Frozen food

corblimey

My leccy is going to be off for practically the whole day next Monday, and I've got a lot of food in my freezer. I've been racing to eat it before the day, but I don't think I'm going to make it. There's some fillet steaks, some chicken fillets and then random stuff like burgers and oven chips. Is there anything I can do on the day to avoid having to throw this food out?

rubadub

Freezers are best kept full, if opened the cold air can rush out and warm air comes in. It is best to keep stuff stacked as close as you can so it minimises air flows. I would eat all you can, then if it is being turned off monday, I would not open it for the entire day on sunday, saturday if you can- and do not open it after. A closed freezer is insulated and will act like a big thermos flask, the cold stacked food insulates itself. A closed freezer will be down at 18C after a day or so, in 24hrs it will probably still all be frozen (if unopened). You could also freeze a load of 2litre coke bottles with water, then pack them around the food, some use newspaper to stop airflows too.

Refreezing defrosted food only really affects the taste/texture of the food, crystals expand and contract, refreezing can affect this. There are urban myths about bacterial growth in refreezed foods, but the warnings on packs are really about taste. You can also just let it defrost and keep it in the fridge for a good while.

Alun

I was going to say that too .. you'd have been better off keeping it full rather than emptying everything out of it, and just keeping the door closed while the electric was off. I'm assuming this was the ESB shutting it off for a while, i.e. a working day, say 8hrs at the most? If so, you'll be fine, I'd say if you keep it closed during that time.

corblimey

I've got an electrician coming in to add new sockets, so I assume he'll need the leccy off for the duration of the work, he reckons about 5-6 hours. I've just found out it's happening tomorrow now instead of Monday. If I just make sure to keep my freezer closed from now until he turns it back on, everything should be ok? BTW, it's not a standalone freezer or anything, just the freezer part of a fridge freezer, if that makes any diff.

Alun

Yeah, 5-6 hours will be fine. Don't worry.

TequilaMockingBird

I once moved house, and in the last minute rush didn't empty the freezer - just gaffer taped it up, stuck it on the lorry, then plugged it in when we got to new house!

Bit of a Homer Simpson solution, but it was grand. It was plugged out for about 5 hours.