Cheri wrote:
>Janet B wrote:
>>Brooklyn1 wrote:
>>>Janet B wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I hope you called your homeowner's insurance. You can (at least I
>>>> could) claim the contents of your freezer/refrigerator.
>>>
>>>Homeowner's insurance has a rather low cap on how much they'll pay for
>>>spoiled food, like $50, plus just about every policy has a deductible
>>>that needs to be met before they'll pay a dime. Before insurance will
>>>pay for spoiled food you'd need a commercial policy like what food
>>>stores have, and those are very expensive. When Hurricane Gloria hit
>>>Long Island on September 27, 1985 we were without power for 11 days,
>>>no one's homeowner's insurance paid for spoiled food. We all made
>>>giant bbqs, even fed everyone's pets. I remember the date and the
>>>surrounding circumstances well because it was my daughter's 16th
>>>birthday, her party was cancelled.
>>
>> I was told to just add up what was in my refrigerator and freezer and
>> let them know. They included the items that I caught fishing and the
>> items that I froze from my garden. I went to the grocery store and
>> used prices on fish, herbs and vegetables there to come up with a
>> number for the items that I had prepared. I gave them the number
>> over the phone and they sent me a check for over $500. I never lie
>> here or discombobulate, so what I am telling is the truth. I suggest
>> you get better insurance.
>> Janet US
>
>When I got my last fridge I bought insurance for it for five years, which
>covers up to 500.00 worth of spoilage. It didn't cost much as I recall and
>the last time was a good lesson.
>
>Cheri

Yes, one can buy extra insurance riders for a homeowner's policy.

I've never had $500 worth of perishable food in my freezer, maybe $200
tops... much of what people freeze won't spoil from thawing, like ice
cubes aren't covered, not baked goods, not vegetables, not cured meats
(bacon, ham, etc), plus the home owner is responsible to mitigate
damage, ie. obtain dry ice. The most expensive items in my freezer is
my large collection of bulk spices, but they wouldn't be covered as
they don't spoil from thawing. Right now there's probably about $125
worth of real perishables in my freezer, if that much... in my fridge
the only thing that would spoil is part of a half gallon of milk,
maybe one quart, and maybe a half a quart of mayo.... condiments and
canned goods won't spoil, neither fresh produce, eggs, butter, breads,
jars of jams, not even a half bottle of Italian salad dressing... oh,
I have a piece of cured ham in the fridge I've been picking at, maybe
worth $4... I'm tiring of eating it, I'll either freze it to make bean
soup or hack it up and toss it in the yard for the wild critters... I
already have enough home made soups.
I don't care what people claim they were paid for spoiled food,
insurance companies are not naive, they don't cover much under basic
policies, nor do they reward people for being food horders... if one
is foolish enough to buy extra insurance because they are so foolish
as to horde food as though they were a supermarket they still won't
receive full coverage, plus if making a claim their premiums will go
up. There are many things people think are covered under a homeowners
policy but are not... for example if a huge tree falls and one of its
branches hits your house the damage to your house is covered, like
$300 for a bundle of roofing shingles, a 10' length of gutter, and
labor, but it won't pay the $1,200 to remove the tree or the $500 to
grind the stump and repair landscaping.
So again, insurance companies are neither naive or stupid, yoose ain't
gettin' over on them... even if they will cover a portion of your food
loss they are not going to take your word for what you claim to have
lost... they will never believe you had a freezer filled with shrimp
and lobster tails nor will they cover ones food hording obsession.
Unless you're a food market they are not going to cover your claim for
$500 worth of steaks and lamb chops... they'll cover $50 for ground
mystery meat, two frozen pizzas, and a few TV Dinners... there is
really no way to prove what one had in a home freezer, they don't care
about register receipts, anyone can pick all they want from market
trash.
I have two refrigerator freezers, 90% of what they contain won't spoil
if the power is out for a week, cans of beer and soda won't spoil,
loaves of frozen bread won't spoil, cans of coffee, tuna, and all
kinds of jars of condiments won't spoil. My basement unit contains no
meats, only items that can spoil are about 30 quarts of frozen
homemade soups, but how can I place a believeable value, I can't, it's
only valuable to me for my time and effort, so what I'd do if I knew
it's a major outage that may not return power for a week or more I'd
put them all in pots on my gas stove and do the old timey soup pot
thingy where they can be kept on a low simmer for months, I'd have
extra work but I'd save the soups I labored over, it's called
mitigating my damages.
I've owned many properties and have dealt with homeowners insurance
issues of all types, with many rental units too, no way do I believe
anyone was given $500 for loss of food due to a power outage, no way,
no how, not unless they PAID EXTRA for a rider to cover food spoilage,
and then the premiums would be more than the value of the lost food.
Once again, insurance companies are neither naive or stupid.
I can believe a $140 per year rider to cover an $8,000 diamond
engagement ring, but not some moron who'd pay extra premiums to cover
spoiled ground mystery meat... to date I've seen no food here worth an
insurance rider, 95% of the posters here dine like they eat at
Salvation Army soup kitchens, at least from what they've
demonstrated... they talk high end but talk is cheap... show me. I
don't eat expensively, never claimed to, but I know my feral cats eat
better than all the big talkers here who have shown zero. I probably
spend more on bird seed than all yoose I-cook-everything-from-scratch
fakers... yoose eat so high end but can't even afford a friggin' $89
digicam. During the twenty odd years I've posted to this group there
have been fewer than twenty posters who have shown their cooking, and
it's been those who've claimed the loudest that they cook everything
from scratch who have shown nothing.
http://www.insureme.com/home-insurance/power-outage