A few weeks ago, I noticed freezer burn on our frozen fruit. I chalked it up to someone (else!) not closing the freezer door properly.
The next day there was still freezer burn. Maybe it doesn’t go away that fast?
The next day there was still freezer burn. And I went to cook meat, and there was something slightly suspicious about it—the color looked wrong. But not that wrong. I was probably just seeing things.
And then A. decided the vent was probably clogged, so he vacuumed it out. And realized our decently full fridge had become… a large cooler. That was rapidly becoming less cool.
We spent a couple of days fridgeless.
Fridge-free, you ask?
No. There was nothing freeing about it.
We are lucky to have three coolers. Actual coolers, not “fridge temporarily cooler; sorry-for-the-convenience” coolers. (Except maybe for the one that doesn’t truly close. We should probably get rid of that one.) We went to the store four times over the next two and a half days, stocking and restocking ice to fill those coolers, gradually (and then not so gradually) disposing of things that we ate or that went bad.
I hate throwing food away.
And to minimize throwing food away, I spent more time than usual preparing exactly the right amount of food for that day. Because there was no place to keep leftovers.
Which made me really, really appreciate refrigerators.
Are they the most important appliance in our home? It sucks to have a dishwasher break down, but you can always wash by hand. It sucks to have a stove break down, but many of us have a microwave, a toaster oven, a grill, or even a camping stove to use if push comes to shove. But lose a fridge for a few hours and you lose so. Much. Food. Go without a fridge and you have to shop daily and spend so much time making just the right amount of food.
I know that in some places people do shop for fresh produce just about daily.
I’m also glad I don’t have to.
I’m grateful for our appliances. They all make life easier. But especially, extra-specially, for the refrigerator.
What’s a surprising thing you’re grateful for? Something we maybe normally don’t normally consider too deeply? I’m curious. Leave a comment and share below.
This Glass Has Water 