It will be a long time before I'll be able to eat another hamburger

Remember that I said we were going to use our economic stimulus check to buy a 1/4 of a cow from a local farm that specializes in hormone-free grass-fed beef? I was so excited to tell you about the great deal we got on this and how we found a freezer to store it in for a steal off of Craigslist.

However, that was not to be.

Oh, we bought the meat alright--all $614 worth of it. And we bought the freezer, too. We were thrilled with the whole experience and were looking forward to lots of great hamburgers and roasts and steaks over the next number of months.

We didn't get a chance to eat any before we went on vacation, but I couldn't wait to get back and get cooking. I had visions of all these various dishes I could make and all the great grilling we could do. Since we've cut back on our meat consumption for years in an effort to keep our grocery budget low, this high-quality meat was going to be a real treat.

We arrived home from our week-long excursion to Arkansas refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to get back to real-life. As we were unpacking our bags, I went to throw something into the recycle bin in the garage.

I noticed a somewhat-strange smell when I opened the garage door and went to investigate.

You guessed what it was... our whole entire freezer full of meat was off and completely thawed! Not only that but it was room temperature and wreaked of spoiling meat!

Apparently, it rained while we were gone and the electric outlet our freezer was plugged into was shut off as a safety mechanism. (We didn't know that our garage outlet did this or we sure as ever wouldn't have hooked our freezer full of meat up to it!)

Gratefully, since we had just purchased the freezer, it wasn't also full of other things, too. Had it been a few weeks later, I very likely could have had it full to the brim with food in addition to the meat. It was still quite a big disappointment, though, not to mention being disgusting.

I'll spare you the details, but let's just say it will be a very long time before I'll be able to eat another hamburger again. So much for our bright idea of buying meat in bulk.

Note: It looks like we're going to be able to recoup about $140 from our renter's insurance, but since our deductible is $500, that's all the recourse we've been able to drum up. Oh well, at least it was our economic stimulus check and not money we'd worked hard to set aside for this purchase.

Comments

[FoxFire]

Oh...I hate it when that kind of stuff happens!!! So sorry to hear that!

[Lynn]

It is very common for garage outlets to be like this. I think it is a code thing. In the houses we have lived in my husband always changed the outlet out after we bought the house and before we plugged the freezer in. Since you rent this may not be in option. Sorry about the meat. That is too bad. I had a freezer go out that was full of food one time. It happened in the middle of the summer and even though I found it pretty quick we lost most everything becaue it was so hot in the garage. I guess freezers can be a huge help but also occasionally when things go wrong,they can be a headache.

[Karen]

I am SO sorry to hear about this! Are you still going to use the freezer when this is all over? I was thinking that maybe you could have the outlet re-wired, or maybe another outlet nearby doesn't function in that way.

How do you dispose of all that meat, anyway?

[Kimberly]

The same thing happened to my parents. They had a HUGE freezer for holding extra meats, veggies, fish, etc. and it was in our out-building. During a thunderstorm, the building's power went out, but the power in the house did not. So we went WEEKS without knowing; all the while the meat was out there rotting in the hot SC-in-July heat. Needless to say, I know exactly what you are going through...right down to the smell. I'll see what I can find out from my parents and try to email you some tips of getting rid of the stink. What a "rotten" way to come home from vacation!

[Nancy]

Crystal, I just wanted to cry when I read your post. It is SOOOOOOO disappointing when stuff like that happens.

Blessings,
Nancy

[Renee]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this. How frustrating and disappointing. I've always been somewhat nervous that something similar will happen to us with our extra freezer, especially when I've just stocked it with pricey items.

[Catherine]

OH CRYSTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so sorry! I can't even imagine how frustrating that is, and I hate that you didn't get to enjoy your special beef! That is just terrible, I'm really sorry.

