Get a grip woman!

Baileys_Babe

I am sorry to hear about your freezer troubles, hopefully, it is all sorted now.

Suffolk_lass said:

Is it wrong that I was so cross with him? 

No, it seems an entirely normal reaction to me. If he had paid attention to what he was doing you wouldn't be in this situation.

MissRikkiC said:

It’s probably worse that equally excited about reading along and waiting for updates 🤭 @foxgloves

Not just me then 😄

I would like to bottle apples and or blackberries. I haven't the foggiest idea how to go about it nor the confidence to do it 😢

Suffolk_lass

themadvix said:

I feel your pain SL 😔 How come it’s only the top drawer, or am I misunderstanding? Hope the freezer has a stern word with itself and starts to chill down.

I think it is because he used up the last of a tub of icecream and instead of moving anything up to fill the hole he left it. Our brains work in completely different ways. He is not unintelligent, just never focussed on this sort of stuff. The drawers underneath were all packed so they kept each other cold.

I can feel the fridge is cold and the freezer feels chilled in the drawers but not frozen. I have turned it to -21c to see if that does anything, otherwise I fear a major component may have failed (compressor as no whirring).

Confirmed that neither fridge or freezer is chilling so have bitten the bullet and ordered one for delivery Saturday. Thank goodness for
a) spare little FF in toolshed - a vanity drinks fridge and small freezer that cost less than £300. Now stuffed to the gunnels
b) having an emergency fund. £924 for the new one, in position with the old one taken away. I might keep the plastic bits though and eBay them!

badmemory

Every time I read something about your FF I tell myself to pull my finger out.  My fridge must be 30+ & my freezer 20+.  I put the owl on them the other day.  At the new rates the freezer is using about £1.20 a day & the fridge about 80p a day at the upcoming prices.  I've been thinking for a while about replacing them but didn't bother because the prices weren't too bad, but started thinking a little more seriously in April.  But now we are talking over £700 a year.  New ones have much better economy so could well pay for themselves within 3 years.  Nothing like a first world problem.  And then I feel bad about intending to dump something which is still working!

themadvix

Glad you’ve got a new one in the way SL - annoying, but at least you’ve got the back up to see you through. Eek to the price though (probably standard but bought our undercounter fridge several years ago and freezer was a freebie from Dad’s neighbour).

Badmemory, consider the continued environmental damage of running such an old one if that helps? Whether your electricity is all green or not, it all comes from the same grid, so will be increasing the overall amount used (which is usually covered by gas).

 Can I ask a quick bottling question? (For answering when you’re not dealing with FF issues!) Am I ok to do apples and blackberries? Made the mistake of trying to find answers online and it’s made me paranoid! Also haven’t managed to find others using the same method which just makes it confusing.

trix-a-belle

SL have you got anything in it at the moment? It will be working overly hard to achieve anything if there is nothing in it, I was always told to put something in it even if its bags of air or water to save wasting food

Karmacat

So sorry you've had to bite the bullet  

Suffolk_lass

Aaargh! mid afternoon it was chilled enough to freeze water and the red light went off. Much discussion here about whether we trust it now. Like you @badmemory we are reluctant to recycle something that does work so the old one is bound for the garage and could be donated at some point... or recycled. I need to ring the local place to get the £25 back and check whether they are happy to move it for me when they bring the replacement.

Suffolk_lass

On another track of thought, I have just used my John Lewis vouchers to emulate @Fortune_Smiles and have ordered a hot water bottle (ocelot pattern cover). However, I also ordered a fleece throw (to get free delivery), and a budget duvet cover. Having invested in a combi duvet for the camper van I cannot imagine us ever needing 14 tog, but I do envisage us starting with 4.5 and feeling chilly and rather than bu**ering about with a swap to 9 tog in the same duvet bag, a second is the answer. Total cost, £1.50. Happy with that.

Also, we agreed to reduce our frozen stores by some measure. So meat reduction in the chest freezer and I might make a large vat or two of squash-based soup, as six, or even eight large zip-lock bags of chopped up pumpkin are currently lodging in the bee freezer. I normally donate enough soup for 50 when we have our bonfire night so this is just a bit of getting ahead really, and although the cooked soup will take up space, it will be considerably less

trix-a-belle

Fingers crossed the freezers health continues.

I don't have any produce this year to jar/bottle etc but look forward to seeing how everyone gets on with their efforts (all my berries got eaten basically off the bushes). I got half a dozen big cooking apples from a neighbour walking by last weekend which have gone straight in the freezer and then another good haul from someone else in the next village which joined them so i'm officially ready for impromptu crumbles etc (must check I have a bag of crumble topping in the freezer too).
I'm attempting to make apple cider vinegar with the peels & cores to test out the extend of usability of the whole fruit, & my skills

Suffolk_lass

Fridge Freezer delivered and the old one is in the garage. I don't like it. Same dimensions but much smaller inside. I rang the store (got the call centre) to get my refund of the £25 to dispose responsibly of the old one (as we decided to keep it) and the chap there was very familiar with my comments and said that they are all increasing the insulation, using thicker, cheaper material. This 10cm shallower (deep) and around 5-7 cm less wide. There are fewer shelves (3 door, three in the fridge and only one large veg drawer that will be too big and heavy to remove to prevent water accumulating underneath it. I estimate around 15% less storage space.

He also said it is no problem if I want to return it providing I have not switched it on. Thank goodness I kept the cardboard box and the plastic bag it was in. DH has not seen it yet. We will discuss. I think it was @PipneyJane who told me a similar tale over on another thread.

A very broken night's sleep means I am in Scarlet mode (I will think about that tomorrow) and I am going for a nap now ahead of going out this afternoon