Spring Thaw

As the world warms to spring, so do the depths of our freezer. Yesterday we discovered a no-longer frozen ice-cream soup and some slightly thawed bricks of other things, prompting a Stern Lecture on how the children are not to go in the freezer unattended until they are at least ten years old. At least! We tossed the spoiled ice cream, cleaned up the stickiness and firmly closed the freezer, figuring the meat hadn't defrosted enough for any horrible things to spawn. This morning, a freezer check revealed the entire contents of the freezer unfrozen. Still very, very cold but all pliable. UGH. The good news is that I usually let the frozen stores wane in spring and summer, when it is unlikely that weather will prevent a weekly shopping run. The bad news is that I still had a good two weeks of meat stored and now it's all got to be eaten or at least cooked before I can refreeze it. Anyone have a good recipe for cooked chicken or cooked maple-flavored breakfast sausage? We'll do something with the beef this week and I left the chops I just stuck in there last night, figuring they were never frozen in the first place. I'm considering installing a siren that will blare if the freezer door is open. I think it would be less annoying than periodically having to cook everything all at once.