MAJOR Downside To Stockpiling

[puakinikini]

So sorry to hear about your stockpile. We went without power for 22 hours over the weekend but did not open the freezer and everything looks fine. It was all still frozen - I am going to research whether some of it should be thrown out.

[jillibean_1978]

T hat sucks. And now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't get a stockpile of cold/frozen foods now. I might just stick with dry food and H&B.
I sure do hope that you can get your money back on that stuff.

Jill

[ironeagle48162]

I am so sorry that happened to you! The same thing happened to us last August. A monsoon storm blew through in the evening and downed 18 power poles. Our power was out for 2 days as well. Luckily there was a brand new MainStay Suites about a quarter mile up the road. They are pet friendly and they have kitchenettes with a full-size fridge/freezer combo. The morning after the power went out, we learned how extensive the damage was. We packed up our cat and made a couple of trips back and forth to take all our food to the hotel. I figured a couple of nights in a hotel was cheaper than restocking all that food! I checked with our insurance company, Allstate, afterwards, to see if they would have paid for food if we had lost it and they said no. It never hurts to call your agent to ask, though. "No" is the worst they can say. Good luck!

[TheWoman]

In the future, if you have the power go out for a long time you can keep your stuff frozen with dry ice, if you can find it. One grocery store near me carries it, and I know one other place to buy it.


Also, if you have friends with power you can ask if they have extra freezer space to loan for a few days. You can probably find homes for a few of the most expensive things that way. When you take the food back you could give them some for their trouble.

[catknitluvr]

Originally Posted by MommySusan1 Be careful about a claim on your homeowner's. I've heard so many people who have been dropped after one claim. I have read the only time you should make a claim on your homeowner's is a catastrophic loss.

Never heard of them dropping after 1 claim (?).

Best to check with homeowners policy, but I don't see why they would drop you after a claim like hers.

[Coinpurse]

I feel your pain temroy2. I'm going through the same thing right now. My food loss will be covered by my homeowner's policy as my claim also includes a dead refrigerator, one dead freezer (out of the three that were full) & roof damage. I've had it happen a few times over the years and it was always covered by my homeowner's. The last time I lost all my frozen food to a power outage, though, it wasn't worth filing a claim because I now have a large deductible (for 25 years it was only $50.00, ah, the good old days ) and all I lost that time was the food. I won't take a hit on my policy over this because, like others have said, it fell under the catastrophic category since we had a tornado & microbursts whip through the area. However, the frustration of such a big loss and the thought of attempting to replace it at a decent price can be quite depressing.

Good luck with your claim. Our utility won't reimburse for any type of loss unless you pay a monthly maintenance fee for a whole house surge protector (installed by them of course) and then they will only pay if you can prove it was their fault rather than bad inside wiring/old age that caused you to lose an appliance, TV or computer -- no food coverage.

[derketchup]

Originally Posted by temroy2 I recently experienced first-hand the downside to stockpiling. We were hit with a pretty big storm on Thursday night. 100mph winds in some places. The wind knocked over our neighbor's tree and it landed on power wires that supply power to 5 houses in our area and broke the transformer in half. Our utility company tried to say there wasn't a power outtage in our area and that nobody had called to report there was, which wasn't true. We were without power for two days (in triple digit temperatures, I might add) and as a result, had to throw out a nice stockpile of frozen food and meat from our fridge/freezer combo and our chest freezer plus the entire contents of our refrigerator. We were given a number to make a claim with the utillity company to get compensated for what we lost, but whether they'll actually pay us is a different story and we're now without a lot of stuff. Oh, and the only reason anything ended up getting anything done is because someone chased after the power company on a bike and basically begged them to come assess the damage. The tree that toppled over was over 70 feet tall and the wires were underneath it. One of the network crews came out to interview us and videotaped our chest freezer dripping water and our bird and dog in distress from the heat. We do have power now, finally, but it makes one weary about trying for another stockpile.

Look on the bright side... the power would have failed regardless. At least your freezer wasn't full of stuff you paid full price for!

[temroy2]

Originally Posted by TheWoman Also check your homeowners insurance. I know mine will cover food lost during a power outage with no deductable.

Thanks for the tip, but we don't have homeowners insurance. We rent. (no renter's insurance either heh)

[chellebyerly]

I am always scared to file on homeowners, we had a claim cause our water heater flooded our house, and then resulted in mold. They paid, then dropped us, the reason? Debri in the yard was a fire hazard, it was debri from all my carpets and tiles, and furniture being thrown out. I couldnt get insurance (due to the mold) and my house burned to the ground about a year later. So I am VERY scared to call them for ANYTHING.

BUT I do know that during a huricanne or such my inlaws insurance will pay them for their food AND give them some money to run a generator! And doent try to drop them!!

We have a generator, we hardly ever use it, but since we are being hit with huricannes here lately we invested in one. I never use it unless it will be a day or more with out elec. But its well worth it. And the best way to get one? Right after huricanne season, people will buy them if a huricanne is comeing their way, THEN they will sell them 3 months later!! I am serious! We kept the ones we bought! LOL when RIta came through we didnt have electric for over a month. The Generator was WELL worth it! :)

If your elec. company will pay for some stuff you have it made!! although I cant belive they IGNORED you. I would be throwing a fit to someone. :(

[temroy2]

Puakinikini, I'm in Arizona too so we're talking about the same storms. hahaha.

Thanks, Everyone, for your sympathy and suggestions. I'll be better armed for next time. And while, yes, the power would've gone out anyway, the rest of the houses on our street that weren't affected by the transformer but did lost power? They got their power back by the next morning.

What I did was email some of the companies that I buy the most from (Pillsbury, Kraft and Hillshire Farms) and told them what happened and asked if they'd be willing to send some coupons. Pillsbury has in the past when I asked them to consider making coupons for Toaster Scrambles (it's always Toaster Struedel) and they sent me 4 coupons for 'off any frozen Pillsbury product'. It's worth a shot.