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The time my freezer died and I lost $200 worth of food

It was a Tuesday afternoon, I walked into my kitchen in Austin to grab some ice and noticed the freezer door was slightly ajar. At first I thought my roommate just didn't close it all the way, but when I opened it fully, everything was soft. Like, the ice cream had melted into a puddle at the bottom. I freaked out and started pulling stuff out, all these frozen meals I'd prepped over three weekends, bags of chicken, even a whole pizza I got on sale for $5. I ended up tossing almost everything, easily $200 down the drain because I didn't notice the door seal was cracked and letting cold air escape. Now I check that rubber seal every month and I bought a little thermometer that beeps if the temp goes above 20 degrees, it was like $12 on Amazon. Has anyone else had a fridge or freezer fail on them out of nowhere and lose a bunch of groceries?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakeb251mo ago

Man I used to be the kind of person who thought freezer seals were something you didn't need to worry about. But I had a similar thing happen a couple years back where my fridge just stopped cooling one night and I woke up to a bunch of spoiled milk and leftovers. Now I check that rubber seal every few months too. That thermometer idea is smart, I might grab one since I go through a lot of bulk chicken and it would suck to lose all that again.

tarag281mo ago

@jakeb25 I read somewhere that a dollar bill test can check the seal, it's pretty simple.