House moving - what to do with stuff in freezer?

[Ironfloor269]

Movers are coming at 8 30am. We will get keys between 12-1pm. We've been trying our best to empty the freezer the past few weeks. But there's still lots of food left. Namely, raw chicken, cooked pasta sauce, vegetables (beans, sweetcorn, spinach etc), roast potatoes, hash browns, frozen chips, raw fish.

Do we hope for the best and just take the lot to our new house, or do I have to throw them now? I'm thinking of taking it all and if the time in transit turns out to be too long, chuck the raw meat in the bin but keep the rest.

Please could those who moved house tell me what they did?

Cool box with ice packs/ice should keep it cold enough

I looked after the neighbours food for 2 days when they moved!

we emptied it as best as we can and gave any meat etc to neighbours.
the movers usually don't carry perishable foods, it's in their t&c.
all fridge contents and freezer contents was for us to take care of.

Word of advice, if you are taking your current fridge freezer, give it a good few hours in its new position before plugging it in. All the gases/chemicals inside it need time to settle down.

I found out about this the hard way when we moved house.

Our electricity went off for approximately 14 hours once (Saturday night, electrician came Sunday morning), we left the freezer closed and it was all still completely frozen when we checked it after the electricity was back. Your freezer is very well-insulated, and the frozen stuff will keep the frozen stuff frozen iyswim. It will be fine if it's the last thing to be packed and the first thing to be unpacked.

Oo @Foxglovesandprimroses i'd forgotten that, we're moving soon, thanks for the timely warning.

Also, you'll need time to defrost the freezer if you haven't got a frost free one, so the food will be out longer.

My mum took the meat stuff to hers and the rest went in a cool bag with ice packs.

I’ve thrown away what’s left. But tbh it wasn’t much it’s nearly empty. I’ve also thrown a few open packages with flour, etc.

Why not just leave the food inside it, and unplug at the last minute before moving the freezer?
Freezers are very well insulated and designed to keep the food frozen for several hours (in the event of a power cut for example).
Stand it unplugged in the new house for a few hours as PPs suggest, before reconnecting. I’ve used freezer food after 8 hour power cuts without any problem.

Our movers moved it with the contents still inside. It wasn't hugely full, but it was all fine. That was for a local move.

(They loaded it on last and unloaded it first.)

Thank you for all the replies. They are immensely helpful.

What I meant to say in my OP but forgot was that I've been a muppet and boxed my cool box so using that's out of the question. But I can improvise a cool box with sine ice packs and hope for the best.

We are moving about 25 minutes away so the freezer will be unplugged for about 5 hours.

I used to work for a removal company. Our advice to customers was to put the contents in a bags (if not in removable drawers) & leave in the freezer. The movers would load the fridges / freezers last removing the contents to enable it to be moved then once on the lorry put the contents back in & once at new address repeat in reverse.

Thank you, @TiggeryBear. That makes sense. I'll put every thing in bags and leave in freezer, as you say.

Stuff you’d really be worried about spoiling (like raw meat) I’d be tempted to give to neighbours (if you like them and they eat meat!)

Good luck with the move.