Our refrigerator isn't

[redbird]

Sometime today, our refrigerator stopped refrigerating. The good news is that it waited long enough that cattitude was able to cook, and all of us to eat, a fine roast chicken dinner. We currently have a few things stashed in a cooler, with an emphasis on getting me out the door tomorrow functional and with lunch available: hence, some cooked chicken in a ziploc bag, an unopened quart of milk, and an unopened quart of yogurt. Also the ginger paste, because it was so much of a nuisance to find, and a stick of butter on general principles. Watermelon, blueberries, onions, and various jams are being trusted to survive for a little while on their own.

It's possible that ice got into a piece of the machinery, in which case the problem will resolve itself, at the cost of the contents of our refrigerator and freezer. If not, Cattitude will track down the super and arrange for a new fridge--the landlord, not us, owns and maintains the appliances.

Also, there's a sign up next to the elevator, dated today, saying there will be no hot water "12 a.m. to 12 p.m." because of boiler repair. We have no idea of what the person who posted this (who has a dubious grasp of English) meant by that--midnight to noon, or noon to midnight? We're guessing, though it doesn't say, that it will be tomorrow. Assuming, of course, that this isn't just some bored person's idea of a joke.

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Butter will be fine, even at high temperatures, for a couple of days. I habitually leave it out when it isn't hot enough to melt, and while I have had it go rancid, it takes weeks. Milk and cream and yoghurt will be fine for about twenty-four hours if you can keep them somewhere relatively cool -- at 15 they'd be fine for about 3-4 days, at 20, for about two. Above that they can sour quite fast -- when I was a kid and we didn't have a fridge, we'd have milk delivered every day and yesterday's milk would be bad in summer.

Cooked meat needs to be refrigerated. Raw beef or lamb can be OK for 24 hours or so -- two or three days at 15 -- as long as it gets cooked thoroughly. Chicken and pork needs to be refrigerated or eaten the day you bought it.

Onions will keep unrefrigerated for about three months.

Ginger paste -- if it's the "lazy ginger" kind in a jar -- AM doesn't refrigerate, and I don't know how fast she goes through it, but it seems to do fine.

The preserves will also probably keep for longer than you'd believe.

[redbird]

We're trusting preserves and pickles. Cattitude seems to have ignored my suggestion and gotten rid of the eggs.

We're keeping the bedroom at 23 or so; the kitchen is hitting 30 or above for several hours of afternoon/evening.

Beyond that, we have a very good cooler, it turns out. Small, but good.