First significant fridge casualty

Last night I pulled out a multipound chuck roast to put in the crock pot. After it had been in my fridge for five or six days, I did not completely like the smell or the look of it. Either signal alone I might have skipped. My nose is best described as hyper, and meat always looks different when the blood has had time to drain off it. But both signals together I didn't want to risk. There went $7 worth of meat. Grr!

New rule for self: When purchasing expensive one-shot items like that, cook them the same day. If I can't cook a roast that day I can't buy it that day. I think I need to apply this rule for all meat. See, most weeks, I have exactly one day to do all chores including grocery shopping and cooking for the week. If something doesn't get cooked on day one it won't get cooked until day eight... and that may not be soon enough for a chunk of beef.

*sigh*. Fortunately, the only other goofs so far have been small. The sawdust bars I pitched might have been as high as $4 all told, but the other two things I've opted to pitch were some celery ($1?) and some dried beans that had been soaking for a week ($0.25, another didn't-get-it-in-the-crock-pot-on-Sunday goof). For a total noncook's first month of kitchen life, and considering the insane constraints I'm under, I suppose this isn't too bad.

Inventory Result: Eat More!

The fridge casualty spurred me to take inventory. I have a lot of crap in that fridge. I moved three pounds of cooked ground turkey to the freezer to buy myself some time. I had to put it all in baggies and bend it around corners to fit it in there. Freezer is FULL. Fridge is not much better off. Also now out of baggies. I absolutely must eat like a vacuum cleaner on steroids this week!

Yes, I desperately need more freezer. Desperately. I know. But there's no place to put one. In front of the fireplace, in the carpeted living room? Something seems wrong with that picture. I know! How about in the bathtub?

Sadly, this also means I can't make palak paneer for at least several days. I had been planning to do that today, but I can't make it unless I can store it -- in precisely the space the ingredients were using.

Vacuum cleaner on steroids. Gotta do it.

LJ Brain Trust: Vacuum sealer?

If I did get more freezer space, and maybe even if I can't, I wonder whether I should have a vacuum sealer.

I am short on counter space, but I can work that out.

I probably don't want one if it doesn't save money in the long run. I can squeeze a lot of air out of Ziploc bags and store them in odd-shaped spots in the freezer, so this will hinge on how much waste I'm likely to have, from freezer burn or the like, after the squeezy treatment. Ziploc cost + freezer burn cost - vacuum sealer bag cost - amortized cost of the unit: if it's not a positive number in under a decade I'm not going there. But it's OK if it takes a while to go positive, because I also hate waste.

I also don't want it if it's inconvenient to use. (It's very telling that I don't have "good" knives. They're more work than bad ones.)

I do want it if it will significantly save money, food, and/or freezer and fridge space. For example, if the bags are sturdy enough that I can pour from the skillet right into the bag, then I don't need so much Tupperware-style stuff. That would be a serious win in terms of space.

( Poll time! )

Chest freezer? Maybe I can has!

Oooo. A Kenmore that's 30% off at Sears right now would fit.

I could get it delivered Monday, or if I were able-bodied I could pick it up tonight. It would be best if we had some kind of mechanical leverage to drop it straight down into the hole. Otherwise I'll have to deinstall and reinstall the washer/dryer to get it in there. But honestly, that's something even wimpy me can do if I hafta. I wonder if delivery guys routinely cart around something shaped kinda like an engine hoist. :-)

I have only one meeting where anyone would miss me on Monday.

I have been wanting one of these puppies for probably multiple years. I just never quite had the spoons, or another way to say it is that I hadn't put it at the top of the priority list.

Change your votes in the poll if they were influenced by the lack of freezer. YAY! :-)