it, you may have to pull that evacuation of the main freezer, so think through what you are going to do with what - makes the recovery process much easier and smoother (but just as tiring)
Losses are some old freezer burnt bread, and a half dozen small packages of leftover mystery meat which were gladly fed to the dogs after cooking.
Good fortune was to catch it so soon after it quit. Everything was still solidly frozen.
Well, now it looks like I will have to double up Saturday and Sunday to get the corn done and keep up with the tomatoes and peppers. Speaking of peppers, I will can some as there is no room for frozen ones anymore till I get the freezer fixed or replaced.
All done without having to resort to dry ice too. :^)
Well, now to fall in bed and get cracking early tomorrow.
Hope none of you suffer the same fate with your freezers! EVER!
Been there and done that, except we did not discover it until too late, for it was outside the house and not gone into each day, lost all the beef and pork we had grown, before we moved up here.
Mary would take all that milk, pour it in a shallow trough and let the Mesquite beans and leaves fall in it as it evaporated, she would have a black mess left that the hogs and chickens loved and she shared her last with me, so I know how well it worked.
If I were doing it, I would use alfalfa hay, you could put a screen over it for the flies.
I am glad that you caught it in time, it is heart breaking to loose food.
No, we won’t comment on the fact that I still have a pound or two of Mary’s dates in mine, they were frozen in 1965 and 5 years ago, were still good, for I ate them then.
I would never want to depend on a freezer today, for the jihadi know how to hack the electric system and shut it down.
I hope you can have it running in short order.
How the heck to you have time to work too, DW? ;)
I’m trying to free myself from my attachment to my freezer by learning how to can. However, since you are my canning mentor, the fact that you use your freezer means I can never be completely free of my freezer dependence!
I’ve had a freezer go out twice now - and the resultant chaos and food loss was enough to make me try to quit filling the freezer up so much!
Unfortunately, it did happen to us about ten years ago... didn't realize it died for about 2 weeks... ugh!
How awful to have your freezer go out while you are so busy harvesting. I’m glad to hear it’s something you can probably fix. Also glad you were able to process/find alternate storage for most of the stuff. It’s a good thing you discovered it early.
I had a huge fly in the ointment too.. Grateful that the freezer was able to provide my rescue.
22 inches of rain in my basement from a flash flood and garden cranking stuff.
I just shoved everything in the freezer and got back to flood recovery.