Two days ago I get the call from the processor: my venison is ready to be picked up.
Crap.
I forgot I need to buy a chest freezer! What with Thanksgiving and family visiting, it slipped my mind. Big thing to slip my mind, I know. I had pretty much settled on something, called the store, they had a floor model I could look at but none actually in stock (too big to keep many on hand). But salesguy said they could have one delivered by Friday. That works. I seal the deal. I call the processor back and explain the situation. It’s a tough call because they need the freezer space so it’s not encouraged for me to keep things around their, but I also have no where to put it. But Friday or Saturday at the latest? No problem.
Today the delivery place calls. Apparently the freezers are out of stock, back ordered, earliest delivery is Tuesday. Uh…. OK, then how come they said there was one in stock… oh whatever, never mind, I’m talking with drones and they can’t solve the problem. So what can I do? Reschedule delivery for Tuesday. Call processor, explain the situation, but the guy that does the game processing is out sick. I hope I can keep a hold of my stuff… maybe pay a late charge, but I can live with that. Plus I’m calling almost every day trying to stay on top of things so it’s not like I don’t care… I’m just stuck.
My only hope is Tuesday doesn’t roll around and they call back with more excuses.
And I was so looking forward to having venison steaks this weekend. *sigh*
Stuff From Hsoi 
Cold front moved through up here. Low’s in the mid 20’s tonight. I could make some space in my attic for you.
Failing that, frozen meat will stay frozen a long time in a decent ice chest or even wrapped in a blanket. We bring meat from the father-in-law’s in east TX to OKC all the time with no problems. It is about a six hour drive and there will still be frost on the sack-o-meat inside the blanket when we arrive.
If push comes to shove, go rent a freezer or gigantic ice chest for the weekend.
You could also, you know, buy a freezer that is in stock, or the floor model. Hell, you’d probably save a few bucks buying the floor model.
They couldn’t sell me the floor model.
I may swing by the processor tomorrow to talk with the boss-man in person and ensure we can work something out. I’m totally cool paying their late pick-up fee. If it runs into problems well… I may just use your attic. 😉
I do know the stuff will keep for a little while, but the question is for how long can I keep that up. I mean, if I knew for sure they’d have the freezer to me on Tuesday I might pick up the meat on Saturday and keep it in coolers for the couple days and be just fine with it. It’s so cold here in Texas right now that should help if I kept the coolers in the garage. But given they (Sears) blew the purchase and delivery, I’m a little uncertain about actually getting the freezer on Tuesday. So I really don’t want to take the meat out of a known cold storage facility until I’ve got the freezer in the garage and running.
*sigh*
Oh you said “rent a freezer”. Hrm. That’s something to think about, especially if things don’t happen on Tuesday and the rental place can get me immediate turnaround.