[Sandra]

Oh no! How sad! All that expense and work getting the meat and freezer! Hope you find lots of chicken on sale! :)

[anna]

I can smell it now. So sorry to hear that. Renters/homeowners insurance is great it is just a shame you can not recoup more.

[Trixie]

Oh Crystal!

I am so sorry this happened. What a giant disappointment.

Trixie

[Donielle @ Raising Peanuts]

What an absolute bummer! I've just ordered some beef myself and plan on having it in the garage, I better make sure nothing like that can happen!

How are you disposing of all that meat? I'm sure your garbage guys are gonna love you!

[Lisa]

I am so sorry! That is so heartbreaking. We just went this weekend and got a whole hog, so I know the excitement you had. I will be posting about my trip to my sister's farm on my blog soon. I love your blog. It has really helped me and my family so much. Thanks for all you do.

[April]

I so worried about something like this when you said you were going on vacation right after hooking up the new freezer and picking up the meat! I'm not even kidding. I can't believe it actually happened though, what a bummer!

[A Frugal Housewife - Jody]

That is awful. We had a huge storm last week and thousands of people have been without power for almost a week. Most of those lost so much meat.

Maybe if you call the meat company and explain they might give you a good deal on purchasing more. Not that it sounds enticing at the moment.

[Michelle]

This has happened to me three times. It is a heart breaking experience!!!

[Kim]

Crystal - the stimulus check might have something you didn't count on having, but it IS your hard earned money being returned to you. Not a bonus or gift from the government, but YOUR money paid in taxes.

Sorry you lost your freezer though. Hope your vacation was great.

[pam]

Oh no!!! How disappointing! We once had a similar situation with chicken. Whoa! Have you ever experienced bad chicken? That's horrifying.

[Laura Leigh]

UGH! That sounds awful, but I agree with you that at least it was the stimulus check money and not something you saved up to buy.

[Anne]

Well you certainly have a good attitude about it. I probably would be crying! :)

[Lissa]

I too, had this happen about 4 years ago. Unfortunately, my freezer WAS filled to the brim with about $1000 or more worth of meat and other items. Not knowing anything about renter's insurance...needless to say...we didn't have any...and the loss was devastating to our budget. If you don't have any homeowner's or renter's insurance I highly recommend it! Most people don't think about it, as we didn't in the past! If you rent and something happens...you are NOT covered for any of your personal belongings...yes the owner's have homeowners insurance but this only covers the structure itself...not your stuff. I use to work in insurance and renters insurance is very cheap. It is based on what coverage you want it to be. If you have $10,000 worth of stuff then that's all you need. If you need more...get more! It covers everything from vandalism..theft...fire...water damage...etc. Check with you current car insurance carrier to see if they offer this type of insurance..most do and if not...someone will! It only costs pennies each day for peace of mind!

[james]

I've had this happen before. Same sinereo. I had to throw out the entire freezer etc... it was that bad. It boils down to plugging it into a GFI outlet a no no. Oddly my current one is in a GFI breaker and I've never had an issue. But I'll move it soon enough and if I go out of town for more then a day or 2 its something I'll have someone check in on.

That hurts the wallet I dunno whats worse the financial loss or having to clean it up. EEEK its every bit wrong.

[Tami]

Oh, Crystal! I am so sorry that happened to your freezer full of meat! I have heard similar stories from others who have done the same thing.

How disappointing!

[ElizabethSue]

What a bummer! Sorry to hear that happened to you guys.

[Alicia]

Crystal, I'm so sorry that happened!! What a huge disappointment, all that meat gone. I'm really sorry to hear about that.

[Amy]

Oh, Crystal. That's awful! We've always had at least a quarter of beef in our freezer. I would be SICK if something like that happened.

[Rachel]

Oh no!!!! I am so sorry to hear about that.

[SH]

If you haven't already reported it to your renter's insurance I suggest you hold off and get some more information. I'm not sure how small claims like this affect renter's insurance, but I know for homeowner's insurance it's a sure thing they'll raise your rates and very likely make it difficult to get new homeowner's insurance if/when you move. We had a "small" ($2,000) claim from wind-damage at our previous house and then 2 years later when we moved many companies would not insure us.

