Year Three, Week Forty-Eight -Chicken Juice......

Babygirl wanted chicken stir fry for dinner.  So Hubby got out a bag of frozen chicken breasts and set them on a towel in the fridge to thaw.  Then....the next day we celebrated Hubby's birthday with a restaurant meal.  And the next night, celebrated Squeaker's Daddy's birthday with HIS favorite meal.  Believe me, the chicken was thoroughly thawed.

When Hubby went to get the chicken out to cook it, he made the horrifying discovery that the bag had sprung a leak.  There was raw chicken juice in the veggie drawer.  In the fruit drawer.  And in the bottom of the fridge.  I arrived home late from work to find him dealing with the extremely frustrating aftermath.

It's a bigger problem than it sounds like.  Our fridge is mutant-size HUGE. And it's built in - tightly.  I've been contemplating a full-out clean for a while now and wasn't sure how to move it so I could get the drawers out.  Fate forced my hand:  It had to be done.  And it had to be done immediately. 

It took Hubby and I an hour, working together, to move the fridge, get it emptied, and get it clean and disinfected. Then we had to assess the food that had been in the drawers - and throw it all out:  Every apple, each pack of organic carrots, every leaf of lettuce.

"When in doubt, throw it out!"  This is the final lesson, after they've covered all the food safety rules in the  post-transplant diet.  No matter what else you do, no matter how careful you are, no matter WHAT else, you have to toss any food that is even the slightest bit suspicious.  And food, especially raw fruits and veggies, must not come in contact with meat, even in the shopping cart.  Most of the checkout staff at our local Aldi don't scold me for pre-bagging our meat anymore.  And contaminating food that is meant to be consumed raw with a large quantity of raw chicken is beyond being 'in doubt.'  That kind of food wastage is discouraging and disheartening.

And more discouraging and disheartening?  Babygirl wasn't feeling well enough to enjoy her stir-fry, and went to bed early with a headache.  I'd throw away a lot more than a few drawers full of food to see her smiling and well.

DeeDee