Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
I'm afraid that being a Foxgloves diary follower today isn't going to be very exciting. In fact, I'd say sitting down with the phone directory would be more interesting than more woffle about my damned freezer!
So the door is still on, but ideally, opening the freezer is now a two-person operation - one to hold the door in place & the other to retrieve the required item. We were well aware of the need to replace our fridge (ancient), freezer (ancient & now broken) & oven (ancient, dodgy & should really feature in its own right as a debtisode) but had kind of hoped they would all limp on in something approaching working order until we were ready to replace (soon).
But no, the freezer has partially shed its door & we've had to buy a new one today AND pay £30 for delivery tomorrow. I usually avoid such extras but some quick calculations showed that if the door seal fails & the door opens (there's not much left keeping it shut), I'd lose food totalling a load more than £30. Nothing straightforward as usual. Very limited choice locally so had to order online, but did research the purchase properly. The difficulty is that we currently have an under the counter fridge & a tall freezer. We want to replace with a tall fridge freezer & an extra under the counter freezer. We grow food & batch cook so I like plenty of freezer space. We have temporarily moved the fridge into the conservatory - unbelievably, our cat seemed to think this was something to do with him getting his dinner early! - & cleaned out the years of muck underneath, which is when Mr F realised he'd need to drill a substantial hole in the adjoining kitchen unit to fit the plug through. So...... sawdust everywhere. I told him to go & jump up & down in the garden then I actually hoovered him. Tomorrow when the new freezer comes, we are going to get as much as we can transferred into it & do any meal plan tweaks possible so that we can empty the broken freezer out before it breathes its last. I can foresee a lot of 'debate' tomorrow about whether a bag of homegrown chillies is as valuable or less valuable than two portions of soup & a lamb stock, etc, etc.
If you did actually opt to read this rather than the phone directory, I can only say that I've actually bored myself typing it! It has made me think about when we bought our current oven though. It was back in the Spendy Years & a fine example of How Not To Go About Making An Expensive Purchase........
Still so sunny here, I think I shall go & sit by the pond with my book for a little while.
Cheers all,
F x

crazy_cat_lady

Good luck with the new freezer tomorrow then foxgloves. I agree with you paying extra for delivery tomorrow - I have lost all of the food in my freezer twice over when they've packed up... and so much more than the delivery cost.

DawnW

Remember that you can boil up, cool and refreeze the stock etc. I had lots of practice in this area when OH inadvertently turned off one of the freezers last year :eek:
I was up almost all night salvaging things that could be cooked / recooked etc to avoid wasting too much.

foxgloves

Thanks CCL. Yes, that's what I thought. We have a fresh fish box delivered from Grimsby every couple of months & what we have left from our last one alone will total more than the delivery charge, without all the other stuff in there.
One bonus, I suppose, is that it's made me crack on with my fruit gin plans. I bought the gin today, have picked pears & the blackberries are top on the list of stuff that can come out of the freezer tomorrow. Mr F has fetched my huge 'jar thingy with a tap' off the top of the kitchen cupboard & I now have no excuses not to get it all macerating tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it actually, as I love doing seasonal. Autumn stuff. This time last year was all just so sad & awful that I think I just went into a sort of automatic 'getting through it' mode & on the weekends or little stretches of time I could get back home, I made chutney & jam and did some of my autumn jobs as therapy. I think I'll have blackberries leftover so will think what to do with those. I've already made blackberry & apple jam. Am trying to avoid cakey things as am re-losing the half stone I re-gained, after working hard earlier in the year to re-lose it. Grrrr. I infuriate myself. I swear it was easier to lose the 6 stones I lost between 2011 & 2013 than it is to lose the 2 stone of it which I've repeatedly regained & re-shed since then. I don't expect my age helps now...... though the main issue is being a shocking 'picker:... that old saying' Little pickers wear big knickers' is absolutely me to a tee! So defo not blackberry cake, blackberry muffins, blackberry muffin slice, etc...... boo to that, but if I can't button my lovely winter coat this year, I've threatened myself that I'm selling it!
Oooh, that all turned into a bit of a moan, didn't it? Think I must secretly be fancying naughty baked blackberry goods, lol.
F x

foxgloves

Thanks, Dawn. I hadn't thought of that solution for stocks..... it's going to be a case of priorities. We will be able to order our new tall fridge freezer as soon as the broken one is empty or the door completely falls off... whichever happens first, but hopefully the former! From a food budget point of view, it will certainly ensure that we absolutely prioritise meals/ingredients from the freezer. That's no bad thing. I'd be gutted to lose any of our home grown produce though, so I can see that when the new small freezer arrives tomorrow, Mr f's tetris skills are going to come in very useful. I've left my big sign on the old one....... He is a bit of a brick outhouse..... very physically strong & I can't guarantee he won't forget about it, go to yank the door open while the whole thing comes off in his hand, the remaining bit of hinge gently disintegrating onto the floor!
If necessary, I could also cook the fish & turn it into various things. Cat would probably also do well out of that.
F x

Kantankrus_Mare

I was given a parcel of haddock off a man that does some filleting on the Grimsby dock area...........my Dad!! :rotfl: We will make it into fishcakes at some point and share with mam and dad.

Out of curiosity......which Grimsby fish firm do you use for your delivery?

Living in Grimsby and with my dad working on the docks all his life, haddock has never been in short supply and never had to buy it. I pass several places that sell fish on my way to the gym but have never ventured in them. I should do.

foxgloves

Kantankrus - They're called 'DD Fish' & they do fab fish boxes every couple of months. I like that I can cut it up myself into the portion sizes I want prior to freezing, also I collect all the trimmings while doing this for a yum fish pie.
F x

Kantankrus_Mare

Not one we are familiar with but just had a look and they look good.
Would you mind me asking how much a box is and what you get in it?
Not much info on the site.

maryb

can you get one of those ratchet straps they sell in Halfords for securing stuff to roof racks and loop it round then tension it? That would also stop Mr F from opening it without thinking

foxgloves

Maryb- Thanks for that suggestion, which I will bear in mind if it looks as though emptying the big freezer is going to take longer than we hope. Driver is about half an hour away with the new one, apparently, so we will soon learn just how much we're going to be able to fit in there. Have had a really useful morning in the kitchen, so have already removed a few frozen items for using. Will pop back later with my blackberry (& gin) endeavours.
F