A friend who had lived in England for a long time shared this trick with me. She learned it from her neighbor. It turns out that the English (and many Europeans) always place a coin in the freezer when they need to leave their home for an extended period. The reasoning behind this action is quite simple yet brilliant. Surprisingly, this life hack originated in Europe and not in our country.

The coin left in the freezer helps you easily determine if there were any power outages while you were away and how long they lasted. For example, if I go to the countryside for a week, I turn off all the electrical appliances in my apartment, except for the fridge, since there are always some products inside. To ensure that the power wasn’t out for an extended time while I was away and that the food in the fridge hadn’t spoiled, I left a coin in the freezer.

I simply pour some water into a small container, freeze it, then place the coin directly on the ice and put it back in the freezer.

When I return home, the first thing I do is check the coin. If it’s still sitting on top of the ice, everything is fine, and there’s no power outage.

However, if the coin is no longer visible, it means there was a power outage. If the coin hasn’t sunk deep, the outage is brief.

But if the coin is at the bottom of the container, it means there was a long outage, enough for the ice to completely melt. This suggests that the food in the fridge has likely spoiled, and eating it could be dangerous.