A number of years ago, a co-worker of mine joined a frozen food club. He raved about what a great deal he was getting. The club would deliver frozen food right to his door each month.

The way the club worked was that you signed up for a year and they provided you with a predetermined amount of frozen fruit, vegetables, and meat. The amount of each was determined by which plan you chose. And, in return, you made monthly payments to the club.

Each month, you called them and told them what you wanted and they delivered it right to your door. They even put it in the freezer for you.

Now, the operative word in the plan is “predetermined”. This means that if your plan called for only 12 chickens, then you could only get 12 chickens. If you wanted more chickens, you had to sign up for an additional plan. And, if your plan called for 30 pounds of green beans, then you got 30 pounds of green beans whether you wanted them or not.

Now, my co-worker was about 6 months into the plan when he ran out of meat.   So, he called the food club and asked about getting additional meat. The club told him that they could upgrade his plan to get more meat but it would also include more vegetables. He told them that he had enough vegetables to last the year and only needed the meat. The club told him that the meat is only sold as a package with the vegetables. So, reluctantly, he agreed.

A few days later, the new meat order arrived and all was well. He now had all of the meat that he would need for the next 6 months and more vegetables than he could ever use in 2 years.

When his contract with the club expired, he chose not to renew. That is when things got interesting. Since he was not renewing, the food club had to deliver the balance of the food left on the plan, namely, frozen vegetables.

When the vegetables arrived, he discovered that there was not enough room in his freezer. Fortunately, his mother-in-law lived just down the road and she had plenty of room in her freezer. So between the two of them, they managed to handle all of the vegetables. All was well once again.

When the heat of summer arrived, he decided that they need to head north for a vacation. So, he loaded up his family and his mother-in-law and headed out in the car.

He had only been gone about two days when the storm hit. The high winds ripped a large branch out of a tree by his house and it fell on to the power lines which, in turn, snapped. Since he was at the end of the power run, the only ones affected were his house and his mother-in-laws house.

When they returned two weeks later, they found the mess. The food in both freezers had not only thawed, it had also begun to rot. Some of the bags of vegetables had swollen up like a soccer ball while other had just plain burst. What a mess!

Initially, he thought that he could just bag the mess and put it out for the regular trash pick-up. But, it soon became clear that a dumpster would be needed. And so, a dumpster was delivered that very day and clean up began.

After three days and gallons of hot soapy water, the house was back to normal. He never mentioned the food club again.