How Long Was Your Power Off While You Were Away?

9/12/2018 (Permalink)

If the coin is still on top of the ice - the freezer did not thaw out.

You might think a power outage occurring while you were away wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but if you leave food in your refrigerator or freezer that you plan to eat when you return, you’ll want to know whether your power went out, and if it did, whether your food warmed up enough and for long enough to spoil.

There is a simple solution to tell if you may need to consider disposing of food in your refrigerator and freezer. You can simply leave a coin on a cup of ice in your freezer before you leave.

Just fill up a cup of water, put it in the freezer until it’s solid, then add a coin on top and stick it back in the freezer

If the coin is at the bottom of the cup when you return, then there was a power outage that went on for long enough for the water to melt, causing the coin to fall through. When the power comes back on, the coin will be stuck in the frozen water at the bottom. If the coin is still at the top when you get home, the power stayed on or went out just temporarily.

Because water takes a very long time to melt in an insulated freezer, a quarter at the bottom of the cup will tell you that your food is almost definitely spoiled, since the power would have had to be off for quite some time.