Fridge shame - secret lives of refrigerators

[Cooking Goddess]

Now that fridge looks disgustingly healthy, CG! Obviously, your use of photographic lighting is much better than mine...

We DO like our fruits and veggies, Dawg. Plus, I'm not buying any protein right now...the freezer (unseen) is filled to the brim with various land and sea yummies. No room right now for ice cream!

I just got done removing 5 pounds of magnets off my fridge...

Notice that the front of my fridge isn't visible.

 

[Caslon]

At least you weren't talking back to your fridge, Caslon. Or were you?

I swear, it mocked me. Gurgling bubbly weird kind of noises.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Notice that the front of my fridge isn't visible.

Those are just the ones I kept! Used an empty yogurt container to put them in for packing.

 

[CWS4322]

My upstairs fridge has a pound of shrimp (shelled, deveined) for the chickens. It was left in the commercial fridge too long, still good for the chickens. I swear, they eat better than I do some days.

 

[RPCookin]

All I can say is you people all have huge refrigerators. Ours is a normal sized one, the only size that could fit in the kitchen without a complete remodel - and all that two people normally need anyway. It's usually jammed to the hilt, yet when we need to we can always pull out a 6-pack of beer to make room for something more. When it gets too full we know it's time for a cleaning.

A week ago I had to make sloppy joe filling for 200 people for a benefit dinner - 36 pounds of ground beef - and after thawing it on the counter for several hours, it all had to fit in the fridge overnight. Wish that this thread had been active then, because that would have been the photo to take. Two shelves filled with one pound packages of ground beef (the beef was all donated by several different people). Of course overnight the packages leaked so the next morning we did a rather compete refrigerator cleaning, including washing off most of the jars and bottles, pulling shelves and bins - lots of fun.

 

[CWS4322]

All I can say is you people all have huge refrigerators. Ours is a normal sized one, the only size that could fit in the kitchen without a complete remodel - and all that two people normally need anyway. It's usually jammed to the hilt, yet when we need to we can always pull out a 6-pack of beer to make room for something more. When it gets too full we know it's time for a cleaning.

A week ago I had to make sloppy joe filling for 200 people for a benefit dinner - 36 pounds of ground beef - and after thawing it on the counter for several hours, it all had to fit in the fridge overnight. Wish that this thread had been active then, because that would have been the photo to take. Two shelves filled with one pound packages of ground beef (the beef was all donated by several different people). Of course overnight the packages leaked so the next morning we did a rather compete refrigerator cleaning, including washing off most of the jars and bottles, pulling shelves and bins - lots of fun.

You're lucky no one got sick. Meat should be thawed in the refrigerator. Our food safety regulations require that you cannot thaw meat at room temp, nor can you have the ingredients out of the fridge for more than 2 hours. I guess since it was for a benefit, the "food police" didn't check on how it was prepared or the holding temp. When I am shopping, I bring coolers with ice packs and make sure I get the ingredients to the commercial kitchen under 2 hours. If traffic is bad, I will make several trips back to the commercial kitchen.

 

[Addie]

My upstairs fridge has a pound of shrimp (shelled, deveined) for the chickens. It was left in the commercial fridge too long, still good for the chickens. I swear, they eat better than I do some days.

You must have been talking to Spike. Teddy gets roast beef, Spike gets hot dogs. Go figure. Last night Teddy had clam chowder made with fresh clams. I got the broth.

 

[RPCookin]

You're lucky no one got sick. Meat should be thawed in the refrigerator. Our food safety regulations require that you cannot thaw meat at room temp, nor can you have the ingredients out of the fridge for more than 2 hours. I guess since it was for a benefit, the "food police" didn't check on how it was prepared or the holding temp. When I am shopping, I bring coolers with ice packs and make sure I get the ingredients to the commercial kitchen under 2 hours. If traffic is bad, I will make several trips back to the commercial kitchen.

Thanks for such a friendly answer. Especially since you have no idea how long it was on the counter thawing. I'm glad most folks here are more thoughtful.

Commercial kitchen? Where would I find such a thing in a town of 350 souls? The replies some of you people give have nothing to do with how real people have to go about things.

 

[taxlady]

36 pounds of ground beef is going to take a long time to thaw on a counter.

I thaw ground beef partially on the counter all the time. It takes quite a long time for the outside of that ground beef to get close to room temperature.

I think this is a case where common sense and checking how thawed the meat is works better than following some preset rules. Of course those rules have to be followed in a commercial kitchen, but I don't think they have to be followed to the letter in a home setting.

 

[Merlot]

My upstairs fridge has a pound of shrimp (shelled, deveined) for the chickens. It was left in the commercial fridge too long, still good for the chickens. I swear, they eat better than I do some days.

I have thought of you often since I have been away from here. After I finally got my divorce and all that and moved on with life.....I am currently dating a farm boy and he has chickens... I have grown to love them and love giving them treats but it has always made me think of you and your stories!

 

[msmofet]

I just got done removing 5 pounds of magnets off my fridge...

OK we had to replace our fridge last September - after 26 years it just wasn't cutting it (hubby swore it was still good BUT after having to chuck out food all the time I said enough!) and it was the fridge or the hub!! As Forest would say, "That's all I have to say about that." LOL

This fridge must have been designed by a neat freak! No magnets stick to the front of the fridge (the sides do stick but that isn't convenient). That's good and bad.

