1) I learned this one the hard way: don't make my mistake! If you have an upright freezer, purchase plastic bins that fit on the shelves and put your frozen foods inside the bins, not on the shelves. That way, if your power goes out (or if it doesn't go out, but somebody whose name will be nameless accidentally leaves the door open a crack and all the cold leaks out) and everything inside melts, it will melt inside the bins, greatly facilitating cleanup. The alternative being, of course, cleaning disgusting smelly thawed raw meat juice out of the bottom of the freezer and off the basement floor--just ask me how I know about this. There isn't enough bleach in the world to eradicate that odor!
2) Wash out large plastic drink bottles (soda and juice bottles are ideal) refill them with fresh water, and freeze them. Fill any empty spaces in your freezer with these bottles. Should the power go out (or someone leave the door open, ahem) these very large solid non-messy 'ice cubes' will help keep the contents of the freezer cold for an extended period. And, of course, once they thaw, they are another supply of water for those poor benighted souls such as ourselves whose household water pump does not run without electricity.
This has been a public service announcement. :) Anyone have any other tips to add??
When I leave on a trip, I try to remember to put a single ice cube in a plastic container in my freezer. When I come back, if the ice cube is still in cube form, all is well. If the cube has melted - and refrozen as a layer of ice in the bottom of the container - I know that the power was off long enough for the freezer to warm up - even if the power came back on and refroze everything.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good idea, spiffikins. I'm going to try to remember to do that too now!!
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