I STRONGLY suggest you do some more research before you report it.

*******************
Money Saving Mom here: Thanks for the input. From what we understand, renter's insurance is different from homeowner's insurance. We talked with our insurance agent--whom we've had for years--and they've promised we won't have any raise in rates so went ahead and reported it. If it were homeowner's insurance, I doubt we'd consider claiming it, but since we don't own this home and this wasn't completely our fault, renter's insurance was glad to cover the extra after the deductible. We'll see if it effects anything in the future, though!

[One Mom, Five Kids]

I am so sorry this happened - what a total disappointment.

Thank goodness you had renters insurance and will get a small amount back - Maybe go buy some fish and chicken? (just kidding) Most people don't carry renters insurance, they don't think they need it but everyone needs some kind of insurance to protect your belongings.

[Heather -Heather's Home]

HOW FRUSTRATING, Crystal! I feel your pain. (This is one of the reasons my dh is reticent to purchase 1/4 cow ourselves.)

I didn't have an outlet go out, but "someone" in our house left our freezer door open one day about a year ago. We didn't see this until midday the following day, by that time, I had a stream of water running towards the garage doors & a freezer full of room temp meat, etc. It isn't the full size, so I estimated we lost about $400. in food. Our deductible is also $500, so we just chalked the loss up to life lesson #__ (fill in with appropriate million digit #) and constantly push the door closed whenever we are near the freezer.

[Jaycie]

I am sooo sorry to hear about this! This is my biggest fear with stocking our freezer so full. It would be devasting to lose it all! I've only had it since Christmas and it's been a dream to stock up on some great sales. I hope you can find a way around the outlet and that you get to keep using it. It's really quite the budget saver when it keeps working! We just lost our fridge(compressor went out) three weeks ago and I can feel your pain of losing your stock pile.

[Lori]

Oh no. No, no, no. That is just so frustrating.

It WAS a great idea to buy the meat. It's just too bad about that outlet.

Live and learn, I guess. It would just be nicer if we could learn a little less expensively.

[Annie]

Oh my! I am so sorry this happened to you. Our garage outlet has the same feature, which is also where our big freezer is plugged in. We've come home to a shut-off freezer before, so I can sympathize (or should it be empathize?). I don't know how much peace I'd have if there were $614 worth of meat in it though... That stinks! (literally)

PS - I just started reading your blog last week on my sister's advice and have to tell you that you've blessed me already. I will be a regular reader now! God bless.

[Colette]

Ouch!! A similar thing has happened to us (twice) so we got rid of the freezer in our garage and have never replaced it. So frustrating! I applaud your positve attitude! :)

[christy]

oh no you poor thing thats so horrible!!! i often worry that will happen to me cause we have a huge deep freeze full of food so i am always checking it and making sure the light is on almost every morning and evening one night i forgot and my 6 year old son got a yogurt pop out and forgot to shut it and i woke up to it being open and a lot of the stuff on top being thawed but thankfully not everything i was so upset thou and then not an hour later the cops and an ambulance was at my neighbors house and it really made me think about how thawed out food is no big deal and can be replaced ya no!!

[Jennifer]

I can't even imagine how you are feeling right now. How frustrating, infuriating, disappointing, etc. I am so sorry!

[JadeMerie]

I'm so sorry that this happened. I guess God had other plans. I never would have thought that this would happen if we would have put our freezer in the garage.

[Penny Raine]

Oh Crystal I am sooo sorry! We have had two big freezers full of meat completely die in the last two years so I know how that feels. At least your freezer isn't broken. The Lord will restore.

blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog

[Crystal]

I had this happen a couple of months ago too. Dh had knocked the cord when plugging in some lawn stuff to charge. I got an alarm now. It works great!
http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Instrument-00985-Refrigerator-Thermometer/dp/B000P55SN4/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1218463453&sr=8-1
You need lithium batteries which can be expensive so if you order one be on the lookout for some battery deals.

