Home appliances

How to store food in the event of a blackout and which freezer to buy

A few simple rules make it possible to preserve as many supplies as possible in the event of a power failure. And to prevent this, the best performing and most insulated appliances should be chosen

by Paola Guidi

30 April 2025

4' min read

Key points

The 5 rules during the blackout
The 3 rules immediately after the blackout
Equipment-saving

4' min read

The maxi Spanish blackout could happen again - as experts warn - albeit in lesser ways and proportions. Climate change with violent thunderstorms, increasingly frequent energy overloads or, in some cases, sabotage by hackers can in fact 'stress' electricity grids.
How to behave during prolonged power cuts for storing food in the fridge and freezer? There are three basic points to consider: how to behave during the blackout, what to do with food afterwards. And then the third, which would actually come first because it is a preventive action: what to know before buying to choose appliances that can save all - or almost all - of your supplies.

The 5 rules during the blackout

1 -Read the instructions: the manufacturer generally provides information on what to do in an emergency.

2 -Don't open that... door! The loss of cold air raises the internal temperature of the fridge and freezer by several degrees, decreasing the shelf life of food.

3 - Do not remove food that you think can stay out of the fridge, because only a good filling of the space in the fridge keeps the temperature constant for a long time.

4 - in the freezer at least one day's safety. The average freezer will preserve food for at least 24 hours as long as it is of recent technology. The best ones, the well ones, go as far as 50 hours of optimum temperature preservation. The temperature inside the fridge should not exceed 6 degrees, so the fridge - as long as it is of recent manufacture and therefore well insulated - keeps food for at least 7 hours. Class A appliances (according to the new energy label, thus equivalent to the old A++) can do more. If the interruption exceeds six hours, the foods at risk are obviously those in the fridge such as milk, dairy products and soft cheeses, cream and cream-based desserts, ice cream and baby food. Beware, however, that a high ambient temperature such as in summer cuts the theoretical storage time by a few hours.

5 - Distinguish between frozen and deep-frozen. In the freezer, deep-frozen food survives longer than frozen food because it has been treated at very low temperatures that keep its flavour, texture and nutrients in shape better than the domestic treatment of freezing. Zero-mile foods survive much better and longer in the fridge. Contrary to what people think - and write - cooked food is much more degradable than raw food.

The 3 rules immediately after the blackout

1 - Trust your nose: a more or less unpleasant smell is a fairly sure sign of the food's edibility level.

2- Foods in 'dubious' condition in the fridge should all be cooked and then frozen, to stop 'ageing' processes in foods that have already undergone even minimal degradation through blackout. Intense and rapid cooking (in a pressure cooker or electric stove) to render 'suspect' but not compromised food edible.

3 - Superfrost. Partially thawed frozen food must then be lowered in the freezer once the power is back on.

Equipment that saves supplies

To protect you from blackouts, the freezer is the best answer as the autonomy without electricity is more than double that of the fridge. So which appliance should you choose?

1 - Abundant capacity: the larger the freezer, the longer it keeps the load in good condition. For example, a 395-litre Whirlpool freezer keeps food for a good 45 hours without power compared to a 219-litre Whirlpool model, which only lasts 40 hours. A 500-litre Comfee-Midea reaches an impressive 50 hours of autonomy and costs around 400 euros. A 197-litre Haier well reaches 21 hours of autonomy, while a 97-litre one does not go beyond 13 hours. Better the well or horizontal ones than the cabinet ones, which lose a lot of cold every time they are opened.

2 - For very hot climates? Definitely suitable for very hot and humid climates is the freezer with the label or ST (Sub Tropical) for environments from 16 to 32 degrees or with the T (Tropical) which operates effectively in environments with high outside temperatures, often up to 43°C or more, and with relative humidity up to 60%. The No frost climate is recommended because it prevents frost formation, the number one problem with conventional freezers. The new upright freezer from AEG, TB7NA181ES, 177 cm high, built-in, No Frost, provides a large capacity for freezing and very long storage. It is equipped with an alarm in case the door is left open.

3 - Some warn when there is a blackout - Samsung, LG Electronics. Liebherr, Beko and Bsh have appliances that can be controlled and managed remotely thanks to their Apps. For example, in the event of a blackout a notification arrives on the smartphone.

4 - Better vacuum freezing Better and longer food preservation is guaranteed when food is vacuum-packed; this triples the optimal retention of the nutritional content and flavour of any food. The latest model from the Italian Laica, the VT 3120, packages, creates the vacuum and seals plastic bags and can even vacuum-pack rigid containers. And all fully automatically. Finally, a practical tip: put several cold-storage 'tiles' in the freezer: they will serve very well to extend the freezer's autonomy.