Hellobee Boards

No advice on the food but on the leaving it open - my brother was notorious when we were growing up for going to the downstairs freezer, riffling around, and then not closing the door fully. Needless to say after a few times of their nearly grown son leaving it slightly ajar, ruining hundreds of dollars worth of food, my parents were ready to throttle him. Luckily for him they just installed a lock on the door instead. It's more like a latch, really. There's an arm that swings over a piece that's on the door, then you twist that piece just to be sure everything's snug. You don't HAVE to twist it of course, but it does act as a nice little reminder sometimes. I'm sure there's a technical term for the latch but that's the best I've got this early in the morning

Depending on the meat, you could just cook it all and then refreeze. So if you had ground beef, cook it and then freeze so it can be used for tacos or thrown into spaghetti sauce. Grill the chicken and use in various dishes. It'll take a little more work but you'll save money.

I don't have any tips re: the food, but our freezer did that more times than I can count. It just pops open. We put a safety first strap on it and no issues since!