Refrigeration In a Power Outage - Emergency Grid Down Food

Sometimes, we make prepping more complicated than it needs to be. You have all the supplies and gadgets, but at its core, being prepared boils down to a few fundamental needs: food, water, and shelter. While the other areas of preparedness are important, these are non-negotiable.

When it comes to food, we all tend to focus on shelf-stable food that doesn’t require refrigeration, and rightfully so. Because of this, there is the misconception that if the grid goes down, you’ll have to throw out all your refrigerated food or have a neighborhood BBQ to eat before it spoils.

This will be true for most people, but it’s easier than you might think to run a mini fridge and chest freezer for days, weeks, and even months if the power grid goes down. This means that while everyone else is eating saltine crackers and Roman noodles, you’ll be eating a nice juicy cheeseburger with a cold beverage—not to mention medications that might need to be refrigerated.

In this video, I want to go over everything you will need to get this done, including your different options, your power needs, and a little trick you can use if solar power is not an option.

The great thing about this emergency refrigeration setup is that, unlike many prepping projects or supplies, it will be useful daily and not sit on a shelf waiting for disaster. It will be useful throughout the year and critical in an emergency.

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0:00 Intro
2:04 Full Size Refrigerator
4:58 What I'm Using and Energy Needs
6:38 Option 1 (Emergency)
7:27 Generating Energy
6:47 Option 2 (Backup Power)
Option 3 (Full Time Power)

[sellC]

My 2 cents: Eliminate mini-fridge. Purchase a slightly larger chest freezer. Place a couple of 1 gallon water jugs into freezer. When they are frozen, move them to a yeti (or similar) high quality cooler for refrigerator type items (and meds). Rotate another couple of gallon water jugs into the freezer perhaps once or twice per day. If the freezer is taking advantage of solar, then put jugs into the freezer in the morning. Also, if you have a basement, keep the freezer and cooler in the basement to gain a bit of additional efficiency where it's cooler.

[rocketsurgery]

You're half right. Your use of a small chest is spot on, you're use of a small dorm refrigerator is wrong. Buy a second small chest freezer and hook up a Inkbird ITC308 Freezer Thermostat sold on Amazon $36. A small refrigerator loses most of it's cold air when opened, a chest unit doesn't. Convert a chest freezer to a refrigerator takes less energy.

[alpensler]

I’ve had the same setup for years! I live in Miami and experienced Andrew, Katrina, Wilma and Irma. I currently own two sportsman generators and have four lifepo4 batteries. My chest freezer (36 wh) and 3.2 fridge (41 wh) can run for weeks on my setup. I can cook on my instapot and induction hot plate and keep my 5000 btu air conditioner going in the worst heat. Planning is the key!!!

[pstoneking]

The most important thing to remember about refrigerators and freezers if you want to save energy, is to limit the number of times you open the doors and reduce the amount of time they are open.

[AmandaGatesHome]

I love that you show options that don’t require solar. I live on the third floor in a tiny apartment with no outdoor space. I’ve been trying to figure out what I’d do if the power was out for a week. I can’t have a gas generator and solar isn’t an option but I’d love it if you could do this video and dumb it down a bit. I don’t know what an inverter is and the watts and usage is confusing to understand. Ac vs dc? And it looks like you’re using cables on the car with some type of an outlet plug thing? I was never taught any of this and I’m trying to watch videos and learn but a lot of this language is foreign to me making me more confused. I need a power outage for dummies who live in an apartment please!

[egenestarr]

I hope everyone knows the order is: water, food, shelter - because without water you die before you eat !

[judyluthy]

I am so thankful your channel came up on my feed! I Have a small solar 'system', but no idea how to use it. I've had it 3 years and haven't been able to figure it out. I'm a single old woman, but I have to be shown how to do these things. You at least have given me hope.

[r.f.pennington]

For anyone wondering about small appliances: Our cabin is off-grid, solar only. Purchased a HiSense 4.4 cuft refrig/freezer (aka large sized 'dorm fridge'). Amazing how far Energy Star guidelines have come. This refrigerator is off when we're not there since I always take our 2kw Anker home with me. When we return, everything is ambient temperature and it takes only two hours before the refrig goes from say, 60-80 degrees till it starts making ice. Uses about 55watts (less than ¾ amp) when it is cycling on. Hardly notice any additional battery drain on the solar generator.

[davidyummus]

I installed a $30 Generator Inlet to the outside wall of my Kitchen then ran 1 foot of Wire thru the wall to a 20 amp double outlet inside the kitchen to make a dedicated Generator Outlet (NOT connected to house wiring) so my 2300/1800 watt quiet Inverter Generator can run Fridge, Chest Freezer, Internet, TV & Pellet Stove all at once, ... Not a "whole house" set up but all the important stuff will run & this was pretty cheap to do & pretty cheap to run :)

[hinessite]

I actually ran a mini fridge for 48 hrs non stop with a 12v 100 ah lifepo4 battery. I assumed after 48 hrs that the battery was low. I put it on the charger and it showed a 60% charge. Impressive to me .

[Wayne-fy]

I've done the same thing you did except on a bigger scale. I run 2 deep freezers and an ac unit in my shed, which is well insulated. It's nice to see other people with off grid type setups. It's a good thing

[gsssprocket]

THIS IS TOOO COMPLICATED FOR BEGINNERS, , NEED SIMPLIFIED. THANKYOU FOR YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS!

[unitedstatesirie]

I strongly recommend buying frozen dry ice (C°2) packs and keep many of these in your deep feezer. ❄These are much colder than water ice. If the electrical power gets shut off, the dry ice packs will keep your feezer cold for more than 4 days.

I also recommend putting a dry ice pack in a good quality mylar bag with meats inside and keep these in the deep freezer also. This keeps the meats frozen for a much longer amount of time !

[CarlAyers-xh]

Couldn't agree more.
I lived like you described for 20 years. Travel trailer inside of pole bar. 1, 400$ Invested.
Age 67.1Cav Retired veteran.

[nestorbarreto]

Good info, after huricane Maria we spent 45 days without power and interrupted afterwards. Bought an Iceco 45 and with a 12V battery and solar panels we can run it for 24 hrs. Lessons learned after the storm.

[arturoalcantar]

MAYBE 2 CHEST FREEZERS? A THERMOSTAT ON ONE TO USE IT AS A FRIDGE BUT WITH MORE CUBIC SPACE THEN A MINIFRIDGE.

[Nora]

After Beryl, I went to 7 days without power. My fridge run almost every day, except one that rained all day, but it did not defrosted because it was kept closed most of the time. Next day the sun came out and the Bluetti 3k refilled. I got 1k of solar panels, I also have two smaller units to run lights, and 12V fans and devices. Just in case, I also have a 12v fridge, but I did not needed this time. I keep water and other emergency items just in case. Good advice given!

[jf]

Glad I found this. Just suffered through Hurricane Beryl and had no power for nearly 6 days. Got a gas generator online on day 2 and saved most of our food. We'll implement some of your options for the next time...and there will be a next time.

[rays]

Great intro for basic yet completely usable solar power setup. The video was really done well!

[kathysyphrit]

In Florida I keep milk jugs of water in my freezer. That way if power goes out I move my food into that freezer acts like a cooler.