Wondering if some of the tips on the internet are good or just silly, even dangerous? Some of them are silly and some dangerous. If you see a tip please do your own research and confirm it is valid.
Today let's talk freezer. Have you seen a post similar to this? "The one cup tip. You put a cup of water in your freezer. Freeze it solid and then put a quarter on top of it and leave it in your freezer. When you come back after you've been evacuated you can tell if your food went completely bad and just refroze or if it stayed frozen. If the quarter has fallen to the bottom of the cup that means all the food defrosted and you should throw it out. But if the quarter is either on the top or in the middle of the cup then your food may still be ok." This is nonsense! Your freezer has different temperature zones. Depending on where the cup is placed it may defrost while other areas of the freezer will remain colder. The size of the cup and amount of water will affect the results. A cup on the door will defrost faster than one at the back of a shelf or one in the middle of the freezer at the back. All will defrost at different rates. Don't do this. There is a similar tip to place a canning jar of water in the freezer, freeze and add a coin. It doesn't take a genius to figure out freezing his larger container will give different results than a much small cup. Nope, not reliable.
If you want to protect the food in your freezer do as we have suggested for years, fill resealable plastic bags 3/4 full with water and freeze. You can also freeze blocks of ice and wrap in plastic grocery bags just in case it melts. Stash all these frozen blocks and bags in the empty spaces in your freezer. The more empty spaces the faster the freezer foods will defrost. Fill those spaces.