A tale of a chest freezer and geese that goosed
6 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (11)
6 years ago
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Should I get a chest freezer?
Comments (67)I've had chest freezers for most of my life and never had any issues with finding food (nor do I hate a chest freezer). I use boxes to organize my frozen veggies (one box per type). I have sections for meat and other frozen stuff. I use baskets for butter and stock. Anything else is labeled with a marker. I rotate the contents with each shopping trip (quarterly or so) or when I make stock/soup/chili etc. I've never lost anything nor have I had mystery product. I also put bottled water in there for storage and to fill up space. I defrost once a year, usually in the fall or early winter. Everyone is entitled to their personal opinion and should use what works best. If you are planning on long term storage, a manual defrost is the best option. The frost free (or self defrosting) units cycle heat to keep frost from building up inside. That seriously diminishes the life of any product you store in the freezer. In terms of size, go with larger. In terms of brands, well, that's personal opinion. You can buy the same products pretty much any where. That's personal preference too. The freezer we had when I was a kid conked out at 40 years old. In the past 22 years, I've had two. The current one is about 10 years old and has spent it's life mostly in an unheated garage (in TN). Having said that, note that manufacturing of appliances has gone the way of everything lately; seems like they are disposable and it's cheaper to replace than fix. Stick with a brand name you're comfortable with and purchase from a store you feel good about. Just keep dead bodies out of there....See Morelow-end people?
Comments (46)OGRose, our backyard neighborlady turned 80 last month. She lives by herself and every Monday cuts her really big yard with a push (gas) lawnmower. She has a wonderful garden, goes for a walk each morning with another neighborlady, and is the best neighbor I've ever had. She doesn't want to leave her home, built by herself and her departed hubby back in 1950. I think gardening is a great way to keep active and having a reason to get up every morning. I would not want to give that up either. Currently I am adding hosta to my garden, and they take about 5 or 6 years to mature. I hope I am able to remember what it was I planted if I'm still around in 6 or so years, because I dearly love these plants. I'm assuming the retirement community will allow a little genteel gardening in personal space? Balcony or patio?...See Moreneed help with British terms
Comments (61)Vee, until I went to live in England, I had never heard of, much less eaten, most of the fish you listed, with the exception of cod. Iowa is about as far from any sea as one could get in North America, so when Iowans had fresh fish when I was a kid it was freshwater kinds caught in local lakes and rivers. Otherwise, we had to depend on either canned fish/seafood or frozen kinds, such as cod. My Norwegian great-grandmother carried on the tradition of preparing lutefisk from dried cod (or some other whitefish). It was soaked for days in several changes of water to remove the salt, and then soaked in a lye solution for a couple of days, and finally soaked again in water to remove the lye. Only then was it cooked, either steamed or fried. Most of her descendants were less enamored with lutefisk than she was (it stank to high heaven and had a gelatinous texture that most disliked). Still, we ate it, mostly not to hurt her feelings and secondly just to carry on the tradition. I've had lutefisk prepared by other cooks, including Norwegians on a seismic vessel in the Chukchi Sea, that tasted better than great-grandmother's, so perhaps she wasn't very good at making lutefisk, which is not surprising because she wasn't known for good cooking of any sort. Fridays were 'fish days' in our school cafeteria, too; I guess in respect of Catholic students. You will probably laugh at what we were served: frozen breaded fish sticks, served with ketchup or tartar sauce and, for some reason, macaroni and cheese; tuna-noodle casserole with crushed potato chips (crisps) as topping; tuna salad sandwiches or pimiento cheese as alternative for those who couldn't stomach the tuna; and 'fishburgers', breaded fillets on hamburger buns, dressed with lettuce, mayonnaise and sweet gherkin relish. Garrison Keillor in his Prairie Home Companion radio show poked fun at the ubiquity of tuna-noodle casserole in the American Midwest. A 'fish dinner' that my family particularly liked was our mother's fried salmon patties or croquettes, always served with 'English peas' and potato chunks creamed together in one of those white sauces you referred to. I recall mama's white roux being very tasty but I know what you mean about the insipid ones and all those overcooked vegetables (not mama's). Another thing about the canned salmon that mama used to make her patties: My brothers and I thought it was disgusting because it was canned with the skin and bones included. Mama had us pick out those things. One day my brother decided to taste a bone and talked me into trying one, too. From that day we were dedicated salmon pickers and bone eaters, because the canning process had rendered the bones soft enough to chew with a very pleasant crunchiness. I'm sure other people have known this for a long time, but it was a revelation to us. Since adulthood I have loved fish and seafood of all sorts....See MoreFoie gras
Comments (65)LOL, sleevendog, I like that. I do occasionally eat tongue, we used to have it for sandwiches. It was a bit disconcerting, though, to open the refrigerator door and see a big cow tongue, whole and chilled on a plate. I usually save them now for Peppi, because her Dad is very fond of them, whereas we usually just add them to sausage. jakkom, I'm going to find that book! suzieque, I was not trying to insult or ridicule you. I only pointed out that if food was not spoiled when it was frozen it would be still safe, as long as it remains frozen, for years, decades even. It just won't taste good anymore. The USDA agrees with me, so that's not just my opinion. I wasn't even thinking of your post when I laughed at 2manydiversions, it just tickled my funny bone, thinking of grown people rolling around in the herb garden. Still does. (snicker) And, in other news, we had the wings for supper tonight. I baked them, Elery gamely took a bite and said they tasted fine. He did seem somewhat surprised. I sauced them and he and the dogs had them for supper. I'm not a fan of wings since I don't like chicken skin, so I let them have them. 8 chicken wings isn't really all that much to eat for a man and two dogs. And a big thank you to my good friend Peppi, who encouraged me to wrap the chicken in produce bags before I vacuum sealed it, to keep the liquid from interfering with the seal. It stayed nicely sealed and I think the double wrap helped keep it from being freezer burned. Annie...See More- 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
6 years ago
6 years ago
Related Stories
KITCHEN DESIGN7 Steps to Pantry Perfection
Learn from one homeowner’s plan to reorganize her pantry for real life
Full Story
MOST POPULAR10 Things Clean Freaks Know to Be True
Are you completely committed to domestic cleanliness? Then you may recognize some of these spotless truths
Full Story
annie1992