If you’re thinking of going on vacation and leaving food in the freezer, this is a must-read. Today we’ll show you a simple procedure that will tell you if the food you left in the freezer is safe to eat. When we’re not at home, the power goes out and we don’t know about it. However, this can cause frozen food to melt and degrade. One woman devised an ingenious method for determining whether or not our refrigerators are still in good functioning order – using only a mug of water and a cent!

You’d never have to worry about spoiled vegetables or fruits in your fridge again if you tried this experiment. Sheila Pulanco Russell created the idea, and she conducted a fridge-mug experiment using plain tap water. It’s a simple experiment – if the penny freezes, it’s a positive sign that your fridge can keep your groceries cool and frozen. If it isn’t, it’s likely that you’ll need to get a new refrigerator to prevent food rotting – try it at home right now!”

I recently heard some terrific advice for those of you who are fleeing from the shore. It’s known as the one-cup tip. You placed a cup of water in the freezer. Freeze it completely, then place a quarter on top and place it back in the freezer. That way, when you return after being evacuated, you’ll know whether your food went bad and just refroze or if it stayed frozen while you were gone.

If the quarter has sunk to the bottom of the cup, it implies the food has defrosted and you should discard it. However, if the quarter is on top or in the center of the cup, your food may still be fine. It’s also a good idea to have this in your freezer all the time so that if you lose electricity for any reason, you’ll have something to fall back on. If you don’t feel comfortable about your food, toss it.