Frozen meats in long term power outage

[Listeroid one]

I have been thinking about long term power outages in pnw. We have 2 freezers at home and in the event of long term power outage we can keep them going for quite a while. Our plan, and it may be the same as others have, is to Thaw our meat in freezer and can as time permits. We can a lot each year already and have the jars, lids, and rings available. It is easy to not restock your rings till the next year but you can buy them cheaper after canning season. A large pressure canner or 2 and you could quickly have a lot of long term protein in your pantry. Seems prudent to me but others may think otherwise.

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[Mark W.]

Generator and really good insulation

 

[Yarome]

I think it's only prudent to be well versed in multiple means of preservation without refridgeration. Canning is certainly one of them and think it shouldn't be exclsive to emergency use only. We find that canned meat is actually preferrable for some uses. IE., Stews. soups, chili's. gravy's. etc. It minimizes cook times since the meat is fully tenderized and we often preseason the meat during the canning process which makes for extremely flavorful tidbits.

The one thing with canning though is that it's not long term sustainable without a supply chain of sealing lids. You can improptu a seal, but it's a messy operation and not at all foolproof.

Taking a different tack with preparation is maximizing the efficiency of your freezer. As a matter of habit... as freezer stores are consumed... keeping it full not only reduces energy consumption but also kills a couple birds with one stone. It's not always practical to use "meat" as a freezer filler between sales but you can repurpose plastic milk jugs or soda bottles, fill them with water and pack them in free spaces of your freezer.

In the event of a power outage they can assist to keep meat frozen considerably longer and also provide another source of clean water once thawed.

 

[edzz]

Last major outage we just put the indoor frozen in coolers and set it on the deck, the freezer in the garage wasn't at risk of thawing. Weather was kind of like today, presently 19 degrees out and expecting about 2 feet of snow over the next couple of weeks.

 

[gmerkt]

Our plan, and it may be the same as others have, is to Thaw our meat in freezer and can as time permits.

The problem I see with this is you are taking on a labor and energy intensive activity at the same time that a lack of power has already increased your existential workload. Maybe advisable to start canning ahead of the emergency. This has long been one of my objections to getting dedicated freezers and filling them with meat. Absence of electrical power can make it a very heavy domino to fall. I do understand their benefits so long as power is uninterrupted. In the way of potential survival supplies, my tendency is to keep them more in non-perishables.

Taking a different tack with preparation is maximizing the efficiency of your freezer. As a matter of habit... as freezer stores are consumed... keeping it full not only reduces energy consumption but also kills a couple birds with one stone. It's not always practical to use "meat" as a freezer filler between sales but you can repurpose plastic milk jugs or soda bottles, fill them with water and pack them in free spaces of your freezer.

In the event of a power outage they can assist to keep meat frozen considerably longer and also provide another source of clean water once thawed.

I like this idea. It's the same theory as ice blocks in an old-timey ice box but without the drainage. I will file this away as a possibility here. Only trouble is, we don't often have extra space in our two freezer compartments.

Recently we had a dry run here with a 90 hour power outage. I kept the reefers going in rotation on a generator.

 

[Yarome]

Only trouble is, we don't often have extra space in our two freezer compartments.

Yeah.. like any preparedness practice it's only effective if it fits your needs and usage.

It works well for me because there may be months between restocking. Buying in bulk only a few times a year and processing large "hunks"... or purposefully letting stocks go low later in the year in anticipation of a successful hunt. If your freezer is still half full... putting up venison and an elk nearly back to back can present some real issues.

 

[Member 34319]

Short term outages = generator

Long term outages = canning, smoking, curing…

 

[Dozer99]

It's so cold where I live that I open the lid's on the freezer at night, then shut it at sunrise (during power outages). Oh, the freezers are out in the hay barn. Honestly, if I had to, I think I could go all the way until March or April doing that.

 

[albin25]

Don't forget, In a very long-term power outage, you could use some of the freezers contents as "trade goods".
Also, there are some things that can be frozen that can survive thawing and long periods of just being refrigerated or maybe even room temperature, with very little degradation in quality… butter, mozzarella and other block cheezes, summer sausage, coffee/tea in factory sealed tins.. even things like Aspirin.

 

[edzz]

On a side note:
When shopping for a new garage freezer a couple years ago I found out that many freezer warranties do not cover freezers that are not in a climate controlled environment.
So... if your freezer fails and the repair guy finds it is located in the garage they may refuse to repair under warrantee.

 

[osprey]

How long are we talking here? A chest freezer that is fairly full will be fine for 3 days or so if left unopened. A fairly small generator will run a surprising # of refrigeration appliances. The last storm I was out for 5 days and I ran the house lights, the entertainment center, the refrigerator, a large deep freeze and 2 smaller ones with a Honda 2000w genny. These refrigeration appliances don't draw much amperage except at startup and In 15 years of running this small generator, 2 of the refer units have never tried to startup at once, so no problems with overloading. Another data point is with my load I burned just shy of a gallon of fuel every 8 hrs. With the small 1 gallon tank on the generator I decided to rig a fuel cell using a 6 gallon boat tank and can now go up to 48!hrs which is much more reasonable.

 

[Mike7b]

I find canning and reloading quite simular, and having gone through shortages in both, found it prudent to stock up on essentials. All the the jars and all the powder and projectiles won't do you much good without lids or primers. Refrigeration is relatively new, if you put it on a timeline, so is indoor plumbing, lol. There's a few groups on Facebook and probably a ton on utube on how to preserve meat the way it was done before refrigeration became widespread. If your truly worried about power outages, that would be the avenue I would investigate, besides canning. Of course, everybody's circumstances are different, so one size doesn't fit all. I find it interesting and have been dabbling a little bit.

 

[johnly]

Canning meats so they don't require refrigeration is an option, but a lot of work and to me it comes up short from grilled previously frozen meat.
I looked at large propane/electric freezers and the up charge over a plain electric is substantial. That said, in propane mode is would likely run a couple weeks on a single 5 gal. propane tank. For now, I'm staying with the generator mode of preparedness. I live in a rural area, so power outages are not uncommon. I have found that my little Honda EU1000i will run both freezers in the garage and the indoor refrigerator. It burns about 2 gal. of fuel/day, so I keep a couple cans of fuel on hand and several empty cans to fill if looks like the outage will be for an extended duration.

 

[gmerkt]

The power outages we've had here over the years have educated me some about time management during such events. Meaning, once the power goes out, just keeping things going takes up a lot more of your time. So you need to budget your time for each task more carefully. I've tried to arrange survival methods and supplies to incorporate things that each one takes the least amount of time. And this is considering I'm in my regular place of abode with all the advantages that presents. Out in the rough and open elements, these days at my age, I wouldn't last all that long.

 

[Member 5605]

Small quiet generator. Run for a few hours every 12.

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