A query not necessarily related to Thanksgiving, but the answer is quite important for me.
I have a 5. cu. ft. freezer that will, of course, be going to Utah with me. The drive is 140 miles. I’m thinking the freezer should be unplugged at the last minute, and loaded last because I don’t want to give away the little bit of food that’s in it.
The question is: If it isn’t opened until it gets placed in my new apartment, how long will the food be good? I have some ribs and some ham hocks in there and if I have to I can give away the vegetables. I don’t want to. So will the food be safe for the maybe three hours the freezer is unplugged?
Anyone?
Should be. How long does it sit between times it’s running now?
Should be. Precautions to take: Try to ensure that the freezer is as full as possible. Use plastic containers 7/8ths filled with water to produce ice to pack in and take up space before unplugging. Stage this as necessary.
If you have extra blankets, padding, or shipping blankets, try to wrap the freezer like a Christmas package, with strapping to hold the padding in position. This additional insulation will keep the metal exterior of the freezer from transferring heat too quickly. Also shield the package from wind as possible.
If you think it's worth it to do so, you can add a small quantity of dry ice to the freezer contents just before packing it up. That shouldn't be necessary, but think of it as insurance in case of delays.
These steps should get your frozen stuff to the new location without a problem.
Agree with all that NNB has advised.
Three hours unplugged should be nearly indiscernible from normal if you keep the unit closed.
Consider this:
We occasionally need to defrost the big upright freezer in our garage, and that effort requires unloading it entirely, and finding alternate cold storage for the contents until the freezer is ready to be reloaded.
That unloading/defrosting/reloading process takes AT LEAST three hours, usually more like four or five unless we’re there with a hot coil hastening it along.
So, our frozen elk roasts, ground beef, fruit, vegetables, seafood, and all the rest sit packed in plastic bins covered with towels and blankets the whole time. Typically, very little has even begun to thaw appreciably by the time we are ready to put it back into the freezer, and we’ve never had anything go bad.
I wouldn’t lose a minute of sleep over it.
About your freezer, remember it’s likely to be cold during the trip, too, so there will be less heat loss than in the summer.