I had a turkey from 2004. And 2006.

Yup.

If you follow me on Instagram (which you totally should! We have a lot of fun over there.), you already know that this week, I defrosted my chest freezer.

(Remember when I bought this freezer?   And remember how dreadful my old one was? I completely forgot about the leaking rusty water until this morning.)

I don’t think that I’ve ever actually defrosted it in the 6 years we’ve owned it.

I’d feel bad about that, but the frost buildup actually wasn’t super-duper out of control.   I must have a good freezer!

Anyhoo, I took EVERYTHING out, poured hot water down the sides, got rid of all the ice, dried it out, and put things back.

During the defrosting process, I uncovered three (3!) turkeys.

I remember getting them free at my grocery store for several years (holiday promotions, I think!) but since we have family in the area, I never cooked them at the holidays, and they just kind of sat in my freezer untouched.

The turkeys were from 2004-2006.

(!)

Yup.

So, they predate my blog (and my food waste obsession) by several years.

At this point, I didn’t want to thaw and cook them.

I mean, I’m sure they’re safe to eat but I feel like the juiciness levels might be a tad compromised by this point, so

I could see myself cooking them and then trying to figure out what to do with a ton of not-delicious turkey.

Sooo, I listed ’em on freecycle, and sure enough, someone came to pick them up within 30 minutes.

Perhaps they’ll make pet food?   Or broth?

I dunno.

But I do know that I love freecycle. I’m so happy to be rid of the turkeys!

While most of the stuff in my chest freezer was a-ok, there were a few things I couldn’t save.

Some of those veggies had just been frozen for WAY too long, and I remember that sausage being not-delicious when I bought it in a bulk pack several years ago.

(At which point I sensibly froze the rest of it, because of course sausage becomes much more delicious after sitting in a freezer for 3 years. #protip)

The ricotta cheese container?   Let me zoom in on that for ya.

Yup.   It says 2009.   Which means it’s been in the freezer almost as long as I’ve owned the freezer.

Whoops.

Most of my freezer waste was able to be composted, so there’s that. And now my chest freezer is delightfully organized, plus I know exactly what’s in it.

On to my fridge….

I did my usual freeze-all-the-extra-fruit-thats-about-to-go-bad thang….

And I found some elderly chicken hiding in the back of the fridge.

So, this was a little bit of a sad week, because I threw away two meat products.

But on the upside (because you know there is always an upside!), I did freecycle three huge birds.

And considering how long it had been since I thoroughly cleaned out my chest freezer, I feel pretty happy that my waste wasn’t more!

I did discover that I have a small excess of cranberries…

But not as many as that time I blogged about the scarcity principle and cranberries.

I have three whole bags and two partial bags, which isn’t that bad.   I can totally use that up by making some cranberry bread and cranberry sauce.

And maybe a pan of pineapple cranberry bars are in order as well.

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So.   What’s up in food waste news for you?   Any 11 year old turkeys surfacing at your house??   😉