Sunday, March 08, 2009

Note to Self

Do Not Clean Freezer Ever Again! My goodness, I have hired help. What was I doing - cleaning my own freezer... Why??? Actually, I am the only one who can clean the freezers - we have three - the two over our refrigerators and one chest freezer in the storage room off the garage. I needed to do inventory. Which isn't to say that I really needed to do inventory, but if you're going to rearrange "things" you may as well do inventory. How else would I know that I have 6 bags of peas, 8 bags of frozen blueberries, 11 bags of Mexican shredded cheese, 21 cartons of cigarettes, three cooked bags of Kids' food, etc.

I needed to make room for the 23.1 pounds of hamburger I cooked yesterday. Yes. 23.1 pounds [10.5 kilograms]. And 23.1 pounds of chicken, too. I cook it all up and then bag the hamburger in individual freezer bags to mix with The Kids' food that I get from The Honest Kitchen and ship over, and the chicken I cook up and then mix in batches with 16 cups of brown rice, a couple of pounds of sweet potatoes, 4 bags of green beans and 2 bags of broccoli. After I've made that concoction in industrial sized bowls, I bag it up in indiviudal servings and put it in freezer bags. Comes out to be food for about a month. Takes me two days just to do all the cooking and bagging. [And, yes, I do my own clean up work for all of it. There is no way I would trust Inam to clean and sterilize all of the bowls and utensils properly.]

So, early this morning, I had one refrigerator freezer completely done and nicely rearranged and inventoried. I opened the second one. It is filled with cheese - more than just the Mexican shredded cheese - you name it, it is in the freezer. Along with 21 cans of Limeade [makes great "faux" margaritas - wink, wink!] and some bags of frozen stuff - mostly pasta and veggies. I was taking care of my "inventory" and stacking everything up all neat and pretty and the frozen pancakes went over - along with bags of other "stuff" and instead of letting it drop to the floor and on top of my bare feet I went to "save" it and managed to smash my left index finger into the edge of the freezer - bent my fingernail ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE QUICK. The Pain! Searing pain!!! Radiating throughout my entire body. My entire left hand felt like it was on fire. Dayum it hurt. Saved it all though. Nothing hit my feet. I'm pretty sure frozen pancakes and frozen pasta crashing onto my bare feet couldn't have hurt nearly as bad as the tip of my finger did, though. I should have just jumped back and let it land. I could have spared myself.

And I have way, way, way too much to do to not be able to use my left hand. Even when I did the quick little blurb earlier that I had broken a nail - I used ONLY my right hand to type it. I am now using both hands. Very, very gingerly. I was planning on doing my nails this afternoon, anyway, but that didn't happen. The left hand I need to use to do my right hand and since I can barely touch anything with my left index finger - and it is too sore right now to even contemplate taking acetone to - to remove old polish - and then priming it and putting arcrylic on it. No way! I did finish the freezer inventories. I have packed all the newly cooked food for The Kids so that they'll be well-fed while I'm gone. Everything I have done today has taken me three or four times longer to do than it normally would. Suffice it to say that I barely even touched my "to do list" and I'm leaving for Singapore on Saturday.

Some days just don't go as planned.

Oh, and by the way. Rev called yesterday morning at 10:21 to say he was coming to hook up the pump. "When, Rev?" "In an hour." He finally showed up at 3:45! Yes. I had a few words for him. Remember the extra tile he was going to return for us? Um-hmm. Trying to pull a fast one, aren't you Rev! A friend of ours is putting a pool in. He called DH yesterday and asked him about the extra tile we had - Rev is doing his pool. When Rev came by he said he was taking the tile and he thought we would get about 700 riyals back for the extra. [Way over estimated the amount of tile we needed, I'd say.] He told DH's friend that the tile was going to cost 1000 riyals. WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE REV! We've already paid for the tile - and don't even think for a mere moment that we don't realize you marked the price up. Now, you're going to sell OUR tile to a friend of ours and pay us 700 riyals and pocket the other 300? Oh, I don't think so. DH is dealing with this. I about blew a gasket when DH was telling me what was going on with the tile. Better that DH handles it so that I don't hurt Rev.

7 comments:

  1. Rev is the typical "arab" trader....

    Inventory the freezer, LOL. You sound like me, I also store my cigs in the freezer. I don't however have 21 cartons unless I just returned from a visit with my GF in Columbia SC.

    BTW, how long will it take to get to Singapore

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  2. We call him the "Filipino Mafia," here, Janice.

    It is worse than an inventory, Janice. I actually have a "spreadsheet" taped inside one of my cupboards so I know exactly what I have and how many. It gets pretty used / abused though, so has to be done a couple of times a year. My problem is not crossing out inventory - but I need to be better about adding to the inventory when I purchase new stuff. I ship all my cigarettes over from the States once a year - that is why there are 21 cartons in there now. There were 35 in September...

    Total travel time to Singapore is 10.50 hours - with a 2 hour layover. So - eight hours, more or less. Sleeping time, though. Flight leaves late.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL, I have a spreadsheet on my laptop for the chest freezer. Once I transfer a pack of this or that I update the spreadsheet.

    I've oten thought using and RF scanner would be less time consuming and more acturate. And the inventory would be up-to-date.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my gosh. I so want one! A scanner. That would make all of my "inventories" so much easier. Great idea, Janice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I did freezer cooking once. It was difficult, but worth it to have things at the ready and not have to cook it.

    I would like to try this recipe of yours that combines chicken and all of those other ingredients. Will you post or e-mail me?

    Thanks!
    Amber

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amber - I will happily share it with you. You do realize when I refer to my kids I mean of the four-legged kind, right? [Not that people couldn't eat what I'm making - they easily could - but I cook it for a Great Dane and a Standard Poodle.]

    Double rice to the chicken
    [2 cups cooked rice to one cup cooked chicken]

    I do ten cups of cooked rice and five cups of cooked chicken.

    2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, diced to bite-sized pieces
    3 450 gram bags green beans
    2 450 gram bags broccoli

    Put the peeled, cut sweet potatoes in a big steamer, add frozen green beans and frozen broccoli. Cook veggies thoroughly.

    I then take a potato masher to the veggies - so The Kids cannot pick them out - it will be green and orange mush. Add the cooked chicken to the "mush." Then add the rice.

    Put it in freezer bags in individual servings. Freeze.

    Food is ready and all you need to do is defrost it the day before in the 'fridge. Then heat it for a couple of minutes - to just warm - IN A GLASS BOWL in the microwave. [Heating anything in plastic is very, very bad for your health!]

    Hope whoever it is you're fixing this for enjoys!

    ReplyDelete
  7. yes, I realized that your kids are of the canine species! hehe. I have lots of friends with dogs who also cook theirs. I even have a friend who has a raw/vegan pet. Thanks for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete

 
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