Yum!

[telophase]

Last night's entertainment was going to the apartment of a couple we know who are out of town for a few weeks and cleaning out their fridge and freezer. The power had gone off and due to an error on the part of the company remained off for a week instead of for a few hours, as we discovered Sunday night when we checked on the place. It was turned back on yesterday after a furious phone call from the residents.

The fridge itself wasn't too bad, as it had been mostly emptied before they left, but the freezer was another matter. Most of the stuff was in boxes and still was, except for a bag of raspberries that leaked all over the bottom of the freezer and a chicken which had done much the same, forming a week-old raspberry-chicken slushie once the power returned.

The fridge is now empty and a base level of cleaning done, unplugged and propped open with enormous bowls of baking soda sitting in it in an attempt to absorb some of the odor. Which, while still lurking around the kitchen, is significantly better now that the chicken is no longer in the place.

Comments

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

An acidic cleaner (lemon juice or vinegar will work) does wonders on cutting down rotten meat smells, which tend to contain basic amine- and amide- groups.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks. I'll pass that on to them. :)

[riofriotex.livejournal.com]

This was always my big fear when going on a trip longer than a long weekend - that the power might go out while I was gone, which often happened in the Pac NW. I always tried to make sure both the fridge and the freezer were relatively empty before leaving; definitely no meat in the latter!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Never happened to me, but now I'm going to be super-paranoid about it. XD

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

As you may have seen from a recent post of mine, I'm more worried about the power going off long enough for things to spoil mildly enough that when they refreeze it is not readily apparent.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'd notice that the ice in the ice bucket had melted and refrozen. :)

[mundeemo.livejournal.com]

Also a sponge soaked in vanilla extract and put in the fridge will also give it a nice smell. We had an old fridge that stunk, after baking soda and vinegar wipe down this gave it a rather pleasant smell.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

What about Febreezing it? I had good luck with Febreeze for the disastrous sewage smell in the basement.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The woman in the couple is allergic to about a billion things - I'd hesitate to use it without knowing if it would harm her. But the man is coming back up to town this weekend (they're in another city temporarily for work), so he can decide what to do.