If you have homeowners insurance, food that has to be thrown out during a power outage may be covered by your policy. Check with your insurance company to be sure. Some insurance policies will cover up to $500.00 per appliance if you provide a general list of what was lost and its replacement value.
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Generally homeowners insurance has a $500 or more deductible so it'll be a wash and not worth filing a claim for.
Editors Note: I recently had this happen and my insurance company had a food replacement policy that was not part of the deductible. They covered up to $500 for a refrigerator and $500 for a freezer. It's worth checking with your insurance company.
Food lost is exempt from the deductible for my insurance. So it's well worth looking into. All they needed was a broad list of items I had lost and the replacement cost.
Thank you! I would have never thought of doing this!
After the hurricanes, we found that it really helped to take a snapshot of the spoiled food as we emptied the freezer and refrigerator as well as listing it.
I lost all my food and checked with my insurance company they said I had a 500 dollar deductible I had to pay.
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How do I make the best possible list of spoiled food from my fridge and freezer after a 26 hour power outage on a 42 degree C (107F) hot day? I need it for insurance claim purposes.
By Silvana
Chances are the summer that was is now the winter that is, and the food is gone. This happened to me once when the fridge decided to die at 3am. If you know, say that you had 20 lbs of chicken, and you know how much your local store charges per pound, that would work.
The best you can do is estimate, unless you made a list at the time. If you did, or took photos, you are in luck. If not, what do you usually have in your fridge/freezer? That includes condiments, dairy, eggs, veggies, etc. Look now and if you pretty much shop for similar things most of the time, you have a pretty good idea.
Once you make the list, go to the store and just jot down what each thing is worth like you were going to buy it.
I hope this helps.
If your refrigerator is under warranty just keep the receipt for food that you got when you bought the food. It wouldn't hurt to keep the receipt anyway for any proof anywhere that you got the food and had to throw it out even for household insurance that would take care of it.
Read through your policy to make sure you follow their rules in the policy for making claims; every company has different rules on what and how they allow claims. Some require receipts, some a spreadsheet, others just an estimated value.
