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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not want a deer in my freezer?

64 replies

PissPotPourri · 29/04/2016 19:29

So we're putting the DC to bed earlier and DH casually drops into conversation that he will take them tomorrow morning to see his friend and pick up a deer. Not stopping there, he explains that they will have to skin the deer and chop it up for the freezer, at which point dc1 (4) dissolves into floods of tears. Luckily dc2 (2) wasn't paying much attention.
I am 33 weeks pregnant with dc3 and in the process of filling the limited remaining space in our upright freezer (NB not chest freezer!) with batch cooked meals in preparation for the busy time ahead and do not want the space to be filled with every conceivable cut of venison. Not that it would fit...nowhere near.
AIBU to have subsequently told DH that there is no way we will be collecting the deer tomorrow and that he was absolutely thoughtless to have gone into such detail with the DC?
In his defense, DH grew up in a rural area of a country where all aspects of farming and subsequent butchery were par for the course, and I love venison and will always welcome the odd joint of it during the season. I therefore don't think he's a complete knob, but just thoughtless in terms of space, timing (having not discussed it with me previously) and having been quite so detailed with the DC. AIBU?

OP posts:
AnnieOnnieMouse · 29/04/2016 21:22

Tell him to buy another freezer for it, while he's out and about!

Original poster
PissPotPourri · 29/04/2016 21:23

penisbeaker my DC are really really not at all sheltered from the truth about meat. Far from! It was just the phrasing he used at the time he used it. Our children understand where their food comes from, but for a 4 year old to imagine the skinning process of a deer is arguably unnecessary.

OP posts:
MammaTJ · 29/04/2016 21:36

I would be scouring the FB selling pages for a 2nd hand freezer to accommodate the dead Bambi, but I am a country girl, brought up listening to my Granny breaking the legs of Thumper so she could skin it.

I love a bit of Bambi!

Adarajames · 30/04/2016 01:49

I'm veggie but I'll help you out and rehome some of the less popular cuts (dogs not, and she rather likes venison! Grin)

Rainbunny · 30/04/2016 02:02

Hmmm, are you friendly with your local butchers by any chance? I know the butcher in the village my parents live in will do them a favour and store some meat for a few months at a time. Mind you it's through this butcher that they reserve their portion of a cow with their friends each year so he's understandably accommodating. You never know though, ask your butcher even if it's for a small fee...

MattDillonsPants · 30/04/2016 02:21

Why do people call it Venison when it's Deer?

DecaffCoffeeAndRollupsPlease · 30/04/2016 02:34

Maybe it comes from a similar situation to our 'beef'? So, misshearing, repronouncing a foreign word, possibly from travel or whilst an invaded and occupied country?

noddingoff · 30/04/2016 03:12

I hear ya OP. A few months ago I was pregnant with our first. Our little upright fridge freezer drawers were crammed with caveman hunter crap: a vast amount of mackerel packaged in batches too big for two people to eat in one go; various unidentified lumps of meat (probably in various states of freezer burn); various things with fur and feathers on that he either hadn't had time to dress or that was intended for dog retrieving training; the saddle of an illicit errant hare (illegal to shoot here-one of his friends, somewhat ignorant of the law and overexcited by ground game on a rough shooting day, bagged it); and a pine marten that he'd found dead in the road and intended to have stuffed..some day. All crammed in so every time I opened it there were bits of fur and snipe beaks sticking out of the ever-increasing lump of ice (he would get upset when I threatened to defrost the freezer which it desperately needed).
His fantasy farmhouse includes big chest freezers, a meat safe, a smoke house and somewhere to butcher the pigs that he wants to own some day. He knows we can't afford it but still hasn't quite resigned hinself to the fact that we live in a tiny terraced townhouse FFS. I lost patience when I went on maternity leave and wanted to sort the freezer out...I said he could have one drawer full of red in tooth and claw stuff, the rest is going in the bin to make way for neatly stacked M+S ready meals. He made a massive game stew- the gamiest thing I've ever smelt- I used preganancy as an excuse not to eat any. He and the dog ate some of it then he admitted defeat and the badgers in the local park got the rest. There is still some well aged mackerel in the freezer (will probably be used as bait in the lobster pots currently stacked in a corner of our tiny back garden) but the rest now contains ready meals and ice cream. Result.

