I don't know why I cannot get my html to format right. Bullets elude me. Sorry.
It's all the ants' fault. We have ants trying to eat our cat food. We have tried various techniques to hide the cat food from them, to no avail. They got into the bag of food, so I put the bag into our full-size freezer to kill the ants. Last night, when putting the bag back into the freezer, I did not fully shut the door. The freezer has a nifty, very loud temperature alarm but we did not hear it from the basement through various shut doors.
This morning, all the food had thawed.
The inventory of destruction:
Ruined:
Stouffers's lasagna
Archer Farms teryaki chicken breasts
seven Smart Ones lunches
three 1/2 gallons of milk
two homemade servings of sweet and sour pork
two homemade servings of steak enchilada
three pounds of turkey burgers
What I need to cook today:
six pounds chicken breasts
one whole chicken
one flank steak
eleven one-pound pork chops
What I plan to make:
Busy Day Chicken Rice Casserole
Okra, Chicken, and Rice Casserole
Flank steak, dry rub, grilled
Oh, and in case I hadn't mentioned it, Chris twisted his ankle pretty badly so now he can't help me in the kitchen. And I haven't really slept in two days.
Feel free to send your sympathies to my pity party.
No, my extremely foul mood about the whole thing is slowly dissipating into humor. Still, it's going to be a long day! I'm off to the grocery store now . . .
Yikes! I am SO sorry to hear this. If I didn't live on the other side of the country, I'd offer you some help.
ReplyDeleteHang in there!!!!
And I look forward to enjoying all of it! Looks like I picked a pretty good time to visit.
ReplyDeleteNeil: Great point! I was planning to do my meal planning for your visit on Monday, but now much of my planning and cooking is done for me! :D
ReplyDeleteJaneane: Thanks for your sweetness.
ReplyDeleteDearest Katherine,
ReplyDeleteHolymotherofGod! All that and a teething baby. Yes, it is The Ants Take Over The Universe Season. I have them too and they've ruined lot$ of cat food--but no freezer full of food. My thoughts (it will be funny at some point) are with you. I'm sending "Oh darlings", "you poor things", "Ah, what a misery", balloons & hot tea to your well deserved, if temporary, Pity Party. Love, Stella
Stella: Yes, I was praying a lot to our Holy Mother of God today while cooking! Made lots of progress and will finish tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHey Katherine,
ReplyDeleteJust a few ant/cat food tips as we were plagued with them earlier in the summer (and are every summer).
Keep your cat food in a big sealed container (they actually sell huge tupperware things for pet food).
Also for small infestations baking soda and vinegar DOES work. Or I should say it has worked for me EVERY year but this year we had super ants because they totaly didn't care and marched right over it. I had never seen anything like it LOL...But it is worth a try..as I said it worked for us EVERY other year.
Keep your cat food in a different area where you don't have ants (we moved out cat bowl into the dining room)...try upstairs somewhere.
Obviously make sure that alllll food stuff and every tiny crumb is cleaned up so they have nothing to eat. I empty the cannisters on my counter and put everything in zipclock baggies for the summer.
And last but not least..as grodey as it is the little ant traps work. We have been ant free since I put them down and you could easily find baby free places to put them (behind fridge, in cabinets, etc etc)
Hope some of that helps from a fellow ant sufferer!
I am so sorry for your major food losses and complete household upheaval because of the ants. They sure are a nuissance. We had them in several locations this year throughout the house. Finally, I bought the ant hotel/traps. They eat the food, take it back to the nest, and a day later...no more ants. So that the kids wouldn't be near the poisonous stuff, I actually coaxed the ants in myself for a while til I was sure that enough had gone in and out. haha....but they were gone the next day.
ReplyDeleteseems like you have it all planned out.
ReplyDeletehow frustrating.
hope john is not still teething. that would just be adding insult to injury!!
Katherine, Veggie Wash spray makes excellent ant murderer, if they are the small sugar ants... kills them on contact (kills flies too)- it is made out of orange essential oil and surfactant... its a little unsettling how quickly it kills on contact (I spray this on my food?) but clearly ant biology is different from human biology.
ReplyDeleteThat is dreadful, a entire freezer full of food. You have my pity, albeit late on the topic.
ReplyDelete