Hurricane areas - Food in your freezer tip

[wishesuponastar]

I saw this over on the Community Board - (Hurricane News post)
and thought it could help us in Budget board:

If you have to leave and you're worried about food in the freezer, do this before you evacuate:
1. Put all food in black garbage bags.
2. Freeze a small cup of water then place a coin on the top of the ice.
3. Place this in your freezer.
4. When you get home, see if the coin is still on top or has fallen to the bottom. If it's fallen to the bottom, throw away everything in the garbage bags.
Sounds simplistic but electricity can go out for several hours defrosting food and then come back on leading people to think the food is ok when it isn't.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Good idea (and a bump to keep this at the top)

 

[tinkarooni]

Good luck to everyone who may be in the path of this hurricane. Be safe.

I do the freezer trick everytime we go away because we constantly loose our power. We just put an ice cube in a paper cup and put int the freezer. If its melted when we return we know it melted and so did everything else and we chuck it. The ice cube is a super quick on the way out the door trick

 

[Janepod]

Also, today turn your fridge and freezer to the coldest possible setting. If you do lose power, it will buy you a little extra time.

 

[vicki_c]

That's a good tip about the cup - I'm going to do that today. We frequently lose power here when it's stormy - not looking forward to Irene's visit. I HATE not having power.

 

[ilovemk76]

Pack the freezer with ice. It will buy your time.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Good luck to everyone who may be in the path of this hurricane. Be safe.

I do the freezer trick everytime we go away because we constantly loose our power. We just put an ice cube in a paper cup and put int the freezer. If its melted when we return we know it melted and so did everything else and we chuck it. The ice cube is a super quick on the way out the door trick

thanks, that's alot quicker with the ice cube!

 

[disykat]

I'm not expecting a hurricane, but I'm off to do this in my freezer. Great tip.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I just look to see if the cubes in the ice cube thing have been melted and frozen back into a solid chunk.

If your freezer is full, it will stay frozen a whole lot longer. If it is not already full, fill it with containers of ice (fill up empty bottles with water, leaving a little space for the ice to expand). It will make a big difference.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I just look to see if the cubes in the ice cube thing have been melted and frozen back into a solid chunk.

If your freezer is full, it will stay frozen a whole lot longer. If it is not already full, fill it with containers of ice (fill up empty bottles with water, leaving a little space for the ice to expand). It will make a big difference.

I am going to do this when I get home just in case. I don't have a lot of stuff in the freezer but the extra ice blocks melting to cold water can only be a good thing.

 

[mkstlowe]

I saw this over on the Community Board - (Hurricane News post)
and thought it could help us in Budget board:

If you have to leave and you're worried about food in the freezer, do this before you evacuate:
1. Put all food in black garbage bags.
2. Freeze a small cup of water then place a coin on the top of the ice.
3. Place this in your freezer.
4. When you get home, see if the coin is still on top or has fallen to the bottom. If it's fallen to the bottom, throw away everything in the garbage bags.
Sounds simplistic but electricity can go out for several hours defrosting food and then come back on leading people to think the food is ok when it isn't.

Im a camper with a trailer i leave on site somewhere. I do this all the time. Great suggestion. I'm in Philly area and camping this weekend. So wish me luck through this storm.

 

[SandrA9810]

I like the black garbage bag part. That way you don't have to look at the food or smell it. It's hard to look at some of the prime choices being chucked out.

 

[Jen12573]

Ice cube in the paper cup - check. (and brilliant I might add, thank you!)

Freezer packed with ice - check.

Food inside trash bags - to be done this evening, that is such a great idea!

Darn me for stocking up on all sorts of great meats at Whole Foods a couple months ago!

Thanks everyone, be safe!

 

[bpesch]

A bunch of ice cubes in a ziploc works also. If it's a solid block when you get back, throw everything out.

I feel for all the people going through the hurricane. I lived through Katrina and believe me, they have no idea what's coming!

 

[C.Ann]

Ice cube in a cup - great idea! DD always wonders if their power goes off and then comes back on at their home when they spend a week or so up here at the lake and it makes her wonder if the food in the chest freezer has started to thaw and then froze again..

They lose the power down there more frequently than I do up here in the mountains, so I'll pass this idea along to her..

 

[Jakesmom504]

I will be doing this as well! The electric company has been calling people today saying to expect outages for 2-5 days. This week is just nuts! First an earthquake and now Irene. I wasn't worried about this thing at all until I noticed water coming into our basement 2 nights ago from all the rain we've had!

 

[dizkids]

The electric company has been calling people today saying to expect outages for 2-5 days.

OH MY YIKES! I am in Monmouth County. Fingers crossed. Good luck to all!

Oh and LOVE THE ICE CUBE TRICK! Thanks!

 

[Shadeaux]

The garbage bag thing is a great suggestion. When we evacuated for hurricane Rita, we never dreamed it would be a week before we would be allowed back in our area to check on our house. I knew we'd have to toss out everything in the freezer. What I didn't know was that a bag of chicken in the bottom bin that must have had a hole in it. Stinky chicken juice dripped into the bottom of the freezer. There was no way to get the smell out, so not only did we lose all the food, we also had to get rid of the freezer. Not to mention it took weeks for that awful smell to get out of the house!

Hope everyone stays safe!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Bump