We all learn hard lessons in life, some harder than others. This past week I learned about the harsh reality of what happens when you rely a little too much on your freezer, and your ability to remember to close it every time… I know you’re not supposed to cry over spilled milk, but is it ok to cry over a couple garbage bags of wasted food?

A couple years after we were married, my husband and I decided to invest in a big freezer in addition to the small freezer unit that came with the apartment. I like to be able to stock up on meat and produce when it goes on sale, and I love having a variety of freezer meals on hand; and there just wasn’t room in our tiny apartment freezer! We kept it in the closet of our kids’ bedroom, because that was literally the only space we had for it. Functional? Yes. Cute? Eh, no. But it worked :).

When we moved into our home, I was so excited that I would be able to keep the freezer in our garage instead of my kids’ bedroom! It would be right next to the kitchen and out of the way of everyday living. The only thing that made me nervous was thinking of what could happen if the freezer accidentally got left open…. Especially on a hot summer day! I always have the freezer stocked with several pounds of various meats, and there’s usually a few freezer meals in there as well. To lose all that would be devastating! But, I’m always so careful, so that would never happen, right? All you wiser people can shake your heads at me ;).

Yeah, I learned the hard way. My husband has been amazing with helping me with my giant to-do list, and unfortunately he’s been getting a little overwhelmed lately as we try to get ready for our 4th child; he has been working on several projects in our home and in our yard and was running late to work the other day. He ran out to the freezer to grab something for lunch and quickly ran out the door to meet his ride to work. Unfortunately, the freezer must not have closed all the way, because later that evening when he went into the garage to grab the tools he needed for the current backyard project, he asked if I had just gotten into the freezer. Nope. I hadn’t. Dun-dun-dun. We opened the freezer all the way, and lo and behold, all my frozen chicken and meats were completely defrosted. As a hormonal pregnant woman who is 35 weeks along and was depending on that food for post-pregnancy meals, I am really proud that I only cried for a couple minutes, and I didn’t even take it out on my husband ;). We had to literally throw away 2 huge garbage bags full of meat, both raw and cooked. Luckily the cheese in the back corner was still pretty frozen, and all the bread was obviously fine. But it was depressing nonetheless to watch all my hours of efforts of price matching and meal planning and meat wrapping and crock pot cooking literally be thrown away!

I’m just grateful I haven’t started all my post-baby freezer meals yet! I have been creating a huge list of freezer meals that I am planning in preparation for when our little one comes, and I was planning on putting them all together at the end of this week. I don’t even want to think about how I may have responded if I had already put the hours into preparing all those meals and had to throw them away! At this point in my pregnancy, any time I take to stand on these hips is precious, because they only last so long! ;)

And so, we’ve learned the hard way- saying that we will always be careful to close the freezer all the way just doesn’t cut it! The smartest thing to do is invest in a latch or bungee cord that you can use to secure the freezer- that way it will stay secure and you’ll know for sure you closed the freezer all the way every time. (That’s probably a good idea anyway if you live in an area prone to earthquakes!) My freezer is lighter and my brain is enlightened ;).

Have any of you had this experience? What do you guys do to ensure your freezer stays shut and secure? Let’s hear it in the comments below!