Generators and freezers

[Barbararara]

Does anyone have a generator for power cuts, and if so, have you found it ok?

I mentioned the possibility to dh and he was doubtful about it, suggesting that it could damage the freezer.

Just wondering what other people’s experience has been.

I'm more in the "prepare to live without power" school of thought.
Unless you were rural, I fear that having a generator would make you a target.
If I needed electricity for medical reasons, I might feel differently.

I lost power to my freezer about two days before my dd was born and all the lovingly cooked meals I'd put there for dh and I went. Given what followed for me in terms of terrible health problems, this was a catastrophe. I can't actually imagine (short of fantasy stuff) a situation much worse than that in respect of my freezer. I obviously have one and use one but I don't make it the focus for all my food storage because of that experience.

It’s interesting you mention they might not be good for freezers, I’ve not heard that before. Once seen suggestions that you only have to run a freezer for something like 4 hours a day and that should be enough to keep things frozen.

I’m in the same school of thought as Bellini.

I’ve got a fridge/freezer and a chest freezer. It’d be a nightmare if I lost the food in them; however I’ve not made the decision to buy a generator.

Generators actually require a lot of maintenance - you need to get them serviced regularly, store fuel for them etc etc. It’s a lot of effort and maintenance, and I just don’t think the risk of a long term power cut is high enough in my area to justify the outlay.

That and, as Bellini said, I live in a built up area so the sound of the generator may draw unsavoury types in a SHTF situation.

I have instead invested in power banks for phones etc, lanterns, hot water bottles, books/board games etc all to get me through a period without power. We have lots of shelf stable foods and camping stoves to cook on. We also have a decent gas BBQ and always make sure we’ve got at least one full propane cylinder. We’ve also got a wood burner to keep us nice and toasty warm.

If I lived somewhere more prone to severe weather like the US, or if I had medical equipment etc to keep going I would definitely invest in a generator; and once solar generator technology gets better and cheaper I would seriously think about buying one; could justify it to DP by saying it’d be good for camping

@bellinisurge That sounds like an awful experience

I’m definitely over dependent on my freezer largely because ds has food sensory issues and I worry that the few shelf stable things he does eat like pasta may be hard to source.

I think you’re right that a generator has too many drawbacks

I fear that having a generator would make you a target.

Absolutely the same thinking here. I would love one but in a dire situation, in a built up area you would become very vulnerable.

We live rurally and get frequent power cuts, particularly in the winter. We also don't have mains gas so are very dependent on electricity. Like many people in the area we do have a generator. The biggest mistake we made when we bought it is that to keep the costs down we bought one that starts with a cord pull like an outboard motor or a petrol lawnmower rather than a switch. This is not an issue when DH is at home, but of course power cuts never happen then do they? I am not strong enough to start it so if I'm the only one in we may as well not have it. This year we have trained our teenagers to do it though. The only other issue is that it does take quite a while to get it going and run the necessary wires from the garage into the house and then get the key appliances plugged in. The garage is detached from the house and given the circumstances in which powercuts most commonly occur its not much fun trying to sort it out in pitch darkness, howling winds and driving rain. Plus we have to leave the garage door partly open and DH has a lot of valuable stuff in there. We do live in a very low crime area and to be honest anyone who was desperate enough to be out on the rob in our area in bad weather probably deserves their swag. But it still makes me anxious. So basically if I'm the only adult in the house I tend to leave it unless I'm desperate or the electricity board website predicts a really long powercut. Assuming we have enough mobile signal to get online that is, as it often goes off under the same conditions when we lose power. Its really frustrating to get it all sorted 5 minutes before the power comes back on! DH rushes out to start it going within minutes of power loss though, but I think he just enjoys playing with his toys.
When we do put it on we prioritise the fridge and freezer, cooker, router and making sure phones, tablets, torches etc are charged. Plus I boil kettles and fill flasks and hot water bottles. However, as bellinisurge says, its more sensible to plan to live without power than to be completely reliant on a generator even if you have one. We always have our collection of torches and bike lights charged /with batteries in, plus power bars for charging phones etc and we've got candles and matches in cupboards that are easy to access in the dark. We have a camping stove and an oil lamp in the house too, and always have both coal and wood ready to light the open fire. Oh, and all our computers have uninterruptable power supplies. Of course they dont last forever but they do at least allow you time to close everything down safely.
As a PP mentioned, obviously you need fuel for the generator and you cant keep huge quantities so we do use it as sparingly as possible if we get a long power cut. I'm sure the farmer down the road from us would help us out with some fuel if we got desperate but we've never needed to ask.
Power cuts lasting hours are pretty common here but I think the worst we have ever had was about 3 or 4 days. We basically lived in the room with the open fire and used the generator intermittently. I cooked some meals on the camping stove and for others we used the stove or microwave whilst the generator was on. So food was not haute cuisine, but we didn't starve. Oh, and making toast or marshmallows over the fire is both nutrition and entertainment for the kids! A fullish freezer with the door kept shut keeps frozen quite a while. I threw some meat products out as I was worried they might have partially defrosted, but everything else was ok. We didn't get ill anyway. I imagine a lot more would have been lost if we hadn't had the generator though.
That was a good few years ago, the electricity board seem to be better nowadays so we've not had such long outages. Most of our power cuts last winter were late evening and overnight so not too bad.
I think if you live in an urban area and powercuts are uncommon, its probably not worth having a generator. Even ones like ours aren't cheap, and you need space to store both it and the fuel. So if you aren't likely to use it at least couple of times a year its probably not cost effective. Chances are that if you basically never use it, if you did need to use it in anger it would take ages to get it all sorted and it might not run. If you do get one I would suggest you have practice runs a couple of times a year for that reason and keep it serviced. I'm not sure what servicing is needed sorry as DH does it himself. There are probably people you can get to come to your house to do it if needed though.
Hope that helps.

I dont think its as simple as a "generator" sounds

We are rural
Get oil delivered
No gas
Lose power alot -
And when we do, there is literally no lights from outside, you cant even see your hand infront of your face

We was out for 4 days once.... Not fun

A generator would come in handy, but not that easy i don't think

Entirely depends on your location, definite no if in a built up area - ne’er do wells attracted to property and the assumption being if you planned well enough to have a generator you will have other things they need to survive. You need to have a plan B food stock in place. Light using glow sticks. If rural : location and purpose matters you do not want to be a glowing beacon announcing your alternative arrangements for miles in the dark.

If you are having an organised power outage ie the electric company is doing maintenance I would put a coin on a block of ice in a container so you can monitor how much the thaw was by the coins new position. Also if organised I would pre freeze water in bottles and place in fridge at start of power loss to help keep it cool. Other general advice here, this is from the US, we have different egg approach here in the UK :- www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-and-water-safety-during-power-outages-and-floods

This thread has been an education! @MrsAvocet there’s a lot about generators I didn’t know! You sound awesome though! 4 days without power makes me realise how sheltered I’ve been.
@GCHWho thanks for that link. It’s very helpful.

This thread is making me wish I lived in my old house that had an old-fashioned larder with a huge larder stone shelf - we didn't even need to use the fridge.

I think if the power went out long-term, I'd dig an underground larder in the garden. Not sure how but that's what I'd be looking into.

Obviously not for frozen, but for keeping fridgey stuff cool. And we'd obvs have to adapt our diets to accommodate food storage methods.