I’ve previously written about my love/hate relationship with the refrigerator and grocery shopping.  This relationship has become more strained in the last few days. 

My kids have a completely different philosophy about grocery shopping than I do.  They go to the store and pick up what they need for a day maybe two.  They have no use for a cart because they never buy that much at one time.  Their freezers hold ice cubes and Eggo waffles.  I, on the other hand, never shop without a cart even if I’m just going for milk .  I know from experience I will fill the cart no matter what.  This might not be the best plan but I like to have choices when it’s dinner time. Do we feel like pork chops or pasta?   Like magic the freezer holds pork chops, sausage for spaghetti or hamburger for chili.  It’s like having my own personal grocery store right the kitchen.  

Fast forward to last week.  We took a little six day trip and before leaving we did all of the usual stuff:  adjusted the thermostats, turned off the water to the toilets, and the washer, set the light timers, etc.  

Heading home we got up before dawn (2:45 a.m.)  East coast time (more on the trip later) and arrived home in Tucson about noon.  If you calculate the time difference we had breakfast at 3:00 a.m., lunch at 9:00 a.m. We were hungry when we got home but couldn’t figure out what meal we were supposed to be eating.   Turned out it didn’t matter.

The house smelled ‘funny ‘, as in awful, when we opened the door.  Did I forget to take out the garbage? Nope, empty. Oh, maybe it’s the garbage disposal., ran it quickly but it didn’t seem to be the problem. What is that smell?  The refrigerator had the familiar lights on the front telling us the temp was 37 degrees in the box and -4 in the freezer. We wandered around the house looking for a something dead, nope.  Back to the fridge, Monty opened the door and it was pretty obvious where the smell was coming from.  It’s not that the fridge wasn’t cold it was HOT.      

Do you realize how many items list, ‘refrigerate after opening’ ?  Pretty much everything that’s in the fridge!  Of course now curdled milk and cream were the first to go the butter was soft and we figured it absorbed the awful smell so out it went.  Sour cream that looked like a science project headed directly to the garbage along with assorted bottles and jars of hot stuff.   That was the first garbage bag that was too heavy for me to carry out.  

The freezer, OMG the freezer,  if anything would have been cool to the touch we might have saved something but everything was as hot as the fridge. I almost cried when we filled another garbage bag with salmon, pork roasts (yes plural), chicken, both raw, in anticipation  of some tasty recipe, and chicken already cooked, saved for Miss Daisy.  Monty was lamenting the roasted green chilies that required a special trip to the Farmers market and the Blue Belle ice cream that was now sloshing in the carton.    Gone, gone, gone. Two more bags for the garbage. 

I got everything wiped down with vinegar, put boxes of baking soda on the shelves and the doors are hanging open like a giant yawning whale in the kitchen.  The fridge looks like it did when it arrived at our door seven years ago, spotless.  Every fan in the house is running to dissipate the smell.  

Aren’t major appliances supposed to last fifteen or twenty years? We expected this one to last until we  move to the old folks home.  Our friendly Sears service center said of course they could send a guy out but the schedule was booked for the next two weeks.  Well, that wasn’t going to work. We didn’t need Sears anyway the fridge was beyond warranty.   We called another guy and he came out the next morning.  He said it can be repaired they just have to order the parts, hopefully they aren’t coming on a slow boat from China! 

In the meantime, we are using the small fridge in the motorhome for the necessities, like milk, cream, OJ, butter and a few ice cubes.  Our Fitbit tracking steps is cheering us for our new fitness program.  I’ve adopted the kids plan of shopping every day for real food and I’m already tired of it.  

A couple of thoughts; what’s up with the fancy lights on the front of the fridge constantly bragging about the temperature ?  They must just be decoration, because they aren’t an accurate reflection the temperature inside the box.  I have a new appreciation for ice cubes and cold water in the door.  Drinking lukewarm tap water just doesn’t do it for me and it’s too much trouble to go out to the motorhome for an ice cube.  

Update: Repair man replaced the faulty board that runs the compressor.  Nice try but compressor still isn’t working.  Guess what, they have to order one!          

4 replies
  1. Tricia
    Tricia says:

    The waffles in my freezer are Kroger store brand . Eggos are only for big spenders! Hope the compressor arrives soon

  2. Jackie
    Jackie says:

    Carrie,
    What a terrible homecoming!! They sure do not make appliances to last like the “old” ones. Always enjoy your postings!! Jackie

    • Carrie Bonello
      Carrie Bonello says:

      Thanks Jackie, I can always count on you to take a peek at my postings. I’m really fed up trying to figure out what to eat when a lot of the obvious supplies are not in the house.

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