Warning: Please read all the comments below as this tip could cause damage to your freezer motor as well as unsafe food storage.
This tip requires that the user collect a few gallon and half gallon milk or juice containers.
If you have a chest freezer, fill a few gallon containers with water and freeze them. Make space in your freezer and pack it to the capacity with the ice/the gallon container. This way you can turn your freezer off for 10-18 hours. If you reinforce the insulation, you can be sure of one advantage: intact groceries at a lower energy bill.
If you can place the frozen gallon containers upright, with caps on, you can rest assured that there will be no water to remove from the freezer! I cut my energy bill by $5 - 8.00 month this way. You might have a freezer, but remember that you do NOT have to:
June was Dairy month. Chances are that your freezer is packed to the capacity. After a few weeks, your stockpiles might dwindle. This would be the time to use ice: big savings in your energy bill.
Also, did you know that a freezer packed to its capacity can be turned off for one hour without much damage? Of course, all this will be directly proportional to its volume. The larger the freezer, the longer it will take to gain heat. Simple Physics.
Just invest in a good thermometer and see how long your freezer will retain the low temperatures after you have pulled the plug. The same worked for a friend's fridge. I never had the guts to turn off my fridge.
Happy savings.
By Megan from Racine, WI
You are taking risks there with your freezer. After a power cut my freezer's motor burned out. Apparently every time a freezer is switched off, and then switched on again, there is a strong chance that the motor will burn out.
This page contains the following solutions.
Locate freezers away from heat sources and direct sunlight. Allow at least 1 inch space on each side of freezer to allow good air circulation.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Will using blankets in your freezer to take up space save energy?
By doug from Cedar Springs, MI
No but filling empty milk jugs and placing them in the empty spaces will. Once they are frozen they will keep the freezer cold even if the power goes out.
When I had a huge upright freezer I used to put pretzel, potato chip bags and anything else I needed to store. It keeps them fresh as well as out of sight and also helps economize your freezer's energy usage.
