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Daily living · Food storage and safe preservation · living-14Freeze and refrigerate on solar
A freezer is one of the most useful preservation tools but runs day and night. Keep it full, cold and efficient, and know what to do when power is lost.
How
- Keep the freezer at -18 C (0 F) or below and the fridge at 4 C (40 F) or below, as CDC advises, and check with a thermometer.
- Keep the freezer full: CDC says a full freezer keeps food safe for about 48 hours without power, a half-full one about 24 hours. Fill gaps with bottles of water.
- Do big freezing jobs on sunny middays and avoid opening doors often.
- Include the fridge and freezer in your daily energy budget (living-5) using the measured figure from your trial run or the appliance label.
- If power fails, keep doors shut. Discard perishable fridge food after 4 hours without power or cold source.
- Refreeze or cook thawed food only if it still has ice crystals or is at 4 C (40 F) or below. Never taste to test.
Safety: When in doubt, throw it out. Unsafe food may look and smell normal.
Do these first
Sources
- Keep Food Safe After a Disaster or Emergency. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accessed 2026-11