I decided to tackle the fridge today and….stranger things may have happened…but I’m not sure where or when. I cleaned out a lot of stuff from the fridge and freezer before we left for Gustav, potential smelly things…mostly veggies and meats….sealed others (with the potential of survival during short term power loss, like cheese) in ziplock baggies….
One thing I forgot to do, though, was dump out the half gallon milk we had.
Well check this….
I opened the fridge this morning. No stench. We didn’t double over vomiting, like that opening sequence to the old medical drama Quincy, or like we did after Katrina.
First thing I see is the milk and I think, “oh this is not gonna be good”
I pick it up. It’s still liquid.
“Hmm,” I continue to ponder, “that sure is odd..surely this stuff should be at least a semi-solid by now, like good blue cheese dressing”
I glance at the expiration date, a gesture in futility as I don’t even know what todays date is, and think, “damn, that was last month..or at least last week”
so I open it and am about to pour it down the sink, when curiosity gets the best of me. I sniffed it.
Not putrid. Did the tip-of-tongue taste test (hey I might be crazy but I wasn’t going to chug a whole glass of it or anything)..And….it was still good….
I ended up dumping it all out anyway, because anything that stays good that long, during times of electric loss no less (we estimate that we were without power anywhere from 24 to 48 hours), is certainly unnatural and should be disposed of like hazardous waste..,I thought of bottling some of it and sending it to the boys in Atlanta at the Center for Disease Control but thought better of it.
As a result of all of this I am imposing a beer, wine, water and Capri Sun rule (the boy has to drink something) in my fridge. It just seems like the right thing to do.
Sincerely,
The Management
