The afternoon did not turn out how I planned, but it worked out for the best anyway

Unbeknownst to me, when my husband went out to the small freezer to bring in a new package of butter this morning, some of the contents of the freezer shifted and prevented the freezer door from closing all the way. This is our small upright freezer that we use to keep all of our meat, our butter, and various stocks. With an upright, if something prevents the door from fully closing, one might not notice. That's what happened with my husband.

This afternoon I went out to the fridge/freezer right next to the small upright one, in order to get another container of applesauce. I noticed the door was ajar. When I went to close the door, it wouldn't hold shut. I opened it to find a bunch of frost on some of the items. I checked every item, moved some to the chest freezer to make room for the door to close, and came across 3 packages of meat that felt squishy, but cold. Those three were nearest the opening where the door was ajar. Fortunately, everything else was okay. But it alarmed me

I brought the three packages of meat into the kitchen and took the temperature of each using a digital thermometer. They were about 32 degrees F. Two packages were ground beef and one was a steak. I decided just to play it safe and cook all three packs of meat this afternoon.

Today was supposed to be one of my easy cooking nights. I cook 4 nights a week. My husband cooks with me one night (I do some of the sides and he does the main). And my two daughters each take a night. This week of all weeks I am super busy with Christmas work. So I had planned for tonight to be tuna melts, a quick and easy dinner. I was forced into changing plans, and instead I combined the two packs of ground beef and made an extra large meatloaf. In addition, I turned the steak into a pot of stew. I'm wiped out. Not because I cooked a lot. But because I hustled and worked all morning and into early afternoon, and then cooked for the rest of the day.

But here's the good part. When I decided to just bake a huge meatloaf, I also decided to make double the side dishes for tonight. So, I have dinner made for tomorrow and ready to reheat,.And I have a pot of stew for lunches for tomorrow and maybe Friday.

You know how the saying goes "necessity is the mother of invention?" Well, in this case, necessity was the mother of productivity. I'm now far enough ahead in cooking daily meals that I can use my time to be more productive in other areas. It all worked out for the best.