Did I just lose all of my deer meat?

[WI in the west]

I saw a post like this a month ago, and found out about those freezer alarms. For $20-$30 cant go wrong and definatly gives some piece of mind. Set mine to go off at 20 degrees figuring that buys me some time to replace the freezer or transport meat or what ever that way. And its in an easy spot to glance daily that the temps look right

 

[camping1601]

I've had this one for a few years now and it's been flawless. I use Lithium batteries and try to replace them every six months.

Amazon.com

 

[grfox92]

How long?

I wouldn't feel comfortable giving it a time stamp there are too many variables.

But for example it would be nothing for meat to get off loaded out of a refrigerated 18 wheeler and put at room temperature for 3 hours before it makes its way back into refrigeration.

In grocery stores products need to be rotated, old stock worked out first, ect. Sometimes trucks show up late or early and have to be unloaded. stuff sits around. The goals is always try to get it back on a cooler asap, but when I entered that industry I couldn't believe how long stuff stayed out of refrigeration as the norm. Longer then you would think.

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[Holocene]

This is a fantastic thread, and thank you to everyone for sharing ideas and experience.

Ive had a big upright freezer go out about 6 times over the past ten years, and I’ve been lucky each time to catch it but not smart enough to mitigate the future risk by getting one of these temp timers. That will be happening this week.

Smell/taste test can work, but your bowels are the last judge. I have pushed things to and beyond the human health edge when eating all sorts of critters — you’ll start to refine the feel and smell of bad meat. Tacky to touch, oxidized smell, sometimes that rainbow surface color like you sea on cheap roast beef lunch meat…

These experiences can refine and deepen how you value and care for wild game meat. I’ve lost a fair share due to accidents and my own carelessness. We try to donate spoiled parts back to the woods instead of local landfill, but ultimately id like to manage the situation better up front.

Really digging this temp alarm, and now I’d like to teach my wife how to monitor it and deal with the freezer or meat in an emergency.

 

[theddguide]

I agree with others as it's probably fine. I lost a bunch one time after a storm came through and took out the power and the breaker was tripped on the freezer outlet. Ever since, I've made it a point to always check my freezers, at least every other day or so.

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[Red Letters]

Smell/taste test can work, but your bowels are the last judge. I have pushed things to and beyond the human health edge

Thats like using the smoke detector for an oven timer, it’s too late by that time.

 

[Holocene]

Thats like using the smoke detector for an oven timer, it’s too late by that time.

Haha, I like that comparison.

I was being somewhat facetious, but somewhat serious as well about the bowels being the last judge.

My view is that the human history of eating meat -- or eating anything -- is a lot more nuanced than the coin toss "it's good vs it's not good." With meat, there is a continual process of decomposition from the moment an animal dies. That decomposition slows dramatically upon freezing. As humans we've figured out many neat tricks to slow or avoid the kinds decomposition that make us sick. Freezers. Yetis. Cooking. Salt curing. Fancy salumi. Jerky. Rationalization. Decently good noses.

Wild mushrooms are similar. Some are delicious, some will make you sick, some will kill you dead. How do we know?

A lot of people got tummy aches or died in the long trial and error history of eating and living without Yetis and Maytags. As a hunter and food lover, I appreciate how their risk taking gave us some fantastic cuisine. And when I eat some elk that maybe sat in the fridge a little long and I my stomach grumbles yet I live, there's this tiny if overly romantic connection to the people who had to eat some really questionable, shitty protein just to stay alive.

Seriously, I'm an intense and picky eater and cook. But there's been some meals........

 

[elkyinzer]

The nose knows

 

[Gobbler36]

It’s fine
Refreeze it and cook if it stinks don’t eat it

 

[Danny Hoey]

Smell it. If it stinks toss it. If it smells fine but you're still worried, then pressure can it.

 

[SouthPaw]

Once had a 5 cubic foot freezer full of meat, domestic and wild game, lose power during the summer. The freezer was in the garage.

Was out of town for a week and a half. Went in the garage and the smell was horrific; much worse than a week after archery elk. Had to throw everything out. Then all the bad meat got to stew in the AZ sun and the vacuum sealing popped on all of it. Got to sit in the trash can for 6 full days. The whole neighborhood smelled like death. Am surprised no cops showed up looking for a dead body.

Thanks for the chuckle, almost spit out my coffee.

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[Mike D Texas]

I have 2 freezers one is full of whitetail and axis meat and the other is full of axis capes and a head that I need to do something with. One of the freezers is in my shop that I don’t go into every day. I’ve been looking for a while for a way to remotely monitor them via WiFi and finally found this on Amazon.

I can set alarms to alert me if the temp gets too high. You buy the hub and there are all kinds of neat peripherals that can be added to the system.

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