What to do with you fridge and freezer when leaving town
So you are leaving town, whether on vacation or an extended leave, there are some precautions you should take regarding food. Once you are clear on the length of your departure, you should go through and check dates on items in the refrigerator including condiments.
Dairy items have a short shelf life, so unless you are returning quickly, it is best to throw those things away. Finish up or thrown out any left over containers or lunch meats.
What you can put in your refrigerator or even your freezer would be your flour to prevent bug infestation and to extend its shelf life. also things in your pantry might do well to put in your fridge depending on how they are packaged. Things like crackers and chip should be discarded to avoid bugs, but chocolate ships, nuts, and baked typed snack foods will do well in the freezer. A professional home watch company should be monitoring the function of your refrigerator while you are gone for extended times.
No one wants to come home to a moldy fridge. Plan ahead and use up all perishables before you leave. Empty all those little containers of leftovers to avoid the “mystery food” container surprise later and spare your gag reflexes. Juices should also be discarded.
There are a few things that will be helpful on extended trips for season home owners concerning your freezer-
Organize your freezer with breads on top, fruits and veggies in the middle, meats and ice creams on the bottom. Here’s why- in a power outage situation the freezer will stay colder on the bottom with the top thawing first. Yes, breads with thaw more easily, but are also a less expensive item if ruined.
Put a plastic cup half filled with water in the middle section of the freezer is a stable place. Once it freezes, place a penny on top. In the event of an extended power outage, if that ice starts to thaw, the penny will drop. How far down it is in the cup will help you to know if everything has thawed and then refroze.
If you live in an area where storms like hurricanes or extended power outages could be an issue. Fill the voids of your freezer before you leave with those plastic water bottles you buy by the case. They will freeze safely with the plastic allowing to expand when it turns to ice. They will also help keep your freezer colder for longer. Think of it as your freezer becomes a giant cooler filled solid with ice.
Empty your ice maker container and turn off the ice maker. This prevents thawing ice cubes or having them get stuck into a solid block. It also eliminates stale old ice.
During Hurricane Erma, we did this with our freezer. We were without power for 10 days. Once returning from evacuation, I still had had ice cream that looked like ice cream in the bottom of the freezer. It was a little melty, but I was able to take a good portion of the meats and go ahead and cook them along with the veggies in the freezer.
During an extended storm, realize that your home watch provider will need to throw away any spoiled food, those things can be replaced but a good plan a make a difference saving you hundreds of dollars in spoiled food.