Mum turned off the Freezer by Mistake
By GreenMoo
@GreenMoo (11833)
August 25, 2011 3:02am CST
I had a friend show up last night with a couple of bags full of food to pass on. She knows that we normally have lots of mouths to feed here and could make good use of it.
The reason she had so much food needing eating up is because her Mum had turned off her chest freezer by mistake. She hadn't discovered the mistake for several hours, by which time it was too late to refreeze most of the food.
Has this ever happened to you? Did you lose allot of food?
My friend is furious with her mother, and wondering whether this is a sign of dementia creeping up as her mother seems totally unaware of the waste involved. It's also not something that's easy to do by mistake, as the plug is tucked in behind the freezer itself.
How would you feel if someone made this mistake in your house? How can she stop it from happening again?
I'm enjoying my extra bounty, but I do feel very sorry for my friend as the things which she has had to give away include lots of home cooked delicious things which she will have to remake.
3 people like this
10 responses
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
26 Aug 11
I am sure that living where you do that a freezer failure is a minor catastrophe. At least she has you to help her out. I have had several freezers fail over the years, one was full of fish! You can imagine the scene as 50 odd whole trout thawed and began to stink! We did without a freezer after that for a few years but inherited a small one from an aunt which we ensure doen't get overfilled. But as of yet nobody has switched it off accidentaly. I did turn off the fridge by mistake when we went to Singapore a few years ago. That made for an interesting return!!
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
26 Aug 11
I was an obsessive fly fisherman. I never caught any flies... but I was quite good at catching trout! I fished most evenings (we live 5 minutes from the river) and brought them home to eat. Trouble was that I am the fish eater in the family and even I can only manage so many. I sued to swap them for pheasant with a friend that shot. That was a good deal because 4 triut equalled on brace of pheasant and there's a lot more meat on one of them!
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16789)
• China
26 Aug 11
Now that the plug is tucked in behind the freezer itself ,why should the old lady took the trouble to turn off it? for economizing on electricity?or just as what her daughter said ,she has probably suffered from senile dementia(Alzheimer's disease).If the latter,they will have to keep an eye on her from now on,because nobody knows what she will do next.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16789)
• China
27 Aug 11
Some people who get Alzheimer's disease could get lost even do not know their loved ones.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (47670)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
26 Aug 11
Well, as I've stated in another post, I've been without power for two days...
I haven't checked stuff in the freezer yet, but I kept it closed (except for briefly yesterday afternoon when I pulled out the ice cream). I don't think anything will be too bad, though. It's all mostly veggies.
1 person likes this
@163Mandolingirl (1052)
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27 Aug 11
We are told here in the UK that freezer-food will only maintain a safe temperature for 24 hours if the power goes off, as long as the door remains closed. I certainly wouldn't risk leaving the food any longer!
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
25 Aug 11
Yeah my kids used to do that to me a lot. Luckily I'd usually notice fairly quickly and just plug it back in and the food would still be fine. I hardly ever use my chest freezer anymore now, so there's really nothing in there right now that would be devestating if we lost it, but I used to be able to shop for a month's worth of groceries so I'd have it full of meats.
1 person likes this
@sender621 (14893)
• United States
25 Aug 11
I have only had a chest freezer issue twice in my life. Once we had a power outtage from a storm that last nearly three days. The electric company was supposed to reimburse for the cost of lost food but of course they never did. Last thanksgiving was another issue. An electric knife was plugged into the same outlet as my freezer. someone accidentally unplugged the freezer instead of the knife. fortunately this was caught in time before i lost another freezer full of food.1 person likes this
@163Mandolingirl (1052)
•
27 Aug 11
I was reimbursed for the spoiled food by my insurance company when my freezer turned into
The Bahamas one morning! The thermostat broke down twice in one year!
@bounce58 (17385)
• Canada
26 Aug 11
For the longest time, I've been thinking of getting a freezer and maybe putting it in the garage. I think I would save money in groceries if I bought in bulk and just stuff in the freezer. Then maybe I could schedule the grocery shopping to once a month.
But I do see the downside from your post. If we did loose power, I could see a lot of food getting wasted.
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
25 Aug 11
Your Friend may be right in her suspicions about Her Mum's condition,if after turning off the freezer,it appears She still doesn't realise the importance of what happened.. Just in case it's something treatable,though,She should get checked out by her Doctor ASAP..Hopefully something can be done for Her..
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
25 Aug 11
I have never had a freezer with the exception of what's on top of my refridge...so it hasn't happened to me. However once the lights went out. We had an ice storm and were without power for 4 days....I had just bought groceries...and I still had a gas stove....so we ate very good during that time!
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
25 Aug 11
That must be frustrating for your friend. Her mother must be going through something in her mind, maybe a form of dementia that affects her memory and judgement. Is the freezer chest in a separate room, like a utility room? If so, perhaps your friend can padlock the room to prevent her mother from accessing it. Whatever she does, she should get her mom to the doctor for a checkup.
I have never had a problem re-freezing things. Everything that thawed out during electrical outages, if they hadn't been thawed for long and were kept cold, froze again just fine and tasted fine, too, when it was cooked. I think the exception would be seafood, which can be quite dangerous when not kept consistently at the correct temperatures.
1 person likes this
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
25 Aug 11
I think this stuff was too far gone to be refrozen as it was almost all 'high risk' foods, but I'm not complaining as it was delicious!
I think your idea of locking the utility room is a superb one, though I believe she's managed to locate a freezer alarm which will sound if the temperature starts to drop for whatever reason.
1 person likes this
@163Mandolingirl (1052)
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25 Aug 11
When my dear Mum was very ill, unknown to me at that point, she forgot to close the freezer-door overnight. We spent the entire next day cooking everything we could and re-freezing dozens of meals! Another time, she forgot to lock the back door overnight. I did think at the time that she was starting to lose it but later, sadly, discovered that she had long before that developed a slow growing cancer, that had finally reached her brain. Later, she unplugged the phone on the very day I told her I would be calling, as I was travelling and had left her for the day. It was a very frustrating time but I wish I had taken her to the doctor to get everything checked out sooner. (She passed five months later.)
Maybe your friend should do likewise.
