Reassessing My LTFS

 

I've shared with you that I keep a long term food storage (LTFS) in my home and you all know I actively work on maintaining it throughout the year.  I have reassessed my current needs and have been steadily making some changes during the past six months.

 

One thing I determined was that I was heavily reliant on the chest freezer in my garage as part of my LTFS.  This past summer, on days when the highs hit 100°, we had two power outages that lasted quite a while.  They were both due to equipment failure and lasted several hours.  Fortunately power was restored and no damage was done, but it got me to thinking that if I lost power for a long time to the point that my freezer began to defrost I'd be at risk of losing hundreds of dollars of stored meats, cheeses as well as fruits and vegetables.

 

Investing in a generator to power my freezer crossed my mind, however they are quite expensive and noisy too.  I'd have to store a generator as well as fuel in gas cans which is a problem as I have very limited storage.  I did invest in a Jackery with solar panels, but I didn't purchase one large enough to operate any heavy appliances.  With all of this in mind I figured my best solution at the moment was to make a shift and lessen my reliance on the chest freezer.

 

Shelf stable foods are a better option with LTFS in almost any scenario you might imagine could happen.  Increasing my shelf stable food has been a goal of mine and I've been able to acquire more canning jars and thereby transition a lot of the food I had in the chest freezer into meals and components for meals that I've been canning.  I am now at the point where I could consider removing the chest freezer altogether and only use the one that is part of my side by side refrigerator.

 

I really like the idea of this mainly because I won't have to operate the chest freezer anymore which will save electricity and the chore of defrosting it every other year.  I also won't have the worry of what might happen if the power goes out or it just stops working for some reason.  Now that I am on my own and no longer feeding a family this seems like a plausible option for me.

 

As I was working on this I realized there are a lot more benefits to having all of this food canned and on the shelf.  For one I have access to a lot of healthy readymade options to make meals with and my meals come together much faster saving me both time and energy.  Canned food is easily portable and since it doesn't require refrigeration it is perfect to take for travel or camping.  Another thing is I love to do home canning so it is a huge source of fun and entertainment for me.

 

I think the time has come to consider selling the chest freezer so someone else can get some use out of it.  It wouldn't be too long until I could be able to empty it completely.  It is a big decision, but I think the time has come to let it go.  What do you think?