Does your home insurance cover your freezer food?

A broken fridge freezer can be costly to replace. The cost not only includes the fridge freezer itself, but many of us use our freezers to stock up on food, which can cost an average of £302.78 to replace.

However, many people don’t know that spoiled food is often covered by their home or contents insurance. In fact, all our Contents Insurance tiers cover freezer food as standard up to the cover limit.

Below, we explain everything you need to know about freezer cover.

When can you claim for frozen food?

You can claim up to the value specified in your policy documents if there’s a sudden rise or fall in temperature, or the fridge has suffered any contamination by refrigerant or its fumes.

For example, if you have a power failure at home or a power surge puts your freezer out of action, you’re likely to be insured if it’s been off long enough for food to spoil. 

You’re also normally covered if food in your freezer is spoiled due to temperature changes caused by a mechanical fault. There's no cover for mechanical breakdown to the freezer itself.

Can you claim for a new freezer?

It depends.

If your freezer has stopped working permanently because of accidental damage, you can possibly make a claim. However, if your freezer breaks down due to age, you’ll need to replace this yourself.

Do you need receipts?

Not in most cases.

Usually, insurers ask for a list and photographs of the spoiled food before it’s disposed of.

They may also ask you for a breakdown of how much it will cost you to replace the goods at today’s prices.

As your freezer is unlikely to only include shop-bought items, your insurer may look to replace your leftovers and pre-prepped meals with a similar shop-bought ready meal, or fresh ingredients.

Be honest and realistic. If you claim for an improbable amount (e.g. listing more food than could ever realistically fit into your freezer), your claim could be refused.

Do I need extra cover at Christmas or other celebration times?

Some people add extra cover during times of celebration, including weddings and religious festivals, for extra items (including food) stored at home for the events.

We call it Celebration Cover and this is covered on all our Contents Insurance tiers up to the cover limit.

What isn’t insured?

Your insurer is unlikely to cover events that are foreseeable or easily preventable.

For example:

• Where the power supply was been accidentally turned off
• Planned power outages (such as maintenance work)
• If your freezer is over 10 years old
• Non-food items you keep in your freezer
• Items that haven’t spoiled

So, make sure that the plug socket isn’t within easy reach of little fingers, and check any planned outages from your energy provider.

The contents of a fridge can reveal a lot about a particular home, family, or culture. We asked 20 people from around the world to take a photo of their fridge and tell us about what's inside. Take a look at It's A Cool World.