Ladyflip · 30/04/2016 05:03

Depending on what type of deer, it doesn't actually give that much meat. We get maybe 10lbs off a roe. Won't take up too much space.

Original poster
PissPotPourri · 30/04/2016 06:32

Nodding our DHs sound so similar. A freezer stuffed with good intentions... I'm hoping one day we'll own a place with room for his chest freezer/s. And woodland for his pigs etc.

OP posts:
MardleBum · 30/04/2016 06:35

YANBU about the freezer space but YABU about sheltering the children about the realities of how meat arrives on our plates.

lasttimeround · 30/04/2016 07:43

I'd love a deer in the freezer. But I can see you've other things to organise.

I must say I'm also fairly ok with young children understanding that id we eat meat someone somewhere killed an animal. But I grew up in Africa and didn't just know this but saw it from a young age.

DeadGood · 30/04/2016 07:49

"Would probably chuck out other stuff to make room! (Better not even think about it with my triple pack of double dip peanut butter magnums...)"

God, HIBVU. Those magnums will be ESSENTIAL once the baby arrives.

Original poster
PissPotPourri · 30/04/2016 07:52

Rainbunny a very good suggestion but unfortunately I don't know any local butchers. I'm thinking farmshops though...

OP posts:
WellErrr · 30/04/2016 08:01

Why do people call it Venison when it's Deer?

Why call it pork when it's pig?

One is the name of the animal, one is the name of the meat.

Would a local butcher store it for you OP? They'd butcher it too for a fee, venison mince is nice and much more versatile than steaks.

I think your kids need to learn where food comes from though 😂😂

JennyOnAPlate · 30/04/2016 08:12

Why did I not know that peanut butter magnums are a thing???

Eva50 · 30/04/2016 08:16

If he de-bones the haunches and rolls them ready for roasting and takes the meat off the front legs it won't take up much space. Otherwise I would get a small chest freezer. You surely don't want to miss a bit of venison. A second freezer would allow for more batch cooking.

WalkingdeadWHAT · 30/04/2016 08:17

OP my DP came home with a whole stags head the other, replete with antlers.

Apparently for the wall Hmm. It weighs a fuck ton and will probably kill anyone it falls on.

Might use it as a coat hook instead

derxa · 30/04/2016 08:22

with batch cooked meals in preparation for the busy time ahead This annoys me beyond reason so I ABU.
Don't you have friends who want a bit of venison?
You sound very proud of your hunter gatherer husband who can skin a deer and convert a loft space, actually. Which is a good thing.

Chattymummyhere · 30/04/2016 08:38

At lest you get to eat it. When my dh brings home whole animals they go in the freezer ready for the dogs.

If you haven't got the space though his not thought it though.

Original poster
PissPotPourri · 30/04/2016 08:47

Derxa, surprisingly few actually (not friends-friends who want venison!). Found the same when we had some lambs given to us, people aren't as welcoming of meat that doesn't come from the supermarket as we are. Shame.
I am proud of him actually, sorry if this is coming across as a smug stealth boast...wasn't my intention. He is completely over enthusiastic at times though and I'm the ball and chain that gives him the reality check.

OP posts:
Zaurak · 30/04/2016 08:54

We have a moose in ours.
And there's still some reindeer in there somewhere...

Original poster
PissPotPourri · 30/04/2016 08:58

How would you compare the taste of moose and reindeer to venison, out of interest zaurak?

OP posts:
Zaurak · 30/04/2016 08:58

why call it venison when it's Deer?Why call it pork when it's pig?

I actually know ... The word for the animal comes from the Anglo Saxon/British/old Norse but the name for the meat comes from the Norman. The peasants never got to eat most of the good stuff.

Hence cow (similar word ko in the Norse versus beef which is from the French 'boeuf'.)

Motherinlawsdung · 30/04/2016 08:58

Could you use all the parts that are suitable for casseroles etc to make some of the batch meals that you are making anyway? then you could stack them neatly in their meal-sized tubs. Venison casserole is v v tasty.
I don't have any suggestion for all the other bits apart from what previous posters have said, give pieces away to friends!

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