How to Preserve the Frozen Foods in Your Freezer When The Power Fails.

We recently purchased a new freezer, my wife wanted a bigger one, and we had a chance to pick up some extra meat.  Whenever I mention a freezer to fellow preppers I often get strange looks and am told you will loss the contents when the power fails. I have a simple answer to this statement I have a plan to preserve the frozen foods in my freezer.

With a bit of planning this is not as hard as it seems.  First of all you have a couple of days before the food starts to go bad, you may even be able to extend this time with a generator depending on the situation.  So what am I going to do with the food?  The red meat and fish will be unwrapped and placed into 5-gallon food grade buckets that I have stored. The meat will then be brined.  The following are some links that may help you.

• Brining Meats for Long Term Storage.
• How Much Salt Should You Store?

The vegetables will be dehydrated or fermented.  If the weather is good, I will set up my drying racks and dehydrate the vegetables and fruits outside.  If the weather is bad, I will ferment the vegetables inside the house.  This takes crocks or food grade buckets and salt so have the supplies you need on hand.

• Making Fermented Vegetables, a Skill that Makes it Easy to Preserve Food.  

Also, do not forget about canning, given the choice we will always can poultry instead of brining or drying it.  Smoking is also another method that could be used.

The whole secret is to become familiar with how to preserve the frozen foods before you need them.  Get some good reference books and try the different ways.  This is a skill that needs to be practiced, if you wait to the last minute you will be in trouble.

There will always be a small loss when it is time to preserve the frozen foods, for instance I have not figured out how to preserve ice cream yet.  I guess I will have to eat it.