Isn't it amazing what you can do when you commit to doing it in writing on a public forum?

I have completed 6 days of my 9-day commitment to eat only foods that I have on hand in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. No trips to the grocery store, no takeout, no restaurants. And it looks like I will make it the full 9 days in spite of being thrown a curveball:

On day 3 the refrigerator & freezer went on the fritz and stopped cooling completely! The temp in the fridge went up and then held at 50F, and the temp in the freezer is holding at 20F.

I have been "triaging" the order I eat things, and since I do not want to take a chance on getting sick I did throw away quite a bit from the fridge: chicken sausage, eggs, Egg Beaters, milk, and mayo. I had really been counting on those things to give me protein during these 9 days! Oh, well. Life happens.

I am assuming that things with plenty of sugar, salt, or vinegar are going to be okay. The things in the freezer are all safe, tho definitely have lost quality and general appeal because they are partially defrosted. [Last night I baked some sweet potato fries that turned out semi-mushy because they were only half-frozen when they went in the oven.]

The repair company is coming on Tuesday, so hopefully the fridge will be fully functional by the time DH returns home.

I will admit that if the fridge/freezer had completely stopped working and everything in it had to be dumped, I probably would have let myself go the store and restock.

I am going to have to deal with getting reimbursed for the repair from our friend/landlord who lives overseas. In the past we just deducted any house-related expenses (we had to get the garage door repaired twice, and we paid his property tax bills for him) from the following month's rent, but we had prepaid our final month's rent so we don't owe him any more money. We'll see how that goes ...

P.S. In the interest of "full disclosure," I did buy a glass of lemonade from the lemonade stand of one of my client's daughters, but I'm not counting that as a takeout purchase but rather "PR for the business."