You’ve heard the horror stories. A friend told you about their uncle who bought a 1/2 beef and then someone left the freezer door open and they lost all their beef. Ugh! So how do we take a few smart steps to protect your deep freezer and the food in our freezers? Here are 8 tips to ensure you know how to protect food in your deep freezer!
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How to Protect Food in the Deep Freezer
Losing food due to a power outage, a freezer door being left open, or a faulty freezer is heartbreaking. One, food costs a lot of money. No one wants to waste all that money. And two, losing all that great tasting freezer beef is upsetting!
So let’s chat about ways we can protect our food investment and keep our freezer food safe for our families.
Install a Deep Freezer Alarm
Some freezers come with a alarm that will sound if the freezer door is ever left open. If your freezer does not have an alarm you can install a thermometer that comes with an alarm.
This Freezer Thermometer and Alarm comes with a thermometer that tracks the temperature of your freezer. It is connected to an app that you can see and control on your phone. If your freezer thermometer ever goes above the preset range, you will receive an alarm right to your phone, even if you are on vacation!
A perfect gift for that busy family with lots of kids or a new home owner!! There are several different types of freezer alarms, but I like that this one can be seen from your phone.
Buy a Generator or Portable Power Station for Freezer
A generator can save the day when the power goes out. With a generator you can plug in your fridge or freezer and cool it back down by allowing it to stay connected to the generator. By keeping the door on your freezer shut, your items will remain cold even though it is only plugged in half the time.
There are also portable power stations you can purchase! Just like there are small battery banks you can buy to power your phone or laptop, you can buy a solar powered like this amazing Jackery portable power station that will keep your freezer running. This would be a smart investment that you can use for your home, RV, or camping trips.
This prepper video I watched here, recommended keeping your freezer at 25 degrees or below during power outages. Once your freezer starts to go above 25 degrees, it needs to be plugged in. Otherwise it will heat up too much and take too long to cool back down, putting your food at risk.
PRO TIP: If you know a bad storm is coming and your power may be knocked out, you can even lower the temperature in your deep freezer the day before. Then your freezer will stay colder longer if the power is off for several hours or a day!
Don’t Put Fragile Items in Freezer Door
My poor peaches!! Last year, we had a lunchbox strap get caught in the freezer door. And while most of the items in our freezer were fine, my frozen peaches were ruined. Without thinking, I had placed my frozen fruit in the door instead of deep in the freezer. Though we caught the mistake after half a day, the peaches were complete mush.
Learn from my mistake and don’t place your more fragile items that unthaw quickly in the door! And if you have items in the door make sure they are packed in together so they will stay colder longer!
Buy An Extra Upright or Chest Freezer
Does your family do a lot of preserving, freezing, and buying in bulk? Then having several freezers can be a good investment for your family. One, it allows you to continue to shop smart and buy in bulk when you see a great deal. And two, a back-up freezer is always good to have.
If one of your freezers dies and goes out, then you will have more options on how to keep your food cold til you can either buy another freezer or eat down some of your food.
Keep Your Chest Freezer in a Cooler Area
To keep your freezer running its best, ensure that it is in a cooler area. Keeping your freezer in the basement, mud room, or pantry overflow area is better for it than keeping it in the hot garage.
When we built our current farmhouse, we built a very big mud room area. Our mud room can house several freezers. We also insulated our garage and added a few vents in our garage/ shop area. This allows the garage/ shop area to have slightly less temperature fluctuations. It’s not exactly cold in the summer, but it isn’t blazing hot.
Think about your house. Is your freezer in the best place or do you have another option that would save some wear and tear on your freezer and save your electric bill?
Also make sure that you have your freezer plugged into a good outlet. Be aware of GFCI outlet/ Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter outlets. We prefer to not to plug our freezers into GFCI outlets due to common tripping problems.
Listen to Money Saving Mom’s disaster story about her freezer and a GFI outlet here.
With a GFCI, if the power is interrupted the outlet may trip as a safety measure. But then your freezer may not start working again once the power comes back on. You may not notice the outlet disruptions as the rest of the house and the other outlets are working fine. So while GFCI outlets can protect in some areas, they may cause problems with freezers. If you have a GFCI outlet, be sure to check your freezer if the power was interrupted.
A Full Deep Freezer is Best During Power Outage
Did you know that your freezer works best when it is full? Keeping your freezer full helps it naturally stay colder. And if the power was ever to go out, a full freezer will keep itself colder longer.
Here is a trick you can use! If you are waiting for your next 1/2 beef to be ready at the processor you can add milk jugs filled with water to your freezer. The water will freeze, helping the freezer to stay cooler. If the door gets left open or the power goes out the freezer will stay colder longer. And if an emergency was to happen the water could be used if you were in a long-term water shortage.
Maintain Your Freezer To Ensure Long Life
To ensure your freezer will have a long life and care for your food, be sure to maintain it. Maintain your freezer by taking the following steps:
- Defrost Your Freezer About Once a Year
- Throw Away Old or Frost Burned Food
- Keep Area Around Freezer Dust Free
One of the big ways to care for your freezer is to defrost your freezer about once a year. If your freezer is a new model then defrosting about once a year will be plenty. If it is a older freezer than you may get ice build up quicker and need to defrost more often.
Defrosting your freezer removes ice that may be blocking your cooling vents and causing your freezer to not run as efficiently. And defrosting your freezer forces your to clean out old items, remove ice build-up, and make more room for actual food and not just ice!
And don’t forget to occasionally sweep behind your freezer to remove those dust bunnies that could cause problems for your condenser coils.
Homeowner’s Insurance Policy Covers Food Loss
Most homeowner’s insurance policies covers some kind of food loss. But every insurance company and policy is different. So if you typically order a quarter, half or whole beef, talk to your insurance company about coverage.
Sometimes food loss is written right into the policy you already have. Other times it is an add-on to your policy, like you would add if you had valuable jewelry in your home that you want covered. Talk to your insurance agent and ask if food loss is already written into your policy and how much the policy pays out.
One insurance agent that I spoke with also mentioned that you may have to give a list of what you had in your freezer. Head over here to print off a Beef Freezer Inventory Printable. Then you will be able to easily show what was in your freezer if the worse scenario would ever to happen.
8 Tips to Protect Food in Your Deep Freezer
By being aware of a few pitfalls, you can protect the food in your deep freezer and increase the life of your upright or chest freezer. Having a separate freezer can offer you so much buying power. You can buy a 1/2 cow and provide healthy beef for your family at a great price. Or you can buy all the butter when its on sale!
What ways have you learned to care for the food in your deep freezer? Comment below!
