Stinky, Stinky, Stinky!

Before Mike and I drove out to Utah last week, we decided to be clever and turn off the power to our house in order to save some money on the utility bill. You see, when we spent two weeks in Germany last year, we were quite surprised to receive a utility bill that was double it’s normal cost, especially considering we were not at home ½ of that month’s time. Our city utilities office was not able to offer us any explanation back then, so we decided to make sure this didn’t happen again. We realized that we shouldn’t turn off the power to our entire house though. After careful consideration we made sure to leave the power on to our heater (lowered to 60 degrees) and hot water heater so that the pipes would not freeze or burst. However... we did not think about the refrigerator!

The moment I walked in to the kitchen last night, after our 20 hour drive, I was greeted by the most appalling grotesque smell. This is what happens when you leave a refrigerator full of food unpowered for two weeks: Frozen meat and vegetables defrost, rot and create a slimy, smelly sludge across the bottom of the freezer. All of the jarred condiments, sauces and little cooking extras grew various fuzzy molds. Surprisingly, the Coffee-mate coffee creamer both appeared and smelled absolutely fine, although I chose to throw it out anyway of course. I now wonder what kind of preservatives are in my beloved pumpkin spice creamer? I cleaned and disinfected the entire fridge right away, in case anyone was wondering.

Learn from our mistake; make sure to leave power on for your refrigerator too.