[Melissa]

That is really a shame, I am so sorry. We have bought and ate that type of beef before and you wouldn’t believe how much better it is; I think your family would have really enjoyed it. I know that you probably feel like it was a horrible idea right now, but I would recommend that you give it another try if you have the opportunity again. Keep in mind that when you take meat to a processing facility you get to choose how you want everything; what cuts you want, how you want the cuts and what size packages you want. Also, people around here often buy their beef and pork that they’re going to have processed from the Amish because they don’t feed their livestock commercial feed, only organic grains and hay from their own fields. Again I am sorry, but if anyone can recover their budget from such a disaster it would be you.

[Mary Ellen (Carolina Momma)]

Oh no! I'm so sorry Crystal. It was a great idea though.

[The Poor Artist]

Oh no, that's horrible! Like you said, at least it was "found" money rather than something you'd been saving for. And I can only imagine the smell - I accidentally left a pound of stew meat in the freezer once during a horrible week-long blackout here in NYC a couple years ago, and the stink I came back to was unreal.

[Susan]

I feel for you! We had this exact thing happen to us. It makes my stomach turn to think of the loss of the food and money. I only will keep breads, mixes, and things like frozen veggies in our garage freezer now for fear of this happening again! So Sorry!!

[marli]

Aww Crystal, I am SO sorry!!! I pray that your money (and/or meat!) will be replaced SOMEHOW!

We had a fridge to put in our garage and a guy told us we couldn't b/c the outlet would trip but I have seen many other houses with fridges in their garage so I wanted to do it anyway...now I know why!

[Emily]

That is absolutely horrible! And disgusting! I am so bummed for you!

[Maria]

Crystal,
I am so sorry to hear about your meat. Glad to see you trying to find a positive side to the issue.

[Hilary]

Your rates won't go up, but it might be harder to get homeowners insurance. They always ask you if you've had any claims on your insurance in the last 3 (or something like that) years...

[MR]

Hi Crystal,

I'm sorry to hear that this happened. If I remember correctly, your family rents your home, right? If so, you may be eligible for compensation from your landlord/lady. I live in Chicago and, as renters, we have a lot of rights. If the problem was caused by an electrical issue, the owners should be responsible.

Again, that's such a bummer.

[Cassandra]

GASP- THAT'S AWFUL! I would have thrown up. From the smell, and the awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. I have that awful feeling now, and it didn't even happen to me. I would have sat down, cried, and then thrown up. In that order. You have such a good attitude about it. Did you cry?

[Melissa]

That's horrible luck, I've had similiar situations happen... but at least one good thing that is coming from it, it has sparked a good discussion about renter's insurance on here... so many people neglect to pick it up... I have always carried it, from the time I moved into my first apartment at 19, and that was when I didn't have much that was worth insuring! Regardless of how tight the budget is, this has been one thing I haven't skimped on... there are plenty of policies that are very affordable. I always tell friends, if you think you can't afford to have it, then you really can't afford to NOT have it... if you're on a tight budget, this is exactly the sort of thing that protects you. People forget about things like... Pipes bursting, fires, etc... that your rental company is not responsible for... Several years ago, there was an ice storm that knocked out power to my home for over a week. I lost all the food in the fridge/freezer (which was ironic with an ice storm outside) and had pipes burst, had to stay in a hotel for over a week, renter's insurance picked up the tab on everything, even kennel boarding because we had pets!

So, I do hate to hear about your freezer mishap... and I don't envy you with the fun that came from cleaning that out... but hopefully some people reading about it that didn't have renter's insurance will pick up the phone and call their agent!

[Ruth]

I am very sorry to hear that! Not only were you looking forward to it but $614 down the drain. At least you were able to get some money back.