Lesson #2 My grandparents will save everything and eat anything.

After the fridge fiasco was over, the next task was trasferring the food from the old fridge into the new one. Unfortunately we all left my grandfather unattended for this task, so he proceeded to transfer every single thing that was in that old fridge and freezer. In no time, the new fridge looked like the old one, stocked to the rafters with unidentifiable food from unidentifiable dates. So my brother started going through the freezer to eliminated anything past say, the expiration date. Oh, little did we know how daunting that task would be. Below are some of the things we found in his freezer. Keep in mind, now, this is the freezer that was in the upstairs kitchen...we're not even going to the fridges and freezers in the basement. That's like the land of the lost, and I wouldn't even dare open the door to that realm.

Item #1: Burgers of some kind...no date

Item #2: Bell-View Mustard...no date (anyone ever heard of Bell-View anything??)

Item #3: Cool Whip...June 2003. Not bad!

tem #4: Unnamed frozen bacon...November 2002. Alright now we're talkin!

Item #5: The winner! Frozen Cubed Ham...June 27, 2002! And look! Tasty Recipe Ideas!

The last straw was when my grandfather saw us taking "perfectly good" things, as he called them, out of the freezer, so he started salvaging as if he was grabbing things out of the repo man's hands. He took out a frozen container with no label and no date. Opening it for him was like being a kid at Christmas time. What could it be?! Oh I'm so excited! Well turns out it was badly freezer-burned fruit, put in there any time between one week and 3 years ago. He immediately spooned himself a bowlful:

Mmmm, yummy raspberries! On the bright side, at least he's got plenty of money saved up in the event that a series of tropical storms sweep across upstate NY, displacing the residents and destroying all frozen food for miles.