I had to take a bunch of pics because I too have a small kitchen and I almost had to sit on the table to get these.

I also had to fend off the puddy tat, he likes to go shopping when the fridge is open. LOL If there had been an empty space he would have tried to jump in.

P.S. I didn't clean or rearrange anything. I didn't turn the kitchen light on because the pics would have been to bright so we have dark pics. The first shot is the door-in-door (show case). The others are the inside. Didn't get any of the freezer. I do love this fridge (nice and cold). ONLY problem is that the ice cream is hard as a rock (we needed to get used to solid ice cream LOL).

 

[RPCookin]

36 pounds of ground beef is going to take a long time to thaw on a counter.

I thaw ground beef partially on the counter all the time. It takes quite a long time for the outside of that ground beef to get close to room temperature.

I think this is a case where common sense and checking how thawed the meat is works better than following some preset rules. Of course those rules have to be followed in a commercial kitchen, but I don't think they have to be followed to the letter in a home setting.

Yep. That much frozen meat creates its own environment for a while. I left it out on the counter for about an hour and a half, then turned all of the packages over, as they were still frozen solid on the bottom - still had ice and frost on the outside of the package. once that side started to show some softness, it all got bagged up and placed in the fridge until 1 PM the next day, when I started cooking. The cooking took more than 6 hours in itself, since my 14" frying pan could only practically do about 3 pounds per batch. I would brown up a batch with onions and salt, pepper and garlic, then dump the meat in my 16 quart stock pot. When I had 3 batches done, I would mix in the sauce, then Ziplock bag them and back to the fridge. I ended up with 8 bags.

Nobody got sick and I got nothing but compliments from the 150 people who came to eat. The dinner was to raise money for a young family whose first baby had to be born by C-section at just 1 pound 14 ounces in order to save the lives of both mother and baby. Now, 3 months later the baby is almost 7 pounds, and mother and daughter are doing well, but the non-medical expenses they incurred during the 2 month hospital stay in Denver (120 miles away) were well beyond their means. This is the sort of local charity event that we have at least 2 or 3 times a year here where the community pitches in to help a neighbor who is having a hard time. I'm very lucky to be living in a community where such core values are still observed.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

All I can say is you people all have huge refrigerators...

LOL! Considering that over the years we've added more veggies and less meat to our plates, one pound of kale takes up WAY more space than a pound of steak.

Our first house had a side-by-side, 18 cu ft. After we grew a couple of kids, and they grew and started to play sports, we got a bigger fridge - roughly 24 cu ft.
When we got our latest fridge we no longer had kids at home...but I had started to use the extra space for more produce and a wider variety of foods. Besides, where would I keep my 10 jars of mustard?

That was nice of your community to help that young family. I'm happy for them that their baby is getting healthier. As a mom of twin preemies, I can relate to the family's worry.

 

[bakechef]

No staging done this is how it is. Working in a grocery store means that buying fresh fruit and veg is on an as needed basis. The crispers are used, one for butter and cheese and the other for baking nuts.

This was definitely a fridge purchase to fit the space, it's technically counter depth without paying a premium, it has no protruding handles which I like because every inch of space counts in a tiny kitchen.

I had to use my foot to hold the door open...

 

[PrincessFiona60]

No staging done this is how it is. Working in a grocery store means that buying fresh fruit and veg is on an as needed basis. The crispers are used, one for butter and cheese and the other for baking nuts.

This was definitely a fridge purchase to fit the space, it's technically counter depth without paying a premium, it has no protruding handles which I like because every inch of space counts in a tiny kitchen.

I had to use my foot to hold the door open...

Heh! I have the white version of yours, Whirlpool, had to get so it would fit in the space the old one was in. Got it at Best Buy.

 

[bakechef]

We got this one at Lowe's, they were having a great sale

Sent from my XT1080 using Discuss Cooking mobile app

 

[Caslon]

Heh! I have the white version of yours, Whirlpool...

Same here. Home Depot. Whirlpool makes refrigerators for Kenmore and others. This Whirlpool replaces that old Kenmore of mine which kept mocking me with it's strange gurgling sounds. I talked back to it. "You're getting replaced! How do you like that?! It just ignored me and went on mocking me.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

It's weird but it looks like the same fridge in my new house, can't tell from the pictures, but sure looks similar.

 

[Addie]

It's weird but it looks like the same fridge in my new house, can't tell from the pictures, but sure looks similar.

So does the one you have now belong to the apartment or is it yours and can go with you? Having a second fridge downstairs could be handy for when something is on sale.

In this state, the landlord has to provide the stove. I don't know if that applies to selling the house also. I sure wouldn't want to go from a stove that is state of the art to a four burner and oven. If the stove looks unsafe, you have the right to call in the gas/electric company and examine it. If it is found to be defective, they will put a red tag on it and the landlord has just a certain amount of days to replace it with a Newone.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

The fridge in the apartment is mine; stove, fridge, washer and dryer in the house will be mine as soon as we get the paperwork finished up and my offer is accepted. I'm sure the assessors will look at everything carefully, since I am the one paying them and they will have Dad looking over their shoulder. Pretty sure my Dad won't let anything get by him, since he is acting as my agent in this matter.