How to Deal With Food in Your Freezer While You're Waiting For a Repair

If your freezer has conked out, then your heart may drop at the thought of losing all the food you have stored in there. This may not be as bad it seems, and you may be able to salvage your freezer's contents if you act quickly. What should you do with your frozen food before your freezer repair guy gets your freezer working again?

Frozen Food and Short-term Repairs

Frozen food can actually stay frozen enough not to spoil for longer than you may think. For example, you may have up to 48 hours to fix your freezer before the food inside is ruined. The time you get is, however, dependent on how full the freezer is. A full freezer may keep stuff frozen enough to be safe for two days but, if your freezer is half empty, then this safety period may go down to a day.

Tip: To keep your frozen food in as good a shape as possible, try not to open and close the freezer door while you're waiting for a repair. Keeping the door closed tight will help the contents of the freezer stay frozen.

While your frozen food may be fine if you can get your freezer fixed quickly, this may not be case if you have to wait more than a couple of days for a repair.

Frozen Food and Longer-term Repairs

If you can't get your freezer fixed quickly, say if you have to wait for a part to be delivered, then your frozen food may go past the point of no return. This doesn't mean that you'll lose all the food in your freezer – the following tips may help:

• Plan out meals for the first couple of days after your freezer breaks down and eat as much as you can out of the freezer. This may not cover all your frozen food, but you'll at least be able to use some of it.
• Ask your family, friends and neighbours for some freezer space, stick your frozen food in an esky and then deliver it out. While nobody you know may have enough space to take all your frozen food, many people will have enough space to take one or two things. This could help you save food that you've spent a lot of money on or food that you've spent a lot of time pre-cooking and freezing.

Tip: A freezer breakdown is actually a good time to have a frozen food clean-out. If there are things in your freezer that have been there for years or that you know you won't eat, then you can simply trash them.

Finally, when you call out someone out to fix your freezer, make sure to mention that you have a a load of frozen food you'd like to save. You may find that you get a quicker appointment if you have a pressing need to get things fixed quickly.