What is the fastest way to make 10 pints of sugared berry sauce out of hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of local, organic frozen food? Well...
- First, you have to have someone unplug the freezer. (No one remembers who or when.) And leave it that way for 3 days to a week.
- Then you have to find said freezer because all the berry juice is leaking out on to the floor when you go to get a frozen loaf of bread.
- Then you discover that nearly all of the food that was stored in said freezer is now mush and must be thrown away. Including wild picked creaping cloudberries, wild grown chanterelle mushrooms, and about 25 lbs of produce from your garden... and that is the stuff you DIDN'T buy.
- THEN, you bring what you can salvage (ie: from the bottom of the shelves which was still kinda frozen) and bring it all inside.
- You make 4 different kinds of berry sauce on the stove at the same time, and quickly attempt to find pectin so you can make blackberry jam too.
- You can all of this, take a break, and pray that next week doesn't bring another disaster that will cost your family hundreds.
- Then you go buy pizza for dinner and allow the kids to watch library movies until you blissfully pass out cold.
14 comments
Oh no, I'm so sorry! That happened to me once, only it was a freezer full of meat :-( I cooked as much as I could but, oh I felt sick. It was just awful.
Yes, thank God it was not our freezer of meat. It was the one of fruit. Not that it was much less expensive, but at least I could do something with it. :)
4 pints of blackberry jam, 5 pints of canned blueberries, 4 pints + a quart of cherry sauce, and 6 pints of strawberry sauce down. I think that is all I could save.
Blessings,
Val
Came across your blog and I love it. I'm so sorry to hear you lost all that food. :( This happened to us last summer with a freezer full of meat that we had just purchased- it makes you sick. :(
So sorry! We had the same thing happened and lost a bunch of local beef. Ugh! Blood everywhere, nasty mess.
Ohhhh nooooo. I am so very sorry. That is my worst nightmare. I ammmm soooo sorry
heartbreaking!! sounds like you are taking it in stride, though.
Ahhh I almost had tears coming down my cheeks!!! You poor thing Val! And to do it all while pregnant...somebody is in need of a good long full-body massage for Christmas. Way to go for salvaging as much as you can. I think I would have just started weeping and fallen in the melted blackberries:(
This happened to my mom once. It was a chest freezer that stopped working. My parents didn't notice until it started to smell! Ewwwwww! Clean up involved a shovel and wheelbarrow.
ugh that is awful but it seems like you overcame it and made the most of it.
You really seem to have the food disasters! Last year it was your preserves now your freezer, I feel for you mama. I am glad you could save something though.
Sometimes the disasters just come in threes. This was #3 for me for this month, so lets hope that it was the last. I did get a ton of berry syrup out of the mix. And a clean freezer. Ok, grasping at straws. Honestly, it really sucked and I am making the best of it, but it is really hard to see all that hard work go to waste.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and sympathies. <3
Blessings,
Val
Hi Val, I'm a new follower, and hadn't taken the time to comment yet, but I just could not pass this post by without giving you my sympathy! Man oh man how gutting. I'm glad you managed to save some, and make some delicious treats though.
I'm hoping to get a chest freezer soon, so I'll be keeping a close watch out for it to make sure it stays plugged in and turned on.
I'm so enjoying your blog which I stumbled on last week when trying to work out what kind of berries I'd found growing in my friend's garden (Maybe Cloudberries??) Although I live on the other side of the world and enjoying the opposite seasons to you, I'll be reading along and storing ideas :)
xx
Sheryl
so sorry...I HATE it when that happens! I painstakingly picked only the plumpest raspeberries at thier height of perfection from 3 bushes at a friends house. Froze them immediately for some fresh summer joy in the coldness of winter, only to find that the fan in the freezer had stoppped working. you can bet I made raspberry syrup & canned it immediately...I think we ordered take out that night too..
Thank you Sheryl and Suzi! I am feeling much better about it now. I have tons of yummy berry sauce tucked away in the pantry, and just think, everything in the freezer will be completely fresh this year!
Trying to find a bright side. I have enjoyed all those BTDT stories though. Makes me feel as though I am not alone in my pain.
Blessings,
Val
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