Leaving food at cabin. Will it freeze and burst?

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no1_pro

New member
Ok my wife and I are at odds. Our cabin on Whitefish Bay is only heated with a woodstove and electric heaters when we are up there snowmaching in the winter. Leaving for home yesturday I said to her all the cans , glass jars and plastic jars of food should come with us as they will freeze and burst open and we will then have a mess. She said no on the cans and plastic and said we left them last year. She did pack up all the glass items.

I told her shes full of bologna and the cans will break.

So my question is what will freeze and break and what will not?

Thanks
 
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Eagle River Mike

Member
Liquids do expand when they freeze. I have left bottles of beer and cans of beer in the freezer too long and yes, they burst. I don't think food solids would expand but it just depends how much water or other liquids they are packed in. I would say be safe and don't leave them. If they do burst, you will have a mess as you mentioned. I would think the critters would like the mess and may be tempted to break in and nest. If you really want to test the theory, leave a can outside when it is -20 out and see what happens
 
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scott_b

Member
Take it from me, they will freeze, and some will break. We only heat our basement in the winter when we are not at the house, typically we bring all of the cleaning supplies and liquid foods/beverages to the basement when we leave. I left a can of soup in the pantry accidentally, when I saw it I put it in the sink even though there was no visible damage. The next mornig after everything warmed up there was a puddle of soup in the sink.
 
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98panther

New member
We take all ours home. Cans of drinks will burst, cleaned enough soda from the inside of the fridge.
Canned food I have never had burst, but the stuff will be no good, it'll all be mush. And not sure I'd trust the seal, not a good idea to eat it.

I only leave a few bottled water, and then we put it in a big plastic tub.
 
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liv2ride

Member
I have the heat off in my cabin for the winter also. I take all the beer, soda and can foods home in October. I have had can foods crack open in the winter in the past so I don't take chances. The only thing I leave is the booze and 2 liter bottles of 7-up. For some reason, the 7-up in a plastic bottle does not freeze, but diet will. I don't understand it.
 
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polarisrider1

New member
Everything but the booze will freeze. Stuff like pan cake mix, breading, peanuts, cookies, etc. will keep but the mice love that stuff.
 
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fusion

Guest
I can speak from very personal experience on this one. Parents had a place on Fisher Lake, that would be northern Iron Cty., WI. Winter of course gets very cold at times. One year, about 1996 or so, we had over 300 inches of snow that year, so much snow, it covered the exhaust stack for the furnace. Guess what happens then? That's right, furnace is caput. Guess what happens next when the temps drop to -45, non wind chill aided? I'm not joking, it hit 45 below that year at times. Crazy chit. Anyways, back to my story, what happens when temp gets that low and no furnace? Well - you save alot of money on propane, but that's not the point right?

We used to leave, outside the refrigerator, cans of beans, soda and other stuff like that. Came up there after the cold spell, even with anti-freeze in toilets, we had 10 degrees inside the cabin and one toilet busted the porcelain completely. Had to remove it. Remember all those soda cans and beans I was talking about? That's right - burst inside the new cabinets - big time mess to clean up.

Long story short - no more soda cans or other cans unless you know for sure you have continuous heat, and make sure you get copious amounts of anti-freeze in the toilets after bailing them down as far as you can get them. Anti-freeze in the sink traps and shut off the water pump ect.
 
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MZEMS2

New member
Take it ALL home and use it there. It's not worth the risk to leave it. Just take up what you're gonna use each trip. If something breaks open, you then have food smell inside. Winter + Food = critters in YOUR space. Little buggers can smell food for miles it seems.
 
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no1_pro

New member
Thanks

Thanks all for your input. You all feel the same as I. Cans , plastic and glass jars of food and drink all could break with a hard freeze. And then leave a mess and fresh feed for mice which is a small problem during Oct and Nov. each year in my 75 year old cedar log cabin.

So heres the real problem. My wife. I read all 8 replys to her and she just does not agree with me and all 8 of yous. So I told her the way it is. And that is that the husband and all the men an John Dee are correct and she is wrong and full of balogna and all the food is coming home next sunday.

End of frozen food story for the wife.

Oh and the mice problem. They start finding there way in during Oct. and Nov. only. I control them with decon and traps with peanut butter during those 2 months. They eat and or move and hide the decon around the cabin. I get about 4 to 6 mice total in the traps and then when it snows come Dec. no more mice till the next Oct.

Anybody have any better or other ideas on killing and mice control in a older but well maintained 75 year old cabin?

Thanks
 
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yamahauler

Active member
You should take the all the stuff in plastic and cans and set it outside for the winter to show here what might happen, that way she will believe you.

Now, make sure this don't backfire, so when you can go to the store and by food you will eat that would have a lot of water in it so it will for sure break.
Swap it out with the a few of the ones that are in the box, lol.
 
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no1_pro

New member
She brought it all home

We came home from the cabin Sunday and the Wife packed up all the food on her own and we brought it all home. I didnt say a word.

Must be all the posts I read to her on this thread sunk in.

Thanks all
 
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bigmama

New member
Glad she took it home. I forgot a bottle of cooking oil & I'm going back up to get it. That will be an ugly mess to clean up next spring!
As far as the mice - we only get them in the fall as well. Forget about the Decon, that stuff is a Thanksgiving buffet to them. Try the "one-bite" blocks. We get them at Fleet Farm & it works great.
 
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jr37

Well-known member
bigmama, what are the "one-bite" blocks. I have been using the green blocks from Menards or Fleet Farm. Right now I'm trying a yellow bar, because the mice love the green one. They come back every night for it. I need something that works.
 
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thunderstruck88

New member
no1_pro said:
We came home from the cabin Sunday and the Wife packed up all the food on her own and we brought it all home. I didnt say a word.

Must be all the posts I read to her on this thread sunk in.

Thanks all
Click to expand...

Some of us on John Dee are woman also !!! Take fresh food with you and DON"T LET IT STAY there IT WILL FREEZE+ BURST AND MAKE A HECK OF A MESS Also if your power goes out I would not trust any of that food any how !!! NO SENSE in this world to get your self sick also !!!!
 
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polarisrider1

New member
I leave the heat on up north, but I turn the ice cube tray upside down in the freezer. If power is out for any lenght of time you will know because the tray will be empty. if the heat is totally off haul everything but the liquor home, but hide that.
 
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98panther

New member
famousguy said:
heavymama.. The cooking oil will not freeze.
Click to expand...

It might depend on the type of oil. When we left it, it turned cloudy, like a jug of margarine.
And the cloudness never went away so we tossed it away.

Other than a few water bottles, that I also put in a plastic tub - just in case.
A bottle of brandy stays up there, for an emergency